I saw this book listed in a post about light-hearted vampire books and decided I needed to read it, based solely on the title. I find it absolutely hilarious, although I can never remember all the adjectives.
Published: 2014
Genre: urban fantasy
Length: 300 pages
Setting: various places around the U.S., present day, Halloween to Christmas
Summary: Short version: Stories of Fred having difficulties with other supernatural creatures
Long version: Fred has recently become a vampire, not that it changed much about his boring life. He’s still an accountant with no social life. He decides to be more spontaneous and go to his high school reunion. There, he’s reacquainted with Crystal, a fellow geek. Turns out, she works for a government agency tasked with keeping supernatural being under control. That becomes important when a pack of werewolves tries to eat the entire graduating class. Fred and Crystal start dating and have additional adventures – a necromancer running a LARPing game, betting with drakken to keep Bubba (a weresteed) from eternal servitude, trying to find a mage tripping on her own drugs, and fighting Fred’s sire.
Final thoughts: Hayes gave me exactly what the title promised – a bit of light-hearted fun and adventures with various supernatural beings. The book feels like it’s a collection of five previously published novellas as characters and major plot points were reintroduced at the beginning of each stand-along adventure. That’s really my only complaint. I listened to the book, and found the narrator the perfect blend of dry and clueless. He sounded like an accountant who was happy to be an accountant who kept good books.
Poor Fred was hoping becoming a vampire would turn him into something more like what is depicted in the movies. Sadly, he’s still a boring, conflict-adverse accountant. I find the fact that he was an accountant was a bargaining chip withe drakken amusing. They have such problems using human accountants because they have to hide they’re supernatural natures. Getting Crystal as a girlfriend does open up his world, in many ways. He’s got friends now. They’re all supernatural creatures and loyal to a fault. Since Fred is a vampire, he’s got some natural skills and advantages, but he’s still not the top of the supernatural food chain. In the last adventure, we discover why Crystal, who presents as human, makes such a good agent, hunting bad guys.
Title comes from: A description of the book, written as diary entries
Reading challenges fulfilled: book #89 for 2020 and a U in my Title Reading the Alphabet Challenge (I’m excited that the next book in the series will give me another U title – often so hard to find)
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