Avon, $5.99, ISBN 0-06-075201-7
Fantasy Romance, 2006

Don’t read Vamps in the City without reading the book that comes before it, How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire, or you may end up getting hopelessly lost. The the plot of the former is related to the plot of the latter, with not many attempt made in the former to help me fill in the blanks. Readers that are new to this series, please read the books in order. Also, you can read my review of that other book to get an idea of the setting.

In this one, the CIA’s Stake-out (haw, haw) team which includes our hero Austin Erickson are trying to prevent the wedding of Roman and Shanna. the couple from the other book. Austin ends up going undercover and playing a human contestant in the hottest new reality TV show on DVN, The Sexiest Men on Earth, helmed by Darcy Newhart, one of the many members of Roman’s now-disbanded harem. Oh, what to do?

I find the author’s previous book better than this one, even if that book shows more debut author problems. This is because that book has more of a plot than this one. While both books rely on the human counterparts remaining unbelievably oblivious to the obvious to keep the story going, the hero is especially problematic because he is very disjointed in a one-note manner. Austin’s either hating vampires or he’s very horny towards the heroine. Both the main characters are pretty flat actually and the author spends more time bringing on what she hopes is the funny and the absurd to keep the story going. Therefore, tomfoolery is rife.

Ultimately, Vamps and the City is problematic because too much of the story is dependent on the hero acting like a clueless horny twit and the heroine being equally clueless about his real identity even when the clues are right there wagging before her face. (Eeuw, that kind of clue, you perverts.) Therefore, it suggests to me that Ms Sparks needs to work on fleshing out her characters a little better and have her characters behave… well, not that silly a little more often. Once the novelty of her setting fades, I may not find much left to appreciate.