Nerd in Another City

It’s becoming a tale as old as time. No… not Beauty and the Beast, but rather, Beauty and the Vamp. You know the one… Girl meets mysterious boy. Girl is resistant at first but becomes mesmerized by mysterious boy’s charms. Boy ends up being the princely undead. Love story ensues.

What I liked most about Freda Warrington’s take on this (encroachingly overused) theme is that she makes the traditional vampirical mythology her own. Which I don’t usually enjoy. But her alterations serve to enhance not only the story itself but the strength of her vampires. No wooden daggers or holy water can hurt these vamps. Neither can sunlight destroy them (or make them sparkle.)

Warrington also brings in a very untouched upon concept by exploring the origins of basic vampire existence and ultimate creation. As well as introducing some compelling religious debates. The existence of God and Satan in a world where vampires roam the earth.

Blood and Wine’s veritable ‘Edward” is a vampire named, Karl who comes to the Neville family in order to search out a way to destroy his own kind using science and laboratory studies.  Karl’s counterpart is Charlotte Neville. A quiet, reserved, ‘ugly duckling’ member of the Neville family. Always left in the shadow of her beautiful and charismatic sister. Charlotte and Karl embark on a very exciting journey to save one another and keep their love undead!

I’ve been dying to read a vampire/ human love story where the heroine doesn’t end up sacrificing her warm-blooded, human existence to become a murderous blood sucker. (Buffy never did!!!) Guess you’ll have to read this one to find out if she does or doesn’t! No spoilers here!

All in all this was a very enjoyable book!! I fully recommend giving it a read.

Thanks to Titan Books!