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A review by ghostiegail
My Roommate Is a Vampire by Jenna Levine
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
“You can pay me back later,” I said, inserting my credit card into the machine. “With your gold doubloons.”
When Cassie Greenberg, the quintessential post-grad starving artist, finds a craigslist-ad for a spare bedroom in Chicago, it seems too good to be true. $200 a month for a brownstone in Lincoln Park can’t come without a catch, but Cassie is charmed by her old-fashioned and devastatingly handsome new roommate, Frederick J. Fitzwilliam — who also happens to be a vampire.
I would like to begin by saying I had no idea this was a reworked Reylo fanfic from 2019. I went through an intense stormpilot phase in my younger years and have stayed firmly away from any Reylo-adjacent publications. I honestly couldn’t tell this book was inspired by their dynamic, and truthfully I would have read something else to scratch my rom-com itch if I’d known. That being said, I truly enjoyed this book.
It’s like when you go to a unassuming shop, eat some bomb-ass rice pudding, then find out it’s a front for an illegal gambling ring. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have gone in, but God am I glad I ate that rice pudding.
The Good
🩸 As an Illinois native that grew up visiting Chicago, I enjoyed all the little nods to Chicago — the train system, the horrible weather, poking fun at Naperville.
🩸 It’s written in third person limited from Cassie’s perspective, but we get little epistolary glimpses into Frederick’s mind, including to do lists, diary entries, and one particularly damning google search history.
🩸 Because the title is literally My Roommate is a Vampire, there’s a fun dramatic irony that allows the author to make more opaque references to Frederick being a vampire. What would normally be cheesy and overly obvious is now more of an inside joke between the reader and the author.
🩸 I found their dynamic endearing — I love a fish-out-of-water character, so I enjoyed seeing Frederick clutch his pearls over instagram bikini pics or purchase Cassie hundreds of dollars worth of Le Creuset cookware because he genuinely doesn’t know better.
🩸 I am also a post-grad artist with a questionable degree, and I totally related to Cassie throughout this story. Her dedication to her vision despite the reception of her pieces (by both galleries and her support system) resonated with me and made me enjoy her character more.
“It would be okay, though. Eventually. It would suck in the short term, just like all the rejections I’d gotten over the past ten years had sucked. But I liked this piece, even if I was the only person who ever would. That had to count for something.”
The Bad
🩸While I appreciate that Frederick is supernaturally hot, there was a bit too much open mouthed gaping for me.
🩸 There was some questionable vampire biology, and rules/social norms seemed to pop up as they became convenient to the plot.
🩸 I didn’t love the moment where
🩸There was some Jewish representation in the book that seemed to only amount to Cassie having the last name Greenberg and offhandedly mentioning a bat mitzvah. There’s obviously discourse surrounding how diverse characters should be written and I don’t feel it’s my place to weigh in on this particular situation, but if you’re hopping into this book BECAUSE you’re excited about the Jewish representation, you may find it lacking.
In Conclusion
This story was as saccharinely sweet as it’s blood-sucking love interest. I’d put it somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars, depending on how hard I’m thinking about it. Jenna Levine’s debut novel did exactly what I needed a paranormal romantic comedy to do, and I look forward to reading its sequel, My Vampire Plus-One, when it comes out this fall.