A review by litty_lydi
My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine

3.25

This will be one of those good old-fashioned platonic fake dating arrangements.

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Amelia didn’t mean to lie. Really, she didn’t. It was just one little joke to her parents about bringing a boyfriend to an upcoming wedding. But instead of laughing it off, they latched onto the idea like it was the most exciting news of the year. Now, she has two options: confess the truth and endure months of pitying glances and unsolicited matchmaking attempts, or find a date, and fast.

With time running out, Amelia does what any desperate, overworked accountant would do: she ropes in the next available guy. Enter the tall, handsome stranger she literally bumped into on the street. He’s charming enough, but he’s also got an eccentric wardrobe, a perpetual case of the chills, and a habit of saying things that make her question if he’s from this century.

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OKAY insert knuckle cracking sound. My Roommate is a Vampire was one of those books that was a bit of a let-down (that might be dramatic), but there was so much potential that I feel was not explored (still upset we didn't spend more time with the cooky old school vampires). I do think I enjoyed this one maybe slightly more? I love fake dating trope so that helps. However, this story once again leans very heavily towards insta-love, which makes fake dating less exciting. But like the first one, there were still parts I enjoyed, laughed out loud and swooned.

However, my biggest gripe with these books is the flippant behaviour that becoming a vampire is treated with. I know, it's not that serious, but I need these women to take approximately more than 30 minutes to actually think about the fact that they would be becoming immortal for a guy they met less than a year ago. What about their families??? Their careers?? Their entire lives?? This is not a decision you can just make willy nilly. It feels like these women are getting love bombed but instead of being swooned into a relationship they're being swooned into giving up their entire lives for some guy. Again, not that deep. But I feel like if you're gonna add vampires as a love interest that conversation needs to happen. Even Edward had the decency of pushing back against Bella (lol).

I'm also not convinced that these stories wouldn't work if you removed the vampire aspect. It currently is more so in there to have that kind of paranormal romance vibe, but with none of the real world realities of what a romance with a vampire in the 21st century would actually entail.

Anyways, I'll get off my vampire soap box now.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley.

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probably a 3.5 for me. I think I think about the real life consequences of becoming a vampire far too much (& definitely far more than the characters in these stories)