Book Review – The Vampire and the Virgin by Kerrelyn Sparks

The Vampire and the Virgin
This book was pure sweet candy! I loved it, ate it up, and wished I had more. I was “needing” to cater to my reading “sweet tooth” and Kerrelyn Sparks sure serves it up.

Of course, as with my past experience with this series there was a fair bit of angsty, eye rolling silliness (drama for the sake of drama) but since it had been quite awhile that I’d read Kerrelyn Sparks, I was fine with it. This series was one of my “firsts” and holds a warm place in my heart. I find the author consistent in her writing, and the characters, likable…(and some even lovable…yum!)

OK, so this story is about Robby, the Scottish vampire that, in the last book, was rescued from being held prisoner and tortured by the “Malcontents” (bad vampires). Now, he’s angry at the world, and is struggling with anger management issues.

“I’m no’ crazy,” Robby growled.

“Nay, but ye’re angry angry as hell, and it makes you too unstable for work. No’ only would ye be risking yer own life, but the lives of anyone working with you.

Bugger. Robby ground the tip of his sword against the brick pathway. Angus knew exactly how to get to him. He could never put the lives of his friends at risk.

His crew insists he either begin therapy at a spa (he says NO WAY!), or take a long-needed vacation.

“Fine. Whatever. I’ll go for a week or two.”

“Four months,” Angus said.

Robby gaped. “What? The spa was only for three months.”

“The spa had a therapist,” Angus reminded him. “We figure if ye’re on yer own, ye’ll need more time. Of course, ye could change yer mind about therapy -”

“No. Hell, no.”

“The four months it is,” Angus said. “All expenses paid. Plus yer usual salary. Ye canna beat that, lad.”

Emma smiled. “We’ll see you at Christmas, and you’ll be so much better.”

Better, his arse. This wasn’t a vacation. It was a bloody exile.

And in Greece is where Robby meets Olivia. The woman who takes his breath away and consumes his very soul from the moment he sees her.

“I’ve never met anyone like Olivia before.” He looked at her and smiled. “She’s beautiful, brave and clever. I feel…at home with her, but at the same time, completely lost.”

Beautiful, delicate and inexperienced (read: virgin) Olivia is also in an exile of her own. She works for the FBI (she has an innate ability to read when people are lying – passed down to her by her Greek grandmother), but she is escaping an obsessed prisoner who seems to be stalking her from the “inside”.

Lemme warn you. In this book (and pretty much the entire series – which might be my “bigger” complaint)  the attraction and build-up to falling in love is but a “blip” in the screen. They fall head over heels with each other  – right away.

They see each other.
They see each other again and talk.
They see each other a third time and declare undying love.

“Lass, ye fill every dream in my head and every desire in my heart. I’m falling in love with you.”

But it’s all good. Why? Cause then the drama begins, and for some reason, they must separate (in this instance, Olivia’s stalker seems to have found her in Greece and she hightails it outta there.)

Logical thing to do, right? Thing is, she knows Robby is a high-end security agent/body guard, but she doesn’t bother to at least consult with him before she takes off. She just…disappears. Perhaps, she could have allowed him the opportunity, considering how he’s already told her how much he loves her, to offer up a suggestion or two? It is his domain, ya know. But, for some reason, Olivia can’t “read” Robby (she still has no idea he’s a vampire – tee hee! I love it!)

She opened her senses to detect his feelings.

Nothing. In all her twenty-four years, she’d never met a person she couldn’t read. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow with concentration.

Nothing.

She’s too insecure to take his word (and his physical demonstrations) for it. And that’s another aspect of the “silliness” in the book.

But their separation is fun nonetheless, because now, we get the nice, slow build-up to their potential reunion (and discovery of his “situation”).

“We need to talk.”

A chill skittered down her arms.

“How did you get out of the apartment this morning and lock the door?”

He looked away, frowning. “I’ll explain it next weekend.”

“Isn’t their an easy explanation? Like you took my key to an all-night hardware store and had a copy made while I was sleeping?”

“That would be an easy explanation.” He grimaced. But it would be a lie.”

It was funny, it was sweet, it was emotional. And of course what would a story be without an element of danger, betrayal and revenge!