Book Review: My Vampire Plus One
Following on the heels of last year’s hilarious My Roommate is a Vampire comes Jenna Levine’s second book in the series, My Vampire Plus One. This one follows Reginald Cleaves, Frederick’s chaotic best friend from the first book as he finds love in the form of straight-laced accountant Amelia Collins.
As the title suggests, the plot kicks off when Amelia finds herself in need of a plus-one for an upcoming family wedding, unwilling to keep fielding comments from her parents about the state of her non-existent love life. Fate literally brings Reginald crashing into her life, and the two enter into an agreement: they will fake-date until the wedding, keeping their relationship as strictly minimal as the ruse requires.
The ruse itself is fairly straightforward, as the two get along right away. There’s the minor issue of Reggie being a vampire, but even that doesn’t seem to pose much of a problem for Amelia - or so he thinks. Really, other than the fact that his being a vampire leads to some bizarre behavioral ticks, a lot of the relationship in the book is actually founded on just the two of them wanting to get to know each other better, and their developing friendship. They’re a pair that come respectively with baggage, and like the best love stories the heart of the story is in how they navigate that as the fake dating starts to turn not-so-fake.
I will say, without spoiling it, there’s one element to vampire stories that tends to stress me out - it even happened in My Roommate is a Vampire - that this book not only brought up in a way that I didn’t mind, but that also gave me hope for the way that particular element might get resolved in future books in the series. I may be projecting or wishful thinking, but either way, Levine has crafted a delightful, laugh-out-loud love story I am so glad I sank my teeth (ha) into.
My Vampire Plus One hits shelves on September 17, 2024. Special thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy for review purposes.
