Narrated by Amanda Ronconi
The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire is book 3 in the Half Moon Hollow series and includes most of the familiar characters from this and the earlier Jane Jameson series. There was an Audible short – free at the time but alas, not free now – released for Christmas 2013 (I’m Dreaming of an Undead Christmas) which was a kind of prequel. Gigi, the younger sister of Iris Scanlon, is home from college for Christmas. She is followed by a mysterious vampire and at one point they share a steamy kiss. The short doesn’t have a clear end but it does introduce Gigi’s hero (albeit very vaguely). Listeners could probably skip it though because The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire is a complete story in itself and recaps the events of the Christmas before.
Gigi is mid-college and home for summer break. Much to Iris’ dismay, she has accepted a summer job with the (vampire) Council to help set up the vampire version of ancestry.com (it goes the other way though and lists descendants rather than forebears).
The mysterious vampire from Christmas is back and this time he is not only following her he is attacking her! But then he kind of un-vagues out and kisses her instead. His kisses she likes. When he goes for the jugular? Not so much.
When Iris’s partner, Cal, asks his friend Nik to watch over Gigi, she is horrified to discover Nik is the guy who’s attacked her! Awkward.
Of course, Iris and Cal get all over-protective and tell Gigi she cannot see Nik but true love will not be denied. If only Nik wouldn’t occasionally try to kill her, things would be perfect!
It’s obvious that something supernatural is going on and Gigi is the target. She enlists the help of friend (and witch), Nola, and does some snooping around at the Council, while at the same time fending off the romantic overtures of a hapless co-worker.
Because of the whole “trying to kill you” thing, Nik and Gigi don’t spend loads of time together and I felt their courtship was a little rushed. I think I missed the part where they really got to know one another. Still, I liked their banter and their (vast) age difference didn’t seem to be a huge barrier to them. Nik is a bit of a Luddite but he is up on most pop culture references.
Still, it was a fun story and Nik and Gigi were good together (especially once he stops trying to snuff out her life).
Amanda Ronconi and Molly Harper are one of those perfect audio pairings. I can’t imagine a better narrator to bring these characters to life. Ms. Ronconi always nails the snarky humour which is a signature of Ms. Harper’s work and she’s such a pleasure to listen to. Even if I read a book in this series rather than listen, it is still Ms. Ronconi’s voice I hear in my head.
Like the rest of the men Ms. Ronconi voices, Nik’s voice isn’t extremely deep but he does have a sexy (and pretty good) Russian accent and that helps to differentiate him from the other cast members. The men and women are easy to tell apart and the characters of the same gender are also fairly easily identified by their various accents.
The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire was perhaps a little lighter on the romance than other books in the series, but it is always such fun to catch up with the rest of the gang, especially Dick Cheney (not that Dick Cheney – vampire Dick Cheney) and his collection of inappropriate t-shirts.
Kaetrin
Narration: B+
Book Content: B-
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence Rating: Fighting
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Audible Studios
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I just started listening to this today. I’m loving it so far.