I'm the Vampire, That's Why

Author: Michelle Bardsley

Published: September 5, 2006 (Signet)

Category: Paranormal Romance
Series: Broken Heart #1

Rating: 9/10

I found this book one day and skimmed the first chapter, thinking "This is pretty good; I'll put it in the TBR." I finished the book I was reading at the time, and was about to start another one, but I couldn't stop thinking about "What happened to Jessica Matthews after she woke up as a vampire, sucking a Pierce Brosnan-lookalike vampire's thigh?"

I'm the Vampire, That's Why doesn't waste any time meandering into the meat of the story. Nope, it sinks its fangs right in. Jessica, single mother with two kids, was taking out the trash (because her teenage son wouldn't do his chores) one night when she was attacked by a hairy monster, and awoke sucking the thigh of a very hot, and very naked man. It turns out that she is Patrick O'Halloran's (hot naked guy) destined true love, and if she does the deed with him, they will form that vampire mating bond where they are "married" for a hundred years.

However, Jessica doesn't want to give in to the hot and romantic vampire she's falling in love with because she has two kids. Patrick is an ancient vampire, the actual son of the father of the vampire race, which makes him powerful in rank and vampire powers. He also had a wife and children who were murdered by ignorant people who were afraid of his father. During that time, he was turned by his father to save his life, and Patrick accidentally attacked his brother Lorcan right after that, and turned Lorcan as well in order to save him.

The brothers later form the Consortium, an organization dedicated to helping paranormals, establishing the first all-paranormal community, and finding the cure to the Taint, a vampire disease that eventually causes madness. Lorcan had the Taint and he underwent an experimental cure which involved giving him Lycan blood, and he went a little werewolf and hungry in Broken Heart, the town that the Consortium was planning to settle in, and nearly killed eleven citizens. In order to save them, the Consortium turned them into vampires, and that's how Jessica wound up sucking Patrick's thigh.

The myth Bardsley constructed for her Broken Heart vampire series is so well done! She combines Celtic myth with vampire myth seamlessly, and I appreciate her treatment of lycanthropes as a species, rather than procreating through a single bite, which makes it seem so easy to turn a human. I rather thought that a book would be swamped in werewolves in that case.

Jessica and Patrick are so close to bonding, but she doesn't want to give in to it so fast because she has two children from her marriage, which ended disastrously. It also resulted in a nemesis in the form of a big-boobed younger woman, who just happened to be turned by Patrick as well, meaning he has to guide her through the transition, and Jessica has to worry about history repeating itself when the upstart goes after him.

This was the best vampire chick lit/paranomal romance I've read, maybe ever. I tried reading the first three MaryJanice Davidson "Betsy, vampire queen" books, but I really didn't like them because the main character was so ditzy and shallow. Don't be fooled by the cartoonish cover; it's not a shallow book. Bardsley packed a lot into this book, taking care of Jessica and Patrick's happy ending while setting up a nice foundation for the rest of the series.

I've already got the next book in the series, Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire, in my TBR and can't wait to read it.