The Accidental Vampire

As promised, I delved into The Accidental Vampire, a fantasy romance by Lynsay Sands. The last novel I read of hers was a historical, and I did not enjoy it very much. I thought maybe a change of genre would help cleanse the palate. 

I am happy to report that it is much better than the last novel I read. I think vampire lore might be her thing…and given that I have a few more sequels and segues from this storyline to read, I will venture to say this is the reason why her list of historical novels was mostly unrepresented on the shelves of my local library.

*Spoilers ahead*

The thing about writing stories about vampires is how an author will distinguish themselves and their characters from the predetermined vampire lore. Some do it with success, some is campy and some is too out there to be believable (if that term can be applied to something based in fantasy anyway).  I guess I already had some ideas about how I expected vampires to behave. I found some of these traits missing in these vampires, for example, they sleep in regular beds, but the need for absolute, practically impenetrable darkness to survive the daylight hours is completely superfluous.

I don’t expect my vamps to sleep in coffins. I think its droll and cliche. I guess the idea that the main character, Ellen b.k.a. “Elvie”, finds out that she can return to tending her patch of garden as long as she wears lots of sunscreen and a hat seems a little far-fetched to me. But it falls neatly in line with the premise that vampirism is really just an evolutionary adjustment to the Atlantian presence of nanotechnology in the bloodstream that creates the need to replenish the blood from an outside source.

Yes. Atlantian as in Atlantis… I suppose if vampires as a race are immortal to a degree and have been walking the earth for longer than man can imagine, why couldn’t their roots be traced back to the acme of civilization, the long lost people of Atlantis. Though this is mentioned, there are a lot more questions that arise in my mind about what this really means, but none were answered, I can only hope they are addressed in other novels in this series. Which of course means I am going to have to read them!

Another bizarre vampire trait in this series is that all vampires can read minds, even the minds of other vampires, except the mind of their “lifemate”, given that you would not want to be married/tied for life in love with someone you could bend to your will with your thoughts. That would be unfair and totally boring. But I prefer my telepathy to be a gift that is not shared by all. Granted, in this book, you have to be trained to use it; otherwise, it just causes headaches akin to listening to music too loud or that irritating high-pitched electric hum you hear from the power lines. So, it’s not an inherent skill. I suppose that is something of a concession, even though it is a small one.

My only complaint was how totally irritating the townspeople that inhabited Port Henry (the town where Elvi lives) were and how totally stupid they appeared to me. I wholeheartedly agree with Victor, the male vamp lead in the story, that it is indeed punishment to be ordered to live in that town to keep an eye on the townspeople, to ensure none of them get any ideas about outing the vampire race to the rest of the world. Not that they hadn’t tried that already.

And (I guess I didn’t just have one complaint, but this is also more of an observation) I have come to realize that I despise severe naivete in my female leads. I can’t look at someone who is holding a crossbow at me, threatening to kill me, and claim that they are my friend, and though appear to be deadly, don’t really mean me any harm. I mean, really? They don’t mean to do me harm? How stupid/blind/delusional would I have to be to buy that malarkey? Well, whatever that amount is, give it to Elvi because she is that naive.

Sands managed to turn the notch up on the sexual tension in this book too. There are more than one steamy scene, which is a welcome change from the last one I read. Though, given the sheer male potency of the Victor character, I was hoping for more, even more in the actual capitulation scene. But can’t have it all I suppose!