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Lady & The Vamp

Michelle Rowen

Published 2008        344 pages

Summary (from the book jacket)

Janie Parker’s a supernatural assassin – not by choice, but what’s a girl gonna do?  The only thing standing between her and decapitation at the hands of her hellish boss is a magical artefact called The Eye.  To get it, all Janie had to do is find a dark, broody vampire named Michael Quinn and take it.  Easy, right?  Except if Quinn keeps kissing her that way, she might lose her head… in more ways than one.

Former vampire hunter Michael Quinn is determined to become human again.  If her grabs hold of The Eye and makes a wish – then boom, everything’s good with the world.  But now Quinn has a sassy tagalong with a long, delectable neck and orders to stake him on sight.  He hopes his first bite won’t be Janie’s last moment on earth…

The Review

Lady & The Vamp is Michelle Rowen’s third novel in her Immortality Bites paranormal romance series.  Michelle Rowen writes at the lighter end of the vampire romance spectrum with a writing style comparable to that of fellow romance authors MaryJanice Davidson or Katie MacAlister.  Michelle’s vampire chick-lit novels are always hugely good fun and Lady & The Vamp is no exception, even without regular characters Sarah and Thierry.  

Departing from the usual formula of first person narration by Sarah Dearly (the regular protagonist of these novels) Lady & The Vamp is written in third person and concentrates ex-vampire hunter Michael Quinn.  This switch to the male perspective is probably what makes Lady & The Vamp a little less “chick-lit” than previous books in this series.  This book isn’t a complete departure from the author’s usual style though, since Janie also has a strong voice in this story too.

Regular readers of Michelle Rowen’s Immortality Bites novels will recognise Quinn as the vampire hunter who tried to stake Sarah several times when she first became a vampire.  If that doesn’t make him sound like much of a hero don’t worry, he’s has changed a lot since then.  Drained of his blood and left for dead, Quinn is now a reluctant vampire and he’s desperate to find The Eye, a magical artefact that can grant any wish but only once every thousand years.  The Eye is Quinn’s last hope for regaining his humanity but he has some strong competition from demons, vampires and Janie for its one thousand year wish.

Janie, who first made an appearance in Fanged & Fabulous, is equally determined to find The Eye.  Her evil boss has despatched her to retrieve The Eye for him.  Since her boss is truly evil, failure isn’t an option for Janie.  She forces Quinn to take her with him while he follows clues to the location of The Eye through the Arizona desert.  Thrown together with Quinn by fate Janie soon discovers that the desert isn’t necessarily the hottest thing in Arizona.

Lady & The Vamp is a fast paced and entertaining read.  Its light comic style effortlessly pulls the reader along for a ride as the story journeys from a supernatural treasure hunt in Arizona to an end-of-the-world style show down in Las Vegas – dishing up romance and laughs along the way

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