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Dead Sexy

Tate Hallaway

Published 2007           246 pages

Summary (from the book jacket)

There’s no rest for the wicked....  Garnet Lacey should’ve known she’d never get away with murder.

Especially when the people she unleashed her inner goddess, Lilith, on were Vatican witch hunters.  And anyway, it’s not like Garnet doesn’t have other things to worry about, like not letting her vampire boyfriend know that her vampire ex is stowing his coffin in her basement.

So, what with all of that, plus the zombie students popping up everywhere and the seriously gorgeous FBI agent on her trail, Garnet’s got plenty on her mind.

What to do?  Well a teensy love spell might encourage the cute FBI guy to listen to her side of the story and she could break it at any time, right?  But between love spells gone wrong and sharing her body with Lilith, pleading innocence might not be so easy for Garnet Lacey.

The Review

Dead Sexy is the follow up to Tate Hallaway’s debut novel “Tall, Dark & Dead” and follows on from where “Tall, Dark & Dead” left off.  Garnet and Sebastian’s burgeoning relationship soon looks like its heading for trouble -what with Garnet’s jealousy of Sebastian’s ghouls (blood donors or food) and Sebastian’s jealousy of Garnet’s ex-boyfriend Parrish - there is plenty for them to argue about.

Fortunately, they have more to worry about than their relationship issues.  The FBI are hot on Garnet’s trail plus the town of Madison, Wisconsin is strangely overrun with zombies -  giving Garnet and Sebastian plenty of other things to fret about and the reader an exciting adventure as seen through the eyes of  practising witch Garnet.

The story of Dead Sexy is narrated in first person by Garnet and she relates the story with humorous wit.  While Dead Sexy falls firmly into my vampire chick lit category, Garnet is certainly no dumb-blonde like MaryJanice Davidson’s undead heroine Betsy, nor is she a complete “bubblehead” awaiting rescue by a handsome hero like so many other chick lit heroines.  Garnet’s character has more substance than that, she is capable of looking after herself and her friends by magical or non-magical means and she isn’t obsessed by shoes.

The magical fantasy elements of Dead Sexy are handled in a particularly effective way too, with realistic sounding Wiccan rituals (well… I’m not a witch and they sounded realistic to me) that can go wrong or work in low-key and mundane ways rather than having Garnet just gain power upon power in the time honoured way of fantasy novels.  Zombies are handled in a novel way too; they only need to be sprinkled with salt to send them back to their graves - rather than having to shoot them in the head or decapitate them – which is a departure from the time honoured way of despatching zombies. 

As you would expect the vampires in Dead Sexy have moved away from the stereotypes too.  Parrish may be sexy but he’s also down on his luck and has a life that no one would aspire too working as a bite-for-hire and residing in his coffin in Garnet’s damp basement lock-up.  Sebastian is a vampire who was turned through alchemy rather than being bitten and he lives an almost normal human life which takes him away from the usual vampire stereotype too.

Summing up - Dead Sexy is an entertaining fantasy romance and while it is vampire chick lit, it is vampire lit with hidden depths.  Tate Hallaway writes with a confident voice and Dead Sexy is sure to win over new fans with its quirky and endearing characters and fast-paced plot.

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