My Roommate is a Vampire

(4/5)
Romance ReviewContemporary RomanceMy Vampires seriesParanormal RomanceJenna Levine
REVIEWED BY Kayne Spooner
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 08/29/2023
ISBN: 978-0593548929

I thought the cover and title for this book were cute and the premise sounded clever so I was eager to read this. It is a cozy vampire romcom that reminded me of The Flatshare only with a sweet vampire trying his best to adjust to the modern world.

Cassie Greenburg is an artist who’s working two part-time jobs and barely getting by. She just got evicted from her apartment when she sees an ad for a $200/month room in a nice part of town. It seems too good to be true but she meets Frederick and decides to go for it. Frederick J Fitzwilliam is her handsome new roommate who has just woken up from a 100-year coma and is pretty clueless about how to navigate in today’s world. Cassie is unaware of this, but she notices he dresses like he’s out of a Regency novel and is very formal and proper. She thinks he’s a little unusual but they find themselves attracted to each other right off the bat.

But they don’t see much of each other, she works all day and he is gone at night, so they leave each other notes – Frederick’s notes are written in perfect cursive and Cassie draws cute pictures on hers. Each chapter begins with Frederick’s texts and emails and some are hilarious, like the ones he exchanges with his friend Reginald whose experiment gone wrong resulted in Frederick’s 100-year sleep. Reginald’s pranks on Frederick and bad taste in home décor are also funny.

Cassie begins to notice odd things about Frederick like his unusual sleeping habits and that there are no pots and pans in the kitchen. It doesn’t take long before she realizes Frederick is a vampire and the first thing she does is run. Then she binge watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer shows, which I think is meant to be funny. When Frederick reaches out to her and asks her to teach him how to get along in today’s world, like how to take out the garbage and how to order coffee she decides to help him and it’s pretty hilarious watching his comedy of errors, which carry on throughout the story and I really enjoyed these, like when she shows him Instagram and he posts a comment asking why people are taking pictures of their food😊 and when he figures out how to do google searches, they are funny and I found myself rooting for him.

I really wanted to see Frederick use some cool vampire powers but there is very little of that and the few things he can do, I won’t reveal, but they aren’t that impressive. I loved how kind Cassie is, like when she helps Frederick and also when she works with kids in the art classes at the library. But I thought it was a little cringey when she admires Frederick’s cool broad chest with no heartbeat.

There’s danger for Frederick when characters from his past come to town in the last portion of the story and I was a little disappointed in how it all played out – I had hoped for some supernatural vampy action. But Cassie and Frederick are sweet together and this is a quick read with plenty of humor. It looks like Reginald might get his story next, and I would love to see that.

If you are looking for a story you can really sink your teeth into 😉, this isn’t it, but for those looking for something light and quirky, this could be a fun time.