I adore D.N. Bryn’s unique, queer and hilarious vampire romances and was so happy to get an ARC of this new sub/dom second chance novella set in Los Angeles in the 90s! It’s a bit different than the other books in the Guides for Dating Vampires series as the characters are not the cinnamon roll precious disasters I’ve come to love in the series, nor did it have the cozy feels. But it was nevertheless an intriguing and highly entertaining read!

This novella is something of a prequel to the Guides for Dating Vampires series, but can be read as a standalone. It takes place at a role play club that creates fantasies for vampire-human couples, where the transmasc/non-binary vampire Diego is working. Diego has finally found a new home and family and has regained their confidence, after having fled their hometown and the high school sweetheart who spurned their fangs a decade ago. Until said high school sweetheart, Maddox, turns up at the club to bid forgiveness and Diego decides to engage in a kink role play to find out Maddox’s true intentions.

I really enjoyed this story, even though it wasn’t as cozy and sweet as D.N. Bryn’s other books. I’m also not usually into kink or too much spice, but here it worked really well. (Just be sure to check the trigger warnings before reading this novella though, as some of the scenes are quite intense.) I rooted for all the characters, even though they were not the shy, awkward, gentle ones that I’ve come to expect in D.N. Bryn’s vampire universe. Diego was a completely other kind of character, with their confidence, self-worth and determination never to be betrayed or shunned ever again. I did miss the slow burn from the other books though, but that is probably mostly due to the short format that doesn’t allow for much time to explore the characters and their feelings for each other fully. But the switch from Diego pushing Maddox away to completely giving into the relationship felt a bit too quick and easy.

But all in all, this was another highly entertaining story by D.N. Bryn full of unique characters and amazing representation, and an interesting premise with the role play club!

Disclaimer: I received an eARC for free, but I am leaving my honest review. Many thanks to the author D.N. Bryn for the opportunity!

Rating:
4 stars

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This second book in the Guides for Dating Vampires series was just as witty, adorable and heart warming as the first one, if not more! I adore D.N. Bryn’s unique, queer and hilarious romances with characters who are such precious disasters that you cannot help fall completely in love with them.

The Guides for Dating Vampires is a loosely connected MM paranormal romance series with stories that can be read as standalones, but I’d still recommend you to read all of the books in the series, simply because they’re absolutely worth it! The stories are very different from the usual vampire tales, with a strong, lethal, masculine vampire seducing its victim, which honestly can be quite cheesy. Here, it’s the absolute opposite.

The vampire in How to Sell your Blood – Clementine – is a shy, a-spec, nerdy, Ivy League scientist who has been turned without him knowing how or by whom. The human he falls in love with – Justin – is an inner-city badass guy with super strength who protects the vampires in his neighborhood to make amends for a devastating mistake he did in his youth. The story also includes amazing side characters, such as Clementine’s trans sister Sissy and Justin’s vampire friends, and a very thrilling plot with Clementine needing to hide his vampirism at the lab he’s working at and being blackmailed for it.

I really loved the slow burn and watching Clementine and Justin slowly grew closer as well as their respective character development throughout the story. It was so real the way Clementine struggled with his blossoming feelings for Justin and trying to figure out his demisexuality. I also absolutely adored their dorky banter and the humor, and the fact that Clementine wrote erotic fanfic!

The characters from the first book, Vincent and Wes, were mentioned a few times in the book, but I would have loved to see a bit more of them. I also would have liked to get some more background to Antony Hilker and the reasons behind his actions, as well as some more explanation to Justin’s superstrength and his family history. There was a fallen angel-plot there that had amazing potential that I would have loved for D.N. Bryn to explore further. But maybe (hopefully) that will be part of a future book in the series!

All in all, this was a unique, sweet, poignant and addictive story about two adorkable disasters falling in love that I binged in one sitting. Highly recommended!
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Thank you so much to the author D.N. Bryn for the opportunity to read this adorable book for free! All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

Rating:
4 stars

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D.N. Bryn

This was such a witty, fast-paced, adorable and completely unique vampire story! I binged it in just a few hours, so smitten by the sweet and nerdy characters, and the hilarious plot!

How to Bite Your Neighbor is a very different kind of vampire tale and Vincent is as far from the strong and lethal vampire stereotype as one can be. Growing up, he was the shy and awkward bully victim, and being turned into a vampire unfortunately didn’t make his life any better. Still shy and awkward, but now also homeless and broke and on the hide from vampire haters, he’s too poor for black market blood and has to sneak into homes to feeds from sleeping humans. He never feeds from the same person twice though, and he always make sure that they won’t feel or remember anything. That is, until he breaks into the home of his former school friend Wesley, who has the most delicious blood Vincent has ever tasted. Coming back for just one more round can’t hurt, right?

Wesley (Wes) is the opposite of Vincent, a social and easygoing slacker who loves to spend his time playing games with his best friend. But lately Wes has been grieving his mother, who he believes was killed by a pharmaceutical company. Now he’s applied for a position at the company to gain access to their research labs to find evidence of what happened to his mother. The only problem is that he needs to find and catch a vampire for their experiments. So, when he wakes up one night to find a vampire on his bedside, he can’t believe his luck, and offers Vincent to keep coming back to feed on him while he finalizes his plan how to use Vincent as a bate to get into the shady pharmaceutical company and avenge his mother.

What neither of them expected was how much they would like each other and how fun it would be to spend time together, and certainly not to start getting more than friends feeling for each other. Soon Wes has to decide what’s most important to him – to avenge his mother or to protect his sweet vampire friend.

I loved Vincent from the very start. He was such a vulnerable, sweet and lovable character! My heart ached so much for him in his struggles to believe he was even worthy of living, his trust issues and loneliness, and hardship in a life he didn’t choose. I also really loved Wes’s best friend, the badass lesbian gamer Kendall. But it took me a while longer to warm up to Wes with his slacker attitude and his initial bad intentions. Especially since Wes kept on with his scheming and betrayal even though he knew that Vincent wasn’t an evil predator. I would have loved some more character growth on his part, as well as some more closure as regards what happened to Wes’s mother.

But all in all, this was such an enjoyable, quirky and charming story, with an engaging mystery plot and an absolutely heartwarming mm romance. Highly recommended!

Thank you so much to the author D.N. Bryn for the opportunity to read this adorable book for free! All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

Rating:
4 stars

Get your own copy:
Author links​
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Author info:
D.N. Bryn