ACCIDENTALLY DEAD

Author: Dakota Cassidy ISBN: 9780425221594 7/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: BERKLEY SENSATION

Nina always loved the nightlife. It’s a lousy first day on the job for dental assistant Nina Blackman when a patient, loopy from the anesthesia, bites her. At least he was cute. But for real drama she can’t beat the next morning. Nina wakes up with a set of razor sharp fangs, bionic vision, super sonic hearing, and a taste for blood. There must be a good explanation. There is. It’s her patient, Greg Statleon. She just never expected to be the nightlife. A visit to his Long Island castle hardly results in a cure. Greg claims there isn’t one. Unfortunately, Nina isn’t wild about her lifestyle change—or the danger that goes along with it. She’s determined to prove this infuriating vampire wrong. It’s a shame he’s so irresistible. It’s a bigger shame that he’s dead. On the other hand, they’re perfect for each other—if Nina’s willing to commit to one man for eternity.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Throughout this entire book, a song lyric ran through my head—'I love the night life, doo-doo-doo-doot-now yea'—partially because the book is about a girl who gets turned into a vampire by accident and partially because it just fit the character so well. Meet Nina Blackman, recent convert to the vampire lifestyle. Unlike most women in paranormal romance these days she didn't choose to become a vampire, but was just going about her job when a loopy hot guy bit her.

ACCIDENTALLY DEAD follows the events in Cassidy's first book, THE ACCIDENTAL WEREWOLF (about Nina's friend Marty being accidentally bitten), and further expands her paranormal world by introducing vampires. What kind of world has werewolves but not vampires, after all? Returning is Keegan (the werewolf), Marty (his life mate) and Wanda (the third friend yet to have her own paranormal adventure in love).

What I liked about ACCIDENTALLY DEAD was some of the references made throughout. One of Nina's resources for information about being a vampire is Wikipedia, for instance, and at one point she refuses to 'Google' information about being one. This is the sort of stuff a girl would plausibly do when trying to find out things—gone are the days when you visit a musty library or bookstore to find an old tome of knowledge. Today's generation seeks out answers on the internet first, and books, second.

Greg, Mr. Vampire, was a yummy sounding romantic interest. Partly aggravated by Nina's intrusion into his life and partly attracted to her, he knows how to get under her skin (and vice versa).

More than other vampire romance novels out there, I felt like ACCIDENTALLY DEAD was different in its approach. For one, the heroine of the book didn't become a vampire because she was dying or was fated to be with the vampire; her hand was in the wrong place at the right time. Also, she was tenacious in her hunt for a way to be human again.

I wasn't too happy with the large amount of cussing happening in the book, however. I don't mind curse words, but Nina is aptly described as having a 'potty-mouth'. Her first reaction is always a curse word, whether she is happy, mad or sad. To read that many curses in one page was very jarring for me. It came to the point where I would just skip automatically to the next word and in some cases, an entirely new paragraph.

Overall though, the book is very funny and thoroughly enjoyable. I look forward to reading what kind of paranormal romp Wanda has (and I don't doubt that she will have one. The question is, what other paranormal fiend is out there?).

Alexandra Cenni