About a Vampire by Lynsay Sands

With immortal good looks and scorching charisma, Justin Bricker has yet to meet a woman he can't win over. His potential life mate should be no different. But instead of falling into his bed, Holly Bosley runs away and ends up mortally wounded. To save her, he has to turn her. And then Bricker learns the shocking truth: Holly's already married.

Holly wakes up with a bump on her head, a craving for blood, and a sexy stranger who insists they belong together. She needs Bricker's help to control her new abilities, even as she tries to resist his relentless seduction. Choosing between the world she knows and the eternity he offers is impossible. But Justin is fighting for his life mate—maybe even his life—and he'll break every rule to do it


* warning there are spoilers a head, but since this novel didn't have anything really "mysterious" or a "climax" they won't hurt the reading experience. You could guess the outcomes easily enough.* 

This is a hard review for me to write. I love Lynsay Sands. Her vampire novels are normally bright fast funny books that I gobble up. They have a unique premise to vampires, characters I have learned to love and plot lines I fall into easily.

However this novel, About a Vampire was not so good. Justin Bricker is a character I have seen in many other novels. He is funny and young with a decent sense of humor. I really wanted to like his individual tale, but I just couldn't.

1) The main love interest is married, she almost dies and is turned by Justin. He finds out she is his life mate. Holly does not physically cheat on her husband and spends the entire novel telling anyone who will listen that she is married and will stay true to her marriage vows. However she has detailed sex dreams about Justin during her training and it is obvious she is falling in love with him, but feeling guilty about it. This bothered me because cheating is a big no no for me and it bothered me that everyone in the book but Holly is just waiting for her to go home, realize she can't be with her husband  anymore and come running back to Justin.

2) There was no real plot in this book, there wasn't even really a romance. Just chapters and chapters of teaching Holly how to be a vampire, vampires eating everything in sight and hot dream sex. When she finally goes home to her husband and can read his everything thought they are divorced within two chapters and a chapter later the book ends with her and Justin living happily ever after. Oh and her husband? Yeah the author tied up that loose end in a nice package that was almost cringe worthy.

3) And the worst part. This novel fat shames. The mc, Holly, starts out in her own words "twenty pounds heavier than when she married James." When she become a vampire she remains curvy but the cellulite and extra fat disappear.  Justin does mention he liked her just fine before and would like her no matter how she looked, which is nice. However when she gets home to her husband and starts reading his mind she find out that James had only been fucking her on Sundays (the only day they did it) to make sure she didn't feel unwanted. That the extra weight she'd put on had made him no longer attracted to her and he was glad he no longer needed to think about his best friend's wife to get a boner. THIS IS A ROMANCE NOVEL!!!!  No woman wants to read a statement like this, most romance novel readers are wives. The moment I read that I thought about the twenty pounds I've gained since marrying my husband and went, "wow, is this what my Boo thinks about me?" I do not read fluff novels like this to have them make me doubt myself.  The author could have showed that Holly and James' relationship was doomed without bringing in insecurities and weight issues like this.

I am sorry, this is the first novel by this author I didn't like. It made me feel bad about myself, I didn't like Holly, half the book was written in passive voice, it wasn't funny and there was barely a plot. I will be buying the newest novel, hopefully it is better.

ARC Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood

I received a copy of this novel from net galley in return for an honest review

The summer before Ivy’s senior year is going to be golden; all bonfires, barbeques, and spending time with her best friends. For once, she will just get to be. No summer classes, none of Granddad’s intense expectations to live up to the family name. For generations, the Milbourn women have lead extraordinary lives—and died young and tragically. Granddad calls it a legacy, but Ivy considers it a curse. Why else would her mother have run off and abandoned her as a child?
But when her mother unexpectedly returns home with two young daughters in tow, all of the stories Ivy wove to protect her heart start to unravel. The very people she once trusted now speak in lies. And all of Ivy’s ambition and determination cannot defend her against the secrets of the Milbourn past

I really loved this novel. The writing was beautiful and the characters were interesting. There is a bisexual feminist and a little boy who wants to be called Ella and be treated like a girl. I love it when books show diversity! The MC ,Ivy, is a strong girl whose mother ditched her when she was two who feels she must live up the the extreme legacies of the other women in her family. There is a romance, but it takes back seat to the family drama. The book starts off with what you think is going to be a love triangle but surprises you, thankfully.

There are trigger warnings for suicide in this novel, though, so you are warned.

This book made me feel so many things, sad, happy, disgust and anger. Which I love so much! I was very invested in Ivy and her family.

The reason this novel is getting four stars instead of five is this:

As much as I loved this book the plot is almost non existent. There is no real climax, or problem to be solved. The book is more of a coming of age tale and about how Ivy deals with her absent mom showing back up and bringing Ivy's two sisters with her. Sister's she didn't know she had. I was more than half way through and thought, "wait, is something going to happen now? I'm almost done....where's the story going?" Just to finish it a few hours later and be a little let down.

Also the blurb talks about a curse or a legacy and there isn't one. The women of Ivy's family suffer depression and the tendency to be great artists, that's it. I was hoping for something a little more dramatic. Anyone can say they think their family is cursed. Three generations of the women in my family have grown up without biological fathers, but I don't use the word curse because that seems a little more magical than what has actually happened.

So.... yes read this book, please come to your on conclusions. I am really interested to see how others viewed this. On one hand I loved it and on the other I was disappointed.