Continuing in the spirit of Halloween and once again hunting down my list of… found free… why nots?… The Utterly Uninteresting & Unadventurous Tales of Fred. The Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes is my newest read. And an utterly successful one at that!

What is more humourous than a logical, calm ACCOUNTANT vampire? The first chapter had me hooked with Fredrick Frankford Fletcher’s dry delivery, matter of fact story telling. Living his life with slight changes to deal with the need to avoid the usual – sunlight, silver and garlic, Fred has found a way to make even being a vampire humdrum… until he decides to throw caution to the wind and (cautiously and well planned) head to his 10 year high school reunion. I love this line:

And there it was. My unlife was so boring that even the woman who hunted monsters saw me as harmless.

In fact, Krystal the hunter of ‘parahumans’ (those who we consider monsters) shows up to inject some action into his solitary life. Leave it to an old high school friend to reconnect with a bang.

Fred the non-confrontational accountant vampire is stronger and quicker and much less clumsy but still avoids arguments, difficult situations and saying no. He is the most mild mannered “badass” of them all and you can’t help but love him for it. Black napkins to avoid stains and a complete ineptitude at feeding off of living victims, Fred is a blood bank sort of man. 

Ghouls, werewolves, vampires, high school reunions, weresteeds, undead assistants, Vegas, LARPing… have I sold you yet? Because if I haven’t, well… you are simply going to miss out! This is a collection of interconnected stories really all centered around Fred from his point of view. So if you enjoy some supernatural dry humour, this is the book for you! And if you don’t, give it a try, it may grow on you!

Often when I see Harlequin on a book cover I run and run fast… AWAY. I am not a fan of high description sexual content but Waking Up Married by Mira Lyn Kelly seemed to have a bit of a twist on the waking up married in Vegas. In Vegas for a wedding (not her own), Megan wakes up after wild night out married and confused to Connor, a wealthy business man. 

A girl with a plan, after a string of broken relationships and a mother married 7 times, Megan is planning on using a sperm bank to have her baby without the added baggage of a man. Connor Reed is out having a night of it with his friend Jeff when their paths cross… a copious amount of alcohol on Megan’s side later and they are married… 

Connor is sure they should give it a go, after all LOVE was never in the cards for him. A mother doomed to love a man who could not love her back fully, Connor has seen the dark side of commitment. His plan, to woo his wife and after a 3 month “trial” period make this marriage a long term commitment. On goes the story from there.

Again, this is a Harlequin Kiss book. So there IS sexuality… there is also romance, heartbreak and a bit of humour. Two damaged souls are attempting to create a shell of a marriage only for love to enter in. I did enjoy the attempts by Megan to show Connor each and every fault she has… from bad cooking skills to a smelly face mask she uses once a week… 

So if  you can skip through (or even don’t mind) the sexual content (she does make a go at avoiding and refusing on the grounds of wanting to make a decision about this sudden marriage without sex confusing matters) and enjoy some humour and a bit of marital strife in your romances… Waking Up Married by Mira Lyn Kelly could be the afternoon read for you! 

From introspective or paranormal to light hearted romance… the key to a healthy book diet is to diversify right? Honeymoon for One by Chris Keniston begins with a broken heart and an impulsive choice. Michelle is raising her younger sister alone after the death of both of her parents in a car accident years previous. We meet up with her as she waits to speak to her fiance Steven and her best friend Beth who has some new for her. A week away from her marriage and her whole life falls to shambles…. or so she thought. 

On the suggestion of her friends, with her teenaged sister already set up with responsible supervision she heads to Vegas on her own for her honeymoon trip. Determined to cut loose and live more than she has to date, the stable and somewhat boring Michelle becomes Micki, a girl alone in Vegas and ready for adventure. 

Enter Kirk, the wealthy unknown, on a leisure trip and looking to have the best (no strings attached) time possible. (I will warn you there are some sexual situation though not highly graphic.) After the fun in Vegas Michelle returns to her boring job only to find that the individual responsible to revitalizing her company is… KIRK! Without having exchanged more than first names and as impersonal anecdotes as possible what can a girl do when her supposed ONE night stand is thrust into her life for the immediate future! 

Honeymoon for One is an enjoyable comedic contemporary romance. The characters are entertaining and engaging and you even get some occasional peeks into the life of Beth and Steven together when they run off immediately after telling Michelle the news and get married. Chris Keniston does a  terrific job of making you giggle and want to ride along with Michelle as she learns to ease up on her sister, forgive what at first seems unforgivable and realize that true love is not always comfortable and safe!