Review: quick, cute, amusing little escape
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 12, 2012
Dead Faint is a fast and furiously fun paranormal romance. The story made me grin and I adored the heroine Billie Joyce, a self confessed hillbilly, with a big heart and very colorful language.  Billie Joyce meets with trouble when she takes a shortcut down a dark alley in New York and asks the angel she sees as she's dying to help her.  Dovey, her rescuer, saves her by changing her into a vampire and Billie Joyce's reaction is classic."Ya'll are loonier than a cow after she's been in the thistle patch. There ain't no such thing as vampires."She's plum full of creative phrases that always made me grin. Billie Joyce, or later, BJ, accepts that she's a vampire now and wants to learn how to handle new life. (I know *snort* my mind immediately went to the gutter on that nickname too, and it's briefly mentioned that BJ can apply to more than horny thoughts :) ) Anyway, she stays with a Dovey's friend Daniel, a nearly 1000 year old vampire. Dovey is going through some surprising changes of her own and it just works out better for BJ go through her transition with Daniel.One HUGE challenge for BJ is that she faints at the site of blood! That's an amusing issue for a vampire to have and the work around made me laugh . As the story progressed, I found myself admiring Billie Joyce. She is tough and has a core of steel. Her backstory explains a lot and I really wanted a scene where she could share where she was coming from and what she'd overcome with her hero, because her lack of openness frustrated me at times... But her hero, Daniel, admires her without knowing everything about her past. He is drawn to her strength and spirit. She is the only woman in centuries to spark his interest. As  BJ and Daniel explore their mutual fascination with each other and fall in love they have to overcome some big obstacles. I was rooting for them to succeed as a couple.Spoiler-ish *****************************************************************************I was a bit frustrated with BJ's self doubt and the fact that she said she was in love with Daniel and talked about how handsome he was and women turning to stare at him because of his looks, she never expressed why she loved him.Daniel did think about how much and why he loved her. And when he asked her to marry him, she didn't see that as the inconvenient choice it was for him. He's going to be king! He's a 1000 year old rich, experienced vampire and he's choosing her, a brand new vampire.I know she had an awful first marriage and never wanted to marry again just for convenience. I liked BJ and admired that she'd made something of herself and fought for her independence. BUT she never said, why do you want to marry me? She didn't open up and tell him what baggage she was dealing with and she didn't fight for them. I wanted to shake her!!! I am impressed that such a short book made me care so much. But I do feel it was too short and the ending too easy.End of Spoiler*****************************************************************************Some of my fav lines...♦ "He wanted her as his wife... though he had to be slightly insane to want to spend eternity fighting with this mulish vampre.... He loved her in spite of all her little quirks and because of them. All the imperfections made her BJ and unique."♦ "Dovey thinks you two are crazy about each other, but BJ is too hard-headed to tell you what she needs and you're too blind to realize you have to woo a woman in this century. The Me Tarzan, You Jane approach doesn't work."I enjoyed the secondary characters' story line too. Aaron and Dovey (especially!) are very fun and I expect to see more of them in the sequels.  I actually wanted Dead Faint to be longer! It's only 90-ish pages, and they whipped past and then I was at the end of the book. I plan to continue the series and hope to see all of these characters again. If you enjoy paranormal romance, vampires and humor and you are in the mood for a quick, cute, amusing little escape, pick up Dead Faint and then take comfort in the knowledge that there are 4 stories in the Dead series right now.For me, when I have to give stars, a 3 means I liked it and will read more...(((hugs))) KatThe Queen of Tarts♦eARC provided for review