Review: Dating the Undead by Juliet Lyons (V-Date.com #1)

Dating the Undead (V-Date.com #1)
Juliet Lyons
Published: May 2, 2017 (Sourcebooks Casablanca)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review 

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 3 stars

Dumped by her date and thrown out of a New Year’s Eve party, Silver Harris is feeling down on herself. Then she meets a charming vampire on the way home and they share a memorable New Year’s kiss. But Silver doesn’t get his name, much less a phone number. So, hoping to find him again, she signs up with the vampire dating site V-Date.com.

The London police have a plan to use the site to gather intel on vampires, who while out to the public are still not big on sharing, and they plan to recruit Silver to spy for them. But the vampires are on to the plan and Logan Byrne is sent to glamour the informant before she can pass on any details. Of course, the spy turns out to be the woman he kissed on New Year’s Eve and hasn’t been able to get out of his head.

Dating the Undead is not the first instance of a supernatural dating service I’ve ever read about, but it certainly used it in an interesting way. That basically sums up how I felt about the vampires too. Their powers are more or less what you’d expect, but there’s just enough newness in the mythos, mostly involving how they’re turned, to keep it feeling fresh.

I really enjoyed Logan and Silver’s whirlwind romance. Her quirky personality and her oddball family make the story lots of fun until all the serious vampire business intrudes. Yeah, I totally saw that part coming. What I didn’t predict was how their HEA would come about—I pretty much had it backward.

I did have a few issues with the story though. The goal of the police investigation isn’t really clear and Silver’s role sounds more like an undercover cop than a civilian informant. And there was really no plot-related reason for Silver to work in a jewelry store, so it would have made so much more sense for her to work in with the police department in some capacity. There’s also some backstory involving Silver’s mother that didn’t quite work for me.

But overall I thought Dating the Undead was a fun way to get a quick paranormal romance fix. (I have sudden vampire cravings sometimes. Don’t you?) I’d certainly be willing to read more in the series.

Sexual content: graphic sex