Review: Must Love Fangs by Jessica Sims (Midnight Liaisons #3)

Must Love Fangs (Midnight Liaisons #3)
Jessica Sims
Published: August 27, 2013 (Pocket Books)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: Purchased

Reviewed by: Amanda

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

When I read a book from cover to cover in a matter of hours, that’s a good day. August 27 was a good day, because that’s the day Must Love Fangs was released.

Marie’s one of the few humans working at Midnight Liaisons, the supernatural dating service owned by Bathsheba Russell. She’s also suffering from a fatal disease, and when it becomes apparent she has less time to live than she thought, she starts trolling the service’s database in search of a cure. Namely, a vampire willing to turn her, since shifters turning humans is no longer allowed.

Josh Russell catches her in the act and offers to help. She needs to know how to catch a vamp’s attention and hold it long enough to be turned, and as a vampire security expert, he just happens to know vampire behavior. But the yummy were-cougar has other plans for Marie, and they don’t involve allowing some undead guy sink his pointy teeth into her pretty throat.

Marie’s acerbic wit is what attracts Josh, and while she doesn’t lose it completely, it does soften over time as the pair grows closer. I loved Marie’s growth in this story, going from resigned to her fate to scared she’ll die before she has a chance to really live to doing everything she can to ensure that she will live – except the one thing that would put Josh in danger: allow him to turn her. Plus, she has glasses. Who doesn’t love a girl with glasses?

Josh, for his part, is a charming and deceptively domineering guy. I say deceptively because he’s not afraid to use his charm and sly smarts to trick Marie into doing what he wants, and by the time she realize he’s gotten her exactly where he wants her, it’s too late. Not that she minds. Much.

Unlike the previous two books, Fangs lacks a lot of external danger. The real issue is Marie’s disease, Fatal Familial Insomnia. When the story begins, she’s already having trouble sleeping, and it continues to worsen. She’s losing weight, the dark circles have staked out their territory around her eyes, but it’s when she starts hallucinating that she knows she has very little time left. With the severity of the problem Marie’s facing, throwing an external complication into the mix wouldn’t feel right, and Sims, for the most part, chooses to concentrate on the FFI and how it affects Marie’s and Josh’s choices. Because now that he has her, he’s not going to let her go without a fight.

My biggest issue was a fairly significant turning point about three-fourths of the way through. It was large enough to merit more than the few pages it was given, and I would have liked to see the resolution the Alliance reached moved to the next book, which has got to be about Ryder and whatever the hell it is she shifts into.

Must Love Fangs is a fun, sexy romp and perfect for those last warm days on your back deck. Once you pick it up, you won’t be able to stop until you’ve turned the last page.

Sexual content: Graphic sex