May 29, 2023
Levine debuts with this lighthearted and charming paranormal rom-com. Aspiring artist Cassie is suspicious of the too-good-to-be-true Chicago apartment listing she finds online—but with eviction looming, she’s low on options. She takes the room, moving in with the apartment’s oddly old-fashioned owner, Frederick J. Fitzwilliam. As strange and out of touch as Frederick seems, he’s also rich, considerate, wildly handsome, and a gentleman. Cassie works during the day while Frederick claims to be out of the apartment “on business” most nights, so the pair communicate largely through sweet (and increasingly flirtatious) notes. Cassie’s not looking to complicate their living situation, but she can’t deny how much she enjoys their dynamic—until the night she ducks home unexpectedly and discovers Frederick slurping from a blood bag. Frederick is a vampire, he’s been in a coma for a hundred years, and he wants Cassie’s help getting up to speed on the modern world before his old flame Esmeralda shows up demanding they pick up where they left off. This adorable odd couple proves easy to root for, with Frederick’s awkwardness navigating modern life adding both humor and pathos. The supernatural conflict wraps up a bit too smoothly, but there’s so much fun to be had that readers won’t mind. This one is good to the last drop. Agent Kim Lionetti, Bookends.
June 10, 2024
With eviction looming, starving artist Cassie Greenberg is desperate to find a cheap place to live. When she comes across an advertisement for a room in a cute apartment in Chicago at a decent price, she knows there must be a catch. Her new roommate, Frederick J. Fitzwilliam, is odd, to say the least. Dressed as though he just walked off the cover of a Regency-era erotica novel, he does his business at night, sleeps during the day, and has a shockingly clean kitchen. As it turns out, Cassie's new roommate is a vampire, and he has a proposition she can't resist. Levine's debut novel is fun and quirky, a steamy meet-cute between a 30-something woman and a 300-year-old vampire. Gilli Messer is wonderful as the effervescent yet suspicious Cassie while also ably performing the husky-voiced, old-school vampire Frederick. While listeners may roll their eyes at the novel's outlandish campiness, Levine's depiction of Cassie and Frederick navigating their budding romance in the 21st century is a delight. VERDICT This is a sweet and sexy paranormal romance with the perfect amount of silliness. For fans of Sarah Hawley's A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon.--Elyssa Everling
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