Book Review: Bleed You Dry

Title: Bleed You Dry
Author: Melissa Tyndall
Published: 2011
Pages:153

A vampire lurks in a bar in downtown Nashville, waiting to save Emma Hadley from a murderer. Roman Sykes dreamed of her, of the future, but he can’t foresee how Emma will make him feel or what’s in store for them.

A villain from Roman’s past threatens their survival. Mara, Roman’s maker and an evil vampire with firestarting abilities, must be defeated before everything he loves burns.

Bleed You Dry is a fast-paced urban fantasy that captures the essence of The South, challenges myths about vampires and reflects the magnetism of love, no matter how hard one might try to avoid it

My Thoughts:
Bleed You Dry centers around Roman, a brooding and lonely vampire, and Emma, a human girl Roman befriends after saving her from a terrible fate.

Initially Roman doesn't want a relationship with Emma, but at the same time he can't seem to stay away. While he is hiding the fact that he is a vampire from her, they quickly become friends and everything is great until Emma suddenly becomes ill. And as they say; when it rains it pours. Myra, a dangerous vampire from Roman's past shows up soon after that, not to happy about Roman's new friend and determined to kill...

This story is told from both Emma and Roman's points of view, and this style was definitely rewarding for the story and kept it moving forward in a steady pace. Emma was a funny and lighthearted person with a deep love for books, movies and TV.

Roman was more of a loner and enjoyed staying at home reading poetry. He was taciturn, guarded and brooding. Only natural if you have lived for centuries!

Because of Emma's love of pop culture, this book is full of pop-culture references - which I loved! Everything from Twilight and True Blood, to Alias and Brangelina were mentioned. Which of course confused the poor, old vampire!

Overall: a funny story with a couple of likeable characters. With only ~150 pages this is a quick read, but it still contains a large amount of important events in both Emma and Roman's life.

Favorite quotes:
"There were no humans that night. There was no prey or death or monstrosities to speak of. There was only Emma, and me, and for the briefest of moments, on the shortest of nights, I forgot I yearned for blood."

"It was the same old, tired song and dance. The brooding vampire, afraid to love and spoiled by the possibility that they could wallow in misery forever."

Rating: 3.5 of 5