Review: Vampire with Benefits by E.J. Russell

Title: Vampire with Benefits

Series: Supernatural Selection: Book Two

Author: EJ Russell

Publisher: Riptide Publishing

Length: 300 Pages

Category: Urban Fantasy, Comedy

At a Glance: Vampire With Benefits is a delightfully droll romance with just enough suspense and plot twists to keep the reader fully engaged.

Reviewed By: Sammy

Blurb: A match between a vampire and shifter could be deadly—but this broken beaver doesn’t give a dam.

Silent film actor Casimir Moreau had imagined that life as a vampire would be freewheeling and glamorous. Instead, he’s plunged into a restrictive society whose rules he runs afoul of at every turn. To “rehabilitate” him, the vampire council orders him mated to an incubus with impeccable breeding who’ll mold Cas into the upstanding vampire he ought to be. Or else.

As an inactive beaver shifter, construction engineer Rusty Johnson has fought—and overcome—bias and disrespect his entire life. But when his longtime boyfriend leaves him for political reasons, Rusty is ready to call it a day. Next stop? Supernatural Selection and his guaranteed perfect mate, a bear shifter living far away from Rusty’s disapproving clan.

But then a spell snafu at Supernatural Selection robs both men of their intended husbands. Rusty can’t face returning to his clan, and Cas needs somebody on his arm to keep the council happy, so they agree to pretend to be married. Nobody needs to know their relationship is fake—especially since it’s starting to feel suspiciously like the real thing.

Review: Following directly on the heels of the first novel in E.J. Russell’s Supernatural Selection series, Vampire With Benefits, tells the story of the two jilted fiancés who were left at the proverbial altar by their so called perfect mates and then fell in love with each other rather than those selected for them. If you have not read the previous story, Single White Incubus, I encourage you to do so not only for context when it comes to the characters in this latest release but also for the sheer enjoyment of meeting the creatures that author E.J. Russell cleverly creates.

This novel drops us into the ongoing saga at Supernatural Selection HQ, with Rusty Johnson waiting to meet his perfect mate, having been thrown aside by his smarmy boyfriend who has put pack business and marriage to a suitable female member above his supposed love for Rusty. The guy is a real piece of work and while Rusty knows he is well rid of him, he is still hurt and even more painfully aware of how he is viewed as a blight on the beaver community due to his inability to shift, making him an inactive. Aside from being his ex-boyfriend’s dirty little secret, Rusty is actually quite a successful businessman and well loved by his human construction crew. Rusty is kindhearted, considerate, and really everything a mate could want. If only he could find someone who chose to be with him despite his inactive status.

Casimir Moreau never made the shift to talkies but was a fairly successful silent screen actor. With a penchant for the dramatic and a decidedly bad habit of pushing against authority, Cas has found himself ordered to get a mate or else face real punishment that could result in death. If that weren’t enough, a former prank gone awry has left him in the position of being blackmailed by his arch enemy and fellow prankster. His latest faux pas has left a Grindr hookup in a hospital bed recovering from an unwanted turn to vampire status, and Cas being blamed for doing it—a move that is illegal and most definitely frowned upon, with dire consequences. But Cas is innocent and strongly suspects it was his nemesis who did the job, setting it up to be seen as Cas who committed the crime.

When Rusty and Cas meet at the selection agency, it is to find that their contracted spouses are tied up in a legal snafu and their prospective weddings will be on hold for a few weeks. Cas has to produce a spouse within twenty-four hours or take a walk into the sun, so he suggests a temporary marriage to Rusty with an end date two weeks hence, and Rusty agrees. What neither of them foresaw was an increasingly dangerous attraction—particularly so for Cas, as any mingling of bodily fluids with a shifter, active or inactive, should be deadly to him. Despite their resolve to remain platonic, lust takes the forefront, and the condom breaks and the result is far from deadly. In fact, it is nearly miraculous.

I will tell you right now that I am thoroughly enjoying this series by E.J. Russell. Refreshingly original, this author takes the paranormal genre out of the angsty, alpha-laden realm it normally gravitates toward, into a humorous and romantically satisfying arena. Her characters are not your normal wolves and vamps but rather, the most incongruent of couplings, this time a beaver and a vampire who wishes he had never been turned. Although among the youngest of vamps, Cas has a sense of ennui that makes him rather careless when it comes to self-preservation. He hates most other vampires and just wants to live his life on his own terms. When he meets the wounded and fragile Rusty, the sarcastic and flippant Cas begins to change. For the first time, he finds himself drawn to someone who he cannot or dares not have. Rusty, who is trying to put the pieces of his life back together after having his own heart trampled, knows he should be the more responsible one. But Cas is just so alluring.

The two weeks these men have together are just packed with craziness and a bit of danger. Drawing once again from her other series, Russell brings past characters into play and even toys with time travel in this action packed novel. Despite there being some fairly intricate passages describing how some can travel back in time, the story rocks along without a hitch and never ceases to be captivating and interesting. But the real star here is the growing attraction and affection between Rusty and Cas, and the shadow that hangs over them due to their impending nuptials with two other men. When all appears lost and their love hangs in the balance, the novel makes a surprising turn and hope is reborn.

Vampire With Benefits is a delightfully droll romance with just enough suspense and plot twists to keep the reader fully engaged. It is a highly entertaining novel in a series that continues to break new ground in a genre that can often be too much of the same.

You can buy Vampire with Benefits here:
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