Wednesday, November 18, 2009

How to Catch and Keep a Vampire


Title: How to Catch and Keep a Vampire: A Step-by-Step Guide to Loving the Bad and the Beautiful by Diana Laurence
Genre: Entertainment, Humour, How-to, Romance
Rating: 3.5/5

Have you seen every episode of Forever Knight, Blood Ties, Buffy and Angel? Read every book by Stephenie Meyer, Charlaine Harris and Anne Rice? Wanted your own dark and immortal lover to keep you warm at night? Then this book is for you. In How to Catch and Keep a Vampire: A Step-by-Step Guide to Loving the Bad and the Beautiful, Diana Laurence draws on personal experience to reveal the secrets to finding and keeping your own vampire lover.

This book is a terrific, tongue-in-cheek guide on how to maintain a relationship with a vampire. With chapters on the pros and cons of dating a vampire versus a mortal, how to introduce your new undead boyfriend to your family, and FAQs About the Undead, How to Catch and Keep a Vampire covers everything you'd want to know. Moreover, some of the advice given is also relevant for relationships with mortals; don't let your partner push you around, communicate and compromise with them, and listen to your instincts.

One thing I was disappointed in was that the advice is mostly female-oriented, there is little for the man interested in finding his vampire bride, though there is a case study dealing with Dan, his vampire girlfriend and an encounter with an Anti-Vampire Person. I also felt Laurence pushed her examples a little too far sometimes, as in Case Study 106 when Aidan pulls a fishing pole from a picnic basket. Though, I have to admit I was amused by the imagery of the vampire equivalent of Mary Poppin's magic bag.

I absolutely loved the design of the book, the pages are just beautiful to look at. The paper stock is thick and smooth, and the image of the red satin ribbon repeats intermittently throughout and is reflected in the red text. Overall, I found How to Catch and Keep a Vampire both interesting and humorous. A must read for anyone fascinated with vampires.

For more information check out the book's website or Sellers Publishing.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Ashley, thanks so much for your kind review of my book! I agree that my publisher did a marvelous job on the book design, I was so thrilled with it. I'm glad you enjoyed meeting my vampire friends...and yes, if I had had more space, there would have been some more females included! Although I admit I know more about the guys, seeing as I can't get enough of male vampires in my life. ;-)

    Diana (www.howtocatchandkeepavampire.com)

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  2. I guess I'll just have to wait for the next book then. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

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