Title: The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters
Series: Secret McQueen #0.5
Author: Sierra Dean
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Published: July 19th, 2011
My Copy: from author
Are blind dates supposed to be this bloody?
A Secret McQueen Story
They say it’s impossible to find a man in New York City. Secret McQueen needs to find two in one night. Of course, it’ll mean pulling off the impossible—find and kill a displaced rogue vampire without disrupting the first promising date she’s had in ages. As a werewolf hybrid used to walking a fine line of survival in the vampire world, though, Secret eats impossible for breakfast.
Somewhere between hello and the first round of drinks, Secret makes her move. Her target, Hollywood’s biggest star, shouldn’t be hard to spot. Just look for swarms of fans. Except every time her vampire liaison, Holden, helps keep her mission on track, her date runs further off the rails.
Either Holden has a hidden agenda, or he knows more than he’s letting on about her quarry. One way or another, Secret is determined to get her man, and meet Mr. Right. Or die trying.
I was really excited when I received this one for review. I haven’t come across a werewolf-vampire hybrid heroine since Keri Arthur’s Riley Jenson Guardian series. The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters is a short prequel to Something Secret This Way Comes. I haven’t read the full length novel yet but after reading this one I have every intention on getting to it sooner rather than later. I really enjoyed this novella. It’s action-packed, with great characters and Sierra Dean’s writing style is loaded with sarcasm and wit which I adore.
The story line is pretty funny in itself. Secret is a vamp bounty hunter who’s given a target that she must take out immediately while she’s out on a date with an oblivious human. McQueen is trying to balance her love life with her work which is not easy! She keeps sending her date on ridiculous tasks while she slips out and attempts to line things up for her upcoming kill. I quite enjoyed her misdirection skills. Poor guy! Unfortunately for Secret, things don’t go smoothly and she gets stuck in a few dicey and/or awkward situations.
McQueen is a pretty nifty protagonist. She’s not bullet proof but her supernatural genes definitely give her an advantage. Especially considering her line of work! She gets her ass kicked pretty badly throughout this novella but refuses to stay down. I liked the humanness of her. When her prey is making impossible leaps off of balconies or hightailing it at vampire speed, Secret has to compensate by outsmarting her target.
The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters gives readers only a small taste of the Secret McQueen universe but it will leave you craving more. I can’t wait to find out what the first full length installment of this series has to offer!
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Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!
Very intriguing review, I hadn’t heard of this series before! I’m a big fan of prequels, it’s a nice way to try out a series without committing to a long novel.