My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine (Review by Julie Ramhold)

Rating: 5*

“I could handle an awkward roommate who was maybe in his seventies as long as he wasn’t going to rob or kill me.”

First of all, I just have to say I loved this book and did not want it to end. I forced myself to put it down so many times because it was so good. It’s quirky and has laugh-out-loud moments but also sweet and endearing too. It’s positively swoony at times!

I feel like anyone who has ever sought out an apartment will resonate right away with Cassie’s search in this book. And if you’re a creative person, it’s probably going to resonate even more. While the book has great fleshed out characters and is relatable in a lot of ways (yes, even with Frederick the vampire), one thing I absolutely adored about it is the way the drama is handled. There isn’t this weird situation of two adults (one who is hundreds of years old) just not talking; while Cassie does run when she discovers Frederick is a vampire, she also calms down after a bit and is willing to hear him out. Her acceptance is very much what I imagine would be a realistic acceptance by modern day citizens that grew up watching shows like Buffy or True Blood. Additionally, when *the* bombshell of the story drops, Cassie is upset but she asks Frederick one question which he answers truthfully, and then she’s perfectly willing to sit down and hear the whole story. I have such an appreciation of rom-coms that let the characters act like adults and overcome hardships together, rather than introducing needless drama that could be resolved with a simple conversation. Levine does an amazing job of portraying an actual adult relationship in the book and it’s so refreshing.

I also appreciated how the big dramatic moment isn’t drawn out unnecessarily. In terms of the book, it takes a few days to resolve, and a reasonable amount of pages. It’s a plausible solution given who the villains are, and the situation is cleaned up nicely. All-in-all, it’s done very well.

The epilogue provides a time jump of one year and while we get a nice wrap-up to Frederick and Cassie’s story as it is (it’s a bit open-ended, but not in a bad way), I would love to see more of them. If you want a feel-good rom-com with truly hilarious moments and lovable characters, you should definitely read this book – I can’t recommend it enough and it will be one I pick up to read again and again.