Fantasy Book Critic: My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine (Reviewed by Shazzie)

Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price.

Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. He sleeps all day, is out at night on business, and talks like he walked out of a regency romance novel. He also leaves Cassie heart-melting notes around the apartment, cares about her art, and asks about her day. And he doesn’t look half bad shirtless, on the rare occasions they’re both home and awake. But when Cassie finds bags of blood in the fridge that definitely weren’t there earlier, Frederick has to come clean...

Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.

OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFO: By day, Jenna Levine works to increase access to affordable housing in the American South. By night, she writes romance novels where ridiculous things happen to beautiful people. When Jenna isn't writing she can usually be found crying over k-dramas, starting knitting projects she won't finish, or spending time with her family and small army of cats.

FORMAT/INFO: My Roommate is a Vampire contains 352 pages and will be released by Berkley Publishing Group in August 2023 in paperback, ebook, and audio formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: As someone who has been looking to read this book since the cover reveal, I'm extremely pleased to report it lived up to my expectations.

It was so easy to read that I have trouble believing the publisher's claim that it contains 352 pages. We have Cassie Greenberg, who is struggling to pay her monthly rent and is on the verge of eviction. So she decides to find a new place to stay at and responds to an F (Frederick). J. Fitzwilliam's too-good-to-be-true Craiglist ad looking for a roommate.

When she arrives to view the apartment, she find that the roommate is an extremely handsome and attractive man, who is hardly around in her first few weeks. Eventually she discovers that he is a vampire, and that he has a proposition for her.

Are you thinking that a book about a human falling in love with a vampire has not worked out for you before? I assure you that this is very different from the very popular pop culture portrayal of this premise, and is done in a very thoughtful way. If you're a sucker for books that involve cute, endearing letters that characters leave for each other, you'll want to get your hands on this. Believe me, I fell for Frederick a few days into her stay in the apartment.

Since this is (feels like) a short read, I won't go into much detail of what happens in the book. But I will tell you that Frederick is an absolute sweetheart, and I have already asked the author for more books about him. Is he your typical vampire? Read and find out. It was really enjoyable to see him struggle to find his way around his limitations. This paved the way for a lot of fun moments in the book that made him extra endearing to me, and contains a ton of social commentary about how hard creatives find it to make a living in their vocation, and the rate at which human lifestyles have changed in the last century.

Cassie is very compassionate, and she slowly grows into a more confident go-getter over the course of the book. I feel like some parts of their relationship were slightly rushed, but all is forgiven because this is a feel-good book that ends in a manner that feels sensible, but also true to what can be expected of each character.

The book is written almost completely from Cassie's perspective, which makes it easy for me to see why I fell for Fredrick. But the author starts most chapters with excerpts from his journal, which give us a peek into his thoughts, making for a refreshing narrative choice. She also gently sets up the conflict in the book early on, but I have a feeling that the resolution might be accepted differently by different readers.

CONCLUSION: Place your pre-orders if you enjoy fantasy romcoms that make for simple, quick, entertaining reads. My Roommate is a Vampire contains delightful characters, great situational humour, and is sure to make you put your commitments aside as you eagerly flip its pages.