Review: The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires by Molly Harper

The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires

Half Moon Hollow #1

Molly Harper

Iris Scanlon, Half-Moon Hollow’s only daytime vampire concierge, knows more about the undead than she’d like. Running all their daylight errands—from letting in the plumber to picking up some chilled O neg—gives her a look at the not-so-glamorous side of vampire life. Her rules are strict; relationships with vamps are strictly business, not friendship—and certainly not anything else. But then she finds her newest client, Cal, poisoned on his kitchen floor, and only Iris can help.

Cal - who would be devastatingly sexy, if Iris allowed herself to think that way - offers Iris a hefty fee for hiding him at her place until he figures out who wants him permanently dead. Even though he’s imperious, unfriendly and doesn't seem to understand the difference between "employee" and "servant," Iris agrees, and finds herself breaking more and more of her own rules to help him - particularly those concerning nudity.

Turns out what her quiet little life needed was some intrigue & romance—in the form of her very own stray vampire.

That title alone piqued my interest.

I've enjoyed reading Better Homes and Hauntings that I decided to try another Molly Harper book. I'm happy to say that I enjoyed this one as well. As a matter of fact, The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires was much better than Better Homes and Hauntings. I mean

For one, I deemed BHH as too tame for a ghost novel. TCFSV, on the other hand, had vampires so the added factor of feral danger was too sexy to ignore. I know it's unhealthy but, come on, it snags our interest when we know that vampires are around. 

Second, concierge to the vampires. I've never read about a heroine who's a concierge to vampires. Concierge services are not unheard of real life but who would in their right mind would take on a job on being a personal valet to predators? Oh wait, don't answer that. If many, at least in the wonderful world of fiction, would even consider being in a relationship with vampires, why not running errands for them while earning a lot of money.

However, TCFSV benefits from Molly Harper's fun writing. It has the right amount of snark, engaging first person point-of-view and chick-lit, paranormal goodness. I was especially gratified to find an independent and smart woman (as I did in Better Homes and Hauntings) who was really put together despite struggling like any working woman trying to find balance.

There has been a good helping of reference to plants and flowers in this book. I also noticed this in Better Homes and Hauntings where the heroine was a landscape architect. Here, Iris graduated with a degree in botany and had a Demeter-like mother. I haven't read "About the Author" of Molly Harper but putting these botanical knowledge tells about the author's personal interest (or good research) and recalls to mind my frustrations that I didn't inherit my mother's green thumb.

To finish, I definitely would read another book of Molly Harper. I'm considering reading the rest of the Half Moon Hollow series.