Pretty Fly for a Vampire Guy sank its fangs into my heart from page one. (Is this a pun? It’s as close to puns as I get.) Anyway, the book is easily one of this year’s most delightful reads. It may be my favorite book of the year.

I enjoyed The Nokk and The Jock with its emo boy and bi awakening storyline but it didn’t hook me from the start like this one did. Maybe it’s because that book was my first time in the world and this wasn’t. Now I’m more familiar with the monster-filled university that recently welcomed human students, including many guys that are falling head over heels for monsters.

Overall Thoughts: This novel by Leslie McAdam and CD Rachels is so adorable and cozy. Not too much angst or drama but there is enough plot going on to make things interesting.

Also the pun game was super on point. So many monster puns. I am not a pun person because I’m terrible at them but that’s also probably why I appreciate them and I am in awe of all the puns at work here.

Tropes and Keywords: College/university setting, jock/nerd, adorable awkwardness, romantic comedy, misunderstandings, bat dads, learning to fly, kissing bets, study buddies

About the Novel

Owen embodies the quintessential nerd with his tortoiseshell glasses and insatiable curiosity. Despite his academic brilliance, he remains adorably oblivious to social cues and the awkwardness of creating a Powerpoint about why vampires are ‘objectively’ attractive. This earnest dork shows his presentation to his friends, and it happens to focus on a certain vampire.

Which is Clay, he’s the sexy jock who plays water polo. He isn’t perfect, he’s insecure about not flying, but he’s used to hooking up and getting anybody into his bed with ease. But he has his work cut out for him with Owen.

It’s a credit that so much embarrassment can happen and it only hooks me further because when Clay and Owen become lab partners for monster anatomy, Owen is all about studying Clay intensely. For science. But Clay thinks it’s a hook up and greets Owen naked and things get awkward. Er. Awkwarder.

What breaks the ice and gets them on the right track?

They become bat dad. To a bat. Bat dads. There may be a few daddy jokes involved.

When Owen accidentally injures a bat and seeks help from Clay, they forget about their strained relationship and go all in on nursing the bat back to health. Who knew co-parenting a bat would be so completely adorable?

The only thing I took genuine offense to was when naming their bat Bat Bathanson after Matt Nathanson they called the musician old school, which is probably true, but I didn’t realize how old school he was and I instantly felt ancient for liking him ‘back in the day’ since I was around back in the day. How do I become a vampire who doesn’t age? Someone please make that happen ASAP.

And when Clay and the bat need to learn how to fly, earning a kiss from Owen acts as an incentive, which is just pure classic rom-com material. Here’s a quote from that part:

Pretty Fly For a Vampire Guy Book Description

Clay

I suck at being a vampire—literally. When the Halloween Wave turned a third of the population into monsters, I thought I was one of the lucky ones. I get to have my fit twenty-year-old body for decades. And vampires are supposed to be sexy, right?

But now that I’m finally in university, I still don’t fit in. I was supposed to find myself and spread my metaphorical vampire wings. Yet, I’m not good enough to be an academic, and too inept at flying to hang with monsters like me. At least flirting with my new nerdy lab partner can be some fun in the meantime.

Owen

I can’t stand my lab partner. It’s not because he’s a monster—far from it, I find vampires attractive. But jocks don’t go for academics like me, especially airheads like Clay. We only need to get through this class.

Then one day we’re nursing an injured bat together, and Clay’s sweet, compassionate side rears its teeth. Despite my best efforts, this gorgeous bloodsucker has me enchanted. When he wants to learn to fly, how can I refuse? This jock keeps failing at taking to the sky, but I fear I’m the one that’s falling. A nerdy human like me dating a himbo vampire could spell a monster-sized disaster.

Pretty Fly for a Vampire Guy is a spicy paranormal romantic comedy set in the Creepin U shifter universe. Don’t read if you’re not interested in nerd-jock connections, flying lessons through the forest, monsters at university, and yes, a happily ever after