Persy -- Dead End Dating by Kimberly Raye

Lil Marchette is not your average vampire. She doesn't like black (she's a pink kind of girl), and she's one of the biggest believers in love.

All born vampires are looking for in a mate is how well they'll be able to produce children. Lil, however, believes that everyone deserves an eternity mate that they love. So she starts her own dating service (against her family's wishes) called Dead End Dating, open to clients of all kinds (born vampires, made vampires, humans, werekind...).

But then Ty Conner, a made vampire and a bounty hunter, turns up and tells her about a serial killer/kidnapper who seems to go through singles ads and dating services. Lil agrees to help Ty in keeping a lookout for the killer/kidnapper.

I originally got this book because it kind of resembles Maryjanice Davidson's Queen Betsy series, which, while not the most serious and interesting vampire series, is pretty darn hilarious. The Dead End Dating series has similarly drawn covers, and the titles are even alike. But Dead End Dating isn't nearly as good.

In the beginning, Lil was just plain annoying. She's a perky, ditzy vampire (which is pretty close to Betsy from Queen Betsy, but Betsy wasn't quite as bad) who reminded me of shallow teenage girls. But after a little while I got used to her and she wasn't so bad. She ends up being almost cute with her firm beliefs in L-O-V-E and determination to not be the stereotypical vampire woman.

But Ty Conner is definitely a cliché. Boots, long black coat, rugged good looks, lack of a real personality. Kimberly Raye doesn't seem to really dig deep into her characters, so they're all rather flat and one-layered. And I love characters with toons of depth, so this bugged me a little.

It certainly wasn't a bad book, and I do plan on reading at least the next book (mostly just out of curiosity), but if you want a funny adult vampire series, I'd definitely point you towards Queen Betsy instead. And if you want a serious series, I definitely wouldn't even mention Dead End Dating (though the pink cover probably should've hinted at that).

-Persy

Note: this is an adult book and contains adult content, such as language and a few 'graphic' love scenes.