Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper and Amanda Ronconi

Maybe it was the Shenanigans gift certificate that put her over the edge. When children's librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed $25 in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that's sure to become Half Moon Hollow legend. On her way home, she's mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead. And thanks to the mysterious stranger she met while chugging neon-colored cocktails, she wakes up with a decidedly unladylike thirst for blood.

Jane is now the latest recipient of a gift basket from the Newly Undead Welcoming Committee, and her life-after-lifestyle is taking some getting used to. Her recently deceased favorite aunt is now her ghostly roommate. She has to fake breathing and endure daytime hours to avoid coming out of the coffin to her family. She's forced to forgo her favorite down-home Southern cooking for bags of O negative. Her relationship with her sexy, mercurial vampire sire keeps running hot and cold. And if all that wasn't enough, it looks like someone in Half Moon Hollow is trying to frame her for a series of vampire murders. What's a nice undead girl to do?

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Audio Book Review

Regarding the Story:

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs is the first book in Molly Harper’s Jane Jameson series, a cross between Contemporary and Paranormal Romance, with just a tiny hint of Chick-Lit. 

Jane Jameson is an unemployed librarian and newly turned vampire, living in the quirky small town of Half Moon Hollow. Vampires have been ‘out of the closet’ for a while now, and in this first book of the series, we follow Jane as she acclimates to her life as an undead. 

There are plenty of great things about this book, including the cast of secondary characters, many who have stories of their own just screaming to be told. It's a unique world Ms. Harper has created, a refreshing twist on the done-to-death (no pun intended) vampire genre.

Molly Harper is one of the best authors I’ve read when it comes to humorous stories. There’s just something about the way she writes dialog, her dry wit and easy banter, that makes her books a pleasure to read.

My only complaint is a minor one, and it’s in the world building, which can often be a problem in the first book of a series. There were a few times I felt things dragged a bit, but once that foundation was laid, it was smooth listening right through the end.

Regarding the Audio Book:

Amanda Ronconi narrates this book and she is fabulous! Her voice is so comfortable to listen to and she can go from a slight southern drawl to a heavy twang flawlessly. Her reading of the story, her pacing and inflection, brings the story to life in a way that simply reading it from a book just can’t match. 

If you’re new to audio books, as I am, and not sure where to start, I can highly recommend this author/narrator team!

Note:

Though there is some relationship development between the two main characters, this book does not have a happily ever after and I'd rank the 'steam' at about 3 of 5.

Audiobook, Unabridged, 355 pages

Published February 19th 2010 by Audible, Inc