Romancing the Dead by Tate Hallaway: A Book Review

The third book in the Garnet Lacey series, Romancing The Dead, is the sequel to Tall, Dark and Dead, and Dead Sexy. In Tall, Dark and Dead and Dead Sexy, super witch, Garnet Lacey, battles Vatican Witch Hunters and Zombies, FBI Agents and even her Vampire friends. In the third book, Romancing the Dead, Garnet Lacey finds herself taking on even more: a shape shifter who is trying to steal the goddess still harboring inside of her, and her fiancée, Sebastian's, ghouls (or donors, as they prefer to be called) are after her for revenge. That's right, Sebastian and Garnet are finally engaged to be married, but they can't exactly bask in the post engagement bliss, because soon after Sebastian, himself goes missing. Is it possible that Sebastian is afraid of commitment, or has he been kidnapped?

As Garnet tries to gain control of the things that always seem to be going wrong in her life, she once again enlists the help of some of her friends and one person that she never thought she would ever be enlisting the help of. Her vampire fiancée's son, her future son-in-law, and herself have never been on the best of terms, considering Matayas always accuses her of being just another one of his father's chew toys. But when the one thing they have in common -- their love for the vampire that has mysteriously gone missing, they have to work together. Meanwhile, another god in the form of someone's body is trying hard to steal Lilith, the goddess that has been Garnet for a lot of unfortunate adventures, and he's doing a good job of keeping Garnet on her toes.

Romancing the Dead is a roller coaster from start to end. The story of Garnet Lacey never seems to be complete, as she tackles life being in love with a vampire, harboring a powerful goddess, and with there always, always, being something lurking right around the corner. Amidst all of the adventure and the butt kicking, though, Romancing the Dead, and the rest of the series, are definitely telling love stories. The love of her friends and her new fiancée comes shining through, and somehow, through all of the obstacles, she comes out on top.

Vampires, witches, and the undead have never really been my cup of tea, but Tate Hallaway has sucked me in with her believably dynamic characters, wonderful descriptions, and clever plot twists. I think I could really get used to this whole vampire thing, and I can't wait to see what's in store for Garnet next.