Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Review of "Happy Hour at Casa Dracula" by Marta Acosta


Long time no see! Sorry guys, it's been so hectic with work and getting ready for school. But I'm back, and with a new review to share!

So, I read "Happy Hour at Casa Dracula" by Marta Acosta. You know, at first, I felt like this book and I would clash, or more specifically, the main character and I would clash. But I would have to say, I ended up being pleasantly surprised. Milagro is an interesting, snarky character that I quickly fell in love with, and I can't wait to read the others in the series.

The main character, Milagro, lives in a small rat-infested apartment, and while at a party for one of her clients, meets up with an old.. shall we say, "friend." After her not-so-wonderful conversation with her old flame, she meets a new man, Oswald, who talks about interest in what she writes, and took her back to his hotel room. After one very passionate kiss complete with a little accidental lip biting, and some time later, Milagro finds herself sick, and craving red meat. After she begins to get her strength back, she ventures out of her apartment, only to be kidnapped by the old flame, Sebastian Beckett-Witherspoon, who proceeds to tell her she is now one of the soulless undead, a demon. One crash and a shot fired to a man's groin later, Mil is taken from her kidnappers to a ranch owned by Oswald's family. There, she has to learn to deal with not only her newfound interesting traits, but the family - Sam, Edna, Winnie, and even Oswald. To make it worse, Sebastian and his vampire-hunting organization, CACA, will stop at nothing to rid the world of the vampire kind, even if they're good people.

Now, as I said, I enjoyed the characters, and I definitely see myself reading the sequels, since I have them next to me as we speak, but there were a few things here and there that bothered me. For example, Milagro is obviously a very smart person. She's witty, snarky, amusing, everything I love about a character. But on some issues in the book, she seemed almost too blind. The book is from Mil's point of view, but I figured a few things out in the book chapters before she realized it all. Her life in this novel is pretty hectic, so I can see her maybe being somewhat behind on the uptake, but it just seemed like she's too bright for it to have taken as long as it did. That being said, I loved the character interaction, and of course the ending. I would have to say my favorite person in the book, besides Mil, was Edna. One of the characters said it right, Edna is indeed the last "femme fatale." She's strong, snippy, and there's just something about her that makes you love her, whether you want to or not. The writing itself was excellent. At first I feared it might get too uppity feeling as I kept reading, but I enjoyed it.

All that said (and it was a lot!), I would have to give this book 3 stars. I will definitely read the sequels, and I will recommend it to others, if this is there type of book.

So, stay tuned for my review of "Indiscreet" by Carolyn Jewel, which I finally received in the mail. Can't wait to start it tonight!