’ve always loved the idea of True Blood more than I loved the show itself.
An incredibly horny TV show? Check. A TV show that takes its supernatural premise seriously and mostly deploys it in as slick a way as only drama usually does? Check. Loads of great characters being put through the romantic wringer? Check.
It has it all in a way that you rarely see on screen.
But the problem with it is: it kind of falls apart as it goes, and treats some of its characters as punching bags in a really boring way (Tara), and it just doesn’t want to commit to being a full-on Romance. Which is a shame, because within it is one of the greatest potential Romances of all time. Our white whale. The “so close yet so far” to end them all.
That’s right, I’m talking about Eric and Sookie.
Now don’t get me wrong! I never really shipped them. And by that I mean I didn’t think they should actually be endgame. To be honest, I rarely think anyone in anything should be endgame, because movies and shows that aren’t overtly a Romance usually mess up so much stuff along the way that it becomes impossible for it to work.
But by god, did I love amnesia Eric.
Amnesia Eric is everything I wanted the show to be. It’s got it all: the drama of his past actions. The terror that you can’t trust him. The reveal that underneath he’s THIS guy: so soft and sweet he apologizes for showing his vampire teeth. It’s perfect, it’s magical, he’s a delight. And it’s made all the sweeter because Skarsgard, this six foot five-inch murder eyed monster of a man, is so damn good at playing this innocent lovelorn sweetheart. He doesn’t seem to care one bit about seeming foolish!
He just goes for it.
And then comes the greatest TV tragedy of our time: it’s all gone.
It never comes back. We never see anything to do with it again. You don’t even really get any extra drama between Eric and Sookie afterwards. It’s like it never happened—which was of course one of the fatal flaws of the show. Things were just fun plot points to the writers. They meant nothing, really.
But they meant something to me.
And if there’s one thing I love to do, it’s take some throwaway piece of drama and romance from a show, and make it matter. I want it to have consequences. I want it to still make the characters bleed long after it’s happened. That kernel of romance? Give it to me and I’ll make it an ocean of popcorn.
That my characters now have to cross, in order to be together.
And it will always, always star the fat girl that every other type of fiction writes out. Excludes. Relegates to some sad corner, for me to dust off and place center stage. FALLING FOR A VILLAINOUS VAMPIRE is my love letter to amnesiac vampires and fat women kicking ass and taking names.
And you can grab it right now!
The third standalone in Charlotte Stein's Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures series, featuring a blood‑pumping enemies‑to‑lovers romance for the ages!
Marley Maples is sure she's finally evaded her vampire mortal enemy. Halsten has stalked her across oceans of time, and many, many lives. But now she's arrived at the age of thirty in Hollow Brook, with no sign of him. So she’s devastated when he suddenly shows and yet again tries to make her life hell. Until her two witchy best friends suggest a spell to make him forget all about her.
There’s just one issue: he forgets his whole existence with it. All Halsten now remembers is being a big, hot, vampire Viking. And all he sees when he looks at Marley is his beloved little witch, his saviour, the light of his life. He goes from being a horror that haunts her nightmares, to a man who loves her and will protect her at all costs. And as much as she’s skeptical, she can’t help finding his fish‑out‑of‑water, warrior ways and his desire to defend her endearing.
Maybe even a little sexy. In fact, it’s starting feel very sexy indeed.
And if she’s not careful, she’s going to lose herself to a man she swore to hate. A man who might return to her eternal enemy, at any moment…
Romance Paranormal | Romance Comedy [ St. Martin's Press, On Sale: October 27, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9781250352378 / eISBN: 9781250352385 ]
Charlotte Stein is the RT and DABWAHA nominated author of over fifty short stories, novellas and novels, including the Library Journal starred When Grumpy Met Sunshine. When not writing deeply emotional and intensely sexy books, she can be found eating jelly turtles, getting way too excited over a million movies and TV shows, and occasionally lusting after moustaches. She lives in Leeds with her family.
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