Unlike previous years, Vikar Sigurdsson's wife Alex wants a traditional Christmas with all the trimmings, especially for their children. Vikar is not that keen on the idea; they live in a large, somewhat decrepit, castle and it would be a big bother. Their castle is in Transylvania, Pennsylvania, and also serves as a headquarters for other Vangels.

All this talk about the Holidays has made one of them, Karl Mortensen, nostalgic for the Christmases of his youth on the family farm. He decides to head back home to Minnesota, and on his way he stops at a local diner where he notices that Faith Larson, a favourite waitress of his, is not there. When he asks if she's alright, an employee asks him to go check on Faith because her boyfriend is violent. When Vikar reaches Faith's trailer, he sees the woman was severely beaten, and asks to come back to the castle so she'll be safe.

CHRISTMAS IN TRANSYLVANIA is a novella in the Deadly Angels series, and readers unfamiliar with this series should not be deterred: vangels are vampire avenging angels who protect other vangels and humans from Lucipires: demon vampires. Ms. Hill does a great job at providing sufficient background information so anyone can follow without any difficulty.

CHRISTMAS IN TRANSYLVANIA is both sweet and hilarious; it's very well written, very fast paced, and the dialogues are extremely witty, and sometimes quite bawdy; they are Vikings, after all! Sandra Hill keeps you on your toes, and comes up with the most unexpected turns of events in this tightly plotted novella. Let's not forget those laugh-out loud moments and the giggles: the author's trademark sometimes raunchy and off-the-wall sense of humour is as present as ever as those pesky vangels get into mischief; and I just love reading the characters' thoughts in parentheses. The outrageous characters and dialogues are strong highlights, as always, and I find it remarkable how Sandra Hill is able to blend paranormal creatures that are completely over the top with ordinary humans, and that everything blends seamlessly.

Faith's issues are real and the author treats her situation with compassion and dignity, while the vangels are as unpredictable and wild as ever. CHRISTMAS IN TRANSYLVANIA is a hilarious romp as well as a charming Christmas story with a real Holiday feel, along with a lovely romance. Very well done, Ms. Hill!