Silver Harris needs to date better men. Or vampires, maybe? People know that vampires exist, but they're still rather a novelty. Silver is a tad shallow, and she owns her shallowness: she wants to date a gorgeous guy, and everyone knows vampires are the fairest of them all, so why not try a vampire dating site? It turns out vampires might not be so different from humans, except for the charming Logan Byrne. Silver is also working for the police on the V-Date website, reporting what she witnesses about the vampires who use the site. But Logan is acting on behalf of his ancient -- long story -- Logan is supposed to glamour the humans using the website to make them forget about the vampires they met. Logan likes Silver very, very much, and he sort of forgets to glamour her; not good, definitely not good for Logan's health!

DATING THE UNDEAD offers a couple of innovative twists on vampires, but what surprised me the most, I think, is that DATING THE UNDEAD presents a romance that is very realistic. Silver does not fall at the feet of Logan, even though she is wildly attracted; he will have to prove himself, which he does. While Logan knows that he is extremely good-looking, he's not arrogant, he takes it all in stride. Both are lovely characters, and I also loved that both Silver and Logan have ordinary occupations.

Ms. Lyons' writing is very beautiful, young and fresh, and with a modern elegance that lends the narrative lightness and colour. The sex scenes are truly amazing; not because vampire-sex is so different, but because of the way Ms. Lyons writes them: they're incandescent, very sensuous, playful, and very convincing. There is action, and although it comes late in the book, I had no problem with the pacing of the story, even though I had almost forgotten that there was some sort of mystery at the beginning, so engrossed was I in the romance. DATING THE UNDEAD will not change the world, but it is a very compelling book, easy to read, pleasant, unpretentious, and it has something a lot of books lack: charm, irresistible charm. Logan and Silver's attraction is palpable, and they're equals, surprisingly enough. I was reminded of a young Bridget Jones, had she dated vampires. Juliet Lyons' strength is writing characters that are so engaging, that only watching them living their daily life and conversing is enough; the dialogues are excellent, and quite humorous as well. There are also a few great secondary characters, some that turn out not to be precisely what they seemed, and a really horrid villain. And when the action and mystery kick in, it gets better and better! And squee! what an ending! I cannot wait what awaits us in book two!