In The Company of Vampires is a romantic tale told by Katie MacAlister.

I love Katie MacAlister - she's not your typical romance novelist. She writes about vampires, some of them from other times with very silly/interesting points of views, and her books are always hot and steamy. One summer, years ago, I binged as much of her and Gena Showalter as I could get my hands on (it helped that I didn't have a part time job at the time, so literally all of my time was allocated to Katie, Gena, Rachel Vincent, and a few other novelists).

Fran and Benedikt are the leads of this book - if you haven't picked up Katie MacAlister before, these two leads were going to be the main character in her Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend YA series that didn't go very far. I absolutely loved that little series, and was broken-hearted when I discovered it was not being continued. But then, Katie did what all the best novelists do, she brought them into the adult romance genre.

And OH MY GOODNESS did she deliver. This book was hot and steamy and everything I wanted it to be. She starts it off in a great manner - these characters haven't seen each other for a while (which makes sense since the YA was cancelled and we never knew what actually happened to them, since it was a sudden stop). The drama, romance and steamy sex scenes that follow will melt you.

This book is fast paced, and it's absolutely hilarious. Katie always adds a sense of humor into her books - so it's not a serious romance novel. When you have vampires, crazy unrealistic drama and the supernatural around, you might as well add in some humor! All of that together ties in for a perfectly good guilty pleasure read! I've picked up this specific book quite a few times, because it's my favourite out of all the Dark Ones series. And if you have read her previous books, yup, the vikings are back. Katie has a thing for vikings... You'll figure that out the more you read her novels.

Overall, I love this series. It's one of my giant guilty pleasures that I reread when I'm having a bad day. I definitely recommend this book if you want something easy to read, something funny, romantic or fast, or just want something that isn't your typical romance novel.

Five out of five stars. ( )

In this mature(ish) follow up to the YA books "Got Fangs?" and "Circus of the Darned" we get to see a grown up (sort of) Fran. In this entry her ghostly Viking trio comes to call on a mission from Freyda to banish Loki. This, in conjunction with realizing her mother's gone missing, compells Fran to return to the goth Faire. Fran is anxious about seeing her Dark One, Ben, again, however, when she arrives she finds him in the arms of the faire's new tattoo artist. This leads to a little bit of jealousy on Fran's part, despite Ben's insistence that he has his reasons and that he has not betrayed her.

This story was okay, mainly. I had forgotten the silliness of these stories (this and the preceding YA novels), which I can deal with. What I disliked immensely is the fact that this book ends with no actual ending. We do not see total resolution of any single storyline brought up. Not with Loki, the therions, Fran's mom or even, really, Fran and Ben. Thus, I cannot say I really enjoyed the story, it would have been much better with a resolution. ( )

Very funny book with a delightful and sexy set of characters. I really enjoyed the scenes with the vikings. I have to admit that I had moments of outright laughter. ( )

I hope there is more Ben and Fran ( )

Katie McAllister revisits Fran & Ben from her previous works Got Fangs? & Circus of the Darned (both written under Katie Maxwell). This time, several years have passed & Fran is an adult making her own way in the world. She is determined to have her own life away from being Beloved to Ben, but her past catches up with her. She returns to GothFaire to find a missing mother, help Viking ghosts to banish a God and face her role as Beloved to Benedict who seems to have found a new love interest. Gone is the angst of teenaged Fran, or at least most of it, and this Fran is a little more mature and experienced. It's a more adult romance and a nice follow up to her previous YA writings. I honestly hope Katie McAllister visits with Fran & Benedict again because they are very likable characters and their adventures are excellent. ( )