Ummm...hmmm...

I'm kind of at a loss here. This is kind of embarrassing. I've been saying that I was going to review The Vampire Who Loved Me by Teresa Medeiros. I read it about two weeks ago, and at the time I enjoyed it, I really did. But it has almost completely faded from my memory. No joke. I had to look at the back of the book to remind me of the hero's name (Julian Kane, FYI). So I don't have all that much to say about it.

TVWLM is the sequel to After Midnight, which I also read and enjoyed and promptly forgot. Like After Midnight, this is a Vampire Regency romance featuring the younger sister and brother of the hero and heroine of the first book. Portia Cabot has never forgotten Julian Kane, the gorgeous, brooding vampire she nursed a huge crush on, and who bit her before disappearing. The dissolute Julian returns to England after a period of time (3 or 4 years?), during which he's been searching for the vampire who holds his soul and trying to get himself killed. A bunch of stuff happens and they get together. And...yeah.

Anyway, I like Medeiros' writing style, which is light and breezy, with some very amusing moments. I also liked Portia, who was strong and spunky without being annoying. I also totally bought into their love story. I felt that they really loved each other, so Medeiros was definitely doing something right. Unfortunately, I can barely remember a specific thing about the plot or characters, so I guess that's not so good. The thing that I remember most was the love scene. There was only one major love scene, which is different from the books I usually read. And the author's real big on the disturbing cliches. We have "the thick, creamy nectar of her surrender,"the live ember nestled at the crux of her nether curls," and several mentions of "delicate petals" and "molten nectar." There was another "ember" reference as well. Oy. That kind of stuff knocks me right out of the story.

In conclusion, this was an enjoyable, but unmemorable read. If you enjoy paranormals, you'd likely enjoy it. Too bad the purple prose stayed with me more than anything else. But perhaps that's just me.