Review--The Vampire's Accidental Wife by Kristen Painter

Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year.

Las Vegas headliner and vampire Desdemona Valentine is one cool, collected diva on the outside. On the inside, she’s petrified of falling in love after her last relationship nearly killed her...literally. Protecting her wounded heart makes for a lonely life, but she has her fame and fortune to keep her company. Who needs anything more?

Julian Ellingham does. One look at Desdemona on stage, and the vampire is smitten. She initially ignores him, but his relentless pursuit pays off when a wild night ends in a Vegas wedding. Finally, Julian has everything he wants while all Desdemona wants is...a divorce.

Julian sweet-talks Desdemona into letting him prove his love, but his time is running out. Especially after someone repeatedly tries to turn his bride to ash. When Desdemona flees Vegas for the spooky streets of Nocturne Falls and Julian’s protection, he’s more than willing to help out. But can he convince Desdemona to trust him, or will ‘death do us part’ become a reality?

Needing a break from all the fantasy I’ve been reading lately, I decided for a quick read within my favorite town in the world, Nocturne Falls! This time I read The Vampire’s Accidental Wife, a book I’ve been waiting forever to read! In it, we see playboy Julian finally decide to settle down, only for a change of pace, the woman he loves doesn’t want a relationship with him at all.

Desdemona Valentine is a Vegas celebrity with her own show, she’s a vampire pretending to be a human pretending to be a vampire, so it all works out! Julian has been to many of her shows and somewhere down the line, fell in love with her and one night after way too much to drink, Desdemona wakes up to find herself a married woman, which wasn’t in her plans whatsoever. Despite enjoying Julian’s friendship, she swore to herself she would never love again after her first relationship went seriously wrong.

Julian decides to give Desi a deal, he asks that she wait one year until they file for divorce and in that year, he would try to convince her to stay married to him. Months have passed, and while Desi continues to enjoy Julian’s company, she still has no feelings for him other than friendship. But then out of nowhere an accident occurs, Desi’s daylight partner, Sam, who’s a shapeshifter and makes herself look like Desi during the day to protect Desi’s vampire secret, gets attacked, Desi fears for her life and knows the only person who can help her is Julian.

After making sure Sam would be protected by a bodyguard, Desi goes with Julian to Nocturne Falls where she soon falls in love with the delightful town where supernaturals can be themselves openly. While she’s here, Julian tries to figure out who could be after Desi and want her dead. It’s not long before Desi’s stalker realizes she’s in Nocturne Falls and her life once again becomes in danger.

Ever since I started this series I was eagerly awaiting the time when it would be Julian’s turn to settle down! He’s the youngest of the Ellingham brothers and the residential playboy of the town. Thinking of him settling down seemed impossible, yet I was more than eager to see that time come! Desi was definitely a challenge for him, as she rightly should be! That she didn’t fall for him as the many women have fallen for Julian in the past was the icing on the cake.

Though we all know that this series is part mystery and part paranormal romance, so you can pretty much figure out how things will end for Julian and Desi. And I must say I quite enjoyed their journey to their romance! It was sweet and just kind of perfect! I love a nicely drawn out romance, it’s such a breath of fresh air from some of the insta-love stories I come across!

Oddly, I find myself really want to know more about Desi’s shapeshifter friend, Sam. As we learn a thing or two about what’s going on with her through phone conversations with Desdemona. There’s definitely a possible story there, maybe a novella even! And I really want to know more about that! Lol! You never know who will turn up in the next Nocturne Falls book, so anything is possible!

The mystery to this one was rather good! I had my suspicions and was actually rather thrown when I found out I was very, very wrong! Lol. Though it was still a realistic turnabout to find out who the stalker was. The dramatic change of events made for a heart-racing conclusion as well, but in the true fashion of this series, all ends as it should be!

The Nocturne Falls series is one I cannot get enough of! It’s the perfect read for paranormal lovers and mystery readers too! I’d say it’s a nice 50/50 balance of love and mystery, making for quite the enjoyable read! While each novel is a standalone of sorts, there will be teeny tiny spoilers regarding other characters and their happily ever afters, but none that should surprise you in the long run should you want to start with a particular novel instead of the first one!

All in all, The Vampire’s Accidental Wife was an enjoyable read and a worthy ending for one of my favorite characters. Of course, that’s not to say that Julian (and Desi) won’t pop up again in future books as side characters, that’s positively the best part of this series, you never truly say goodbye to any of the characters!

 
Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars