Review: Happy Hour at Casa Dracula - Marta Acosta

Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Acosta

Book 1, Casa Dracula series

Genre: Paranormal romance
Published:2006
Pages: 320

Latina Ivy League grad Milagro de Los Santos can't find her place in the world or a man to go with it. Then one night, at a book party for her pretentious ex-boyfriend, she meets an oddly attractive man. After she is bitten while kissing him, she falls ill and is squirreled away to his family's estate to recover. Vampires don't exist in this day and age -- or do they? As Milagro falls for a fabulously inappropriate man, she finds herself caught between a family who has accepted her as one of their own and a shady organization that refuses to let the undead live and love in peace.

This was a fun book, it was like paranormal chic-lit in a way. Just because the funny way it was written and it didn't take everything so serious and tried to explain that it's so real. A reason why I ended up choosing this cover for my review cos it more says fun than the other one that says paranormal.

I do expect a smile on my face when the main character is a graduate from F.U. Lol, yes. It might not have been laughing out loud. But it was a sweet book that made you smile and a giggle here and there.

Milagro is a spicy Latina that got into a great uni and felt a bit out of place there with all those blonde wasps. One of her secret weapons are her boobs, they are great now and again when you are late with rent and need some sympathy. She is a writer who writes about zombies and gore, and she sure does not believe in anything paranormal. But then she meets a guy who sweeps her off her feet, there is some kissing involved and soon she is going crazy from hearing rats in the walls and gets really ill. In sweeps attractive guy and takes her away to a country estate, but there is also the matter of her ex who wants to stake her.

Oswald, well I liked him, I disliked him, I liked, and yes then I disliked him in the end. He was a roller coaster, and the writer made me feel like Milagro. Could she like and trust him or? There were others I liked instead, I did keep changing my mind and some things just worked out for the best in the end.

As for side character, slimy creep wasp Ex, a good evil person who I wanted to kick in the ass. Edna, oh I loved her. Oswalds grandmother who has a lot of class, and dislikes Milagro, or perhaps just really likes her. And more, who I sure want to know more about later on.

Are they vampires or not is the question here, and I did wonder. It's a different sort of vampire tale, some bites yes, but so much else too. Culture and social classes clash when Milagro shows up, and with her bantering with Edna, there we got the smiles. Romance, yes, and more is to come.

A fun vampire tale with a funny twist. I will keep an eye out for book 2 and 3 because I do want to know what will happen, and if there is that HEA we all love. A recommendation for paranormal lovers out there.