Shortly after that night, Simone was turned into a vampire, bitten by a renegade vampire while working in her shop. Simone, Gran and Glory adopted a weird nighttime schedule to adapt to Simone’s new aversion to daylight, but it’s been easier for them than it would seem. Broken Heart is a paranormal town, home to all sorts of paranormal folks, so Simone isn’t the odd one out.

Then Simone meets Braddock Hayes, a gorgeous local man who’s helping build a special paranormal shield to protect the town. Brady is pretty open about his attraction to Simone, but she foresees some problems if they get close. Brady isn’t a vampire. He hasn’t a clue about her terrible past. And having sex, for a vampire, means being married for 100 years. So, even if Brady has the finest body Simone’s seen in awhile, and he gets along with Glory and Gran, and he isn’t grossed out by the whole vampire deal, and he’s willing to play superhero to save Simone’s life…is that enough?

Simone doesn’t realize that Brady has a lot of baggage too, and he’s currently on his own personal mission for justice that could drag her into a very ugly place. Not to mention, something weird is starting to happen in Broken Heart; people are disappearing and acting suspiciously.  Even for a paranormal town used to strange events, this can’t be good.

Over My Dead Body tries too hard to be a light, fun read. Simone’s irreverent humor often comes off sounding terse, as if she’s gritting her teeth trying to be funny. There are some truly funny, belly-laugh moments in the story, such as Simone’s internal dialogue when Brady kisses her on the porch swing. However, more often than not, the multiple forced attempts at humor seem naggingly hollow.

Brady remains an enigma, even at the end of the story. Simone’s vivid description of Brady’s physical traits outweigh any tiny amount of emotional content that Brady contributes to any conversation. If a lady wants arm candy, I guess Brady’s her man, but don’t expect any stimulating intelligence or spiritual revelation from him.

There are quite a few background characters, some irrelevant and mentioned briefly, for unknown reasons as they never seem to reappear or function within the plot. I did like George, the horny elderly vampire who takes an interest in Gran. I was pretty annoyed by Flet, the pixie, as he seemed truly superfluous. I understand that he was supposed to be annoying to the heroine, but he does an outstanding enough job that I didn’t like him at all, which I’m not sure was the point.

Over My Dead Body isn’t a must read, it’s a silly, heartless romp with just a few shining moments. 

--Amy Wroblewsky