My Roommate Is A Vampire is the first novel by American author, Jenna Levine. About to be evicted from her apartment, thirty-two-year-old MFA graduate Cassie Greenberg spots a Craigslist ad that seems, for that area of Chicago, too good to be true: “Roommate Wanted to Share Spacious Third-Floor Brownstone Apartment in Lincoln Park. $200 per month.” But she’s desperate, so, encouraged by her best friend, she checks it out.

Frederick J. Fitzwilliam strikes her as a bit weird: drop-dead gorgeous and built, but very formally clad in dated suits, with a very conservative manner. The place is furnished in an old-fashioned style but, with two part-time jobs limiting her budget, Cassie decides she can put up with the décor and Frederick’s quaint ways that include him sleeping all day (do not disturb), his strange naivete about some aspects of modern life (no wi-fi?), and an off-limits closet.

After two relatively satisfactory weeks, though, things suddenly fall apart: Cassie finds bags of blood in the refrigerator, which Frederick’s practical-joker friend Reginald consumes in front of her, and suddenly those bizarre news items about local blood-bank break-ins become very relevant. After Frederick confesses that they are vampires, Cassie flees without further explanation.

But it’s not just Frederick’s physical attraction that eventually moves her to hear his explanation. He has been courteous and extremely kind during her stay and, even though she admits to being a “quirky eccentric who couldn’t hold a job or even an apartment for more than a few months. The girl who would never achieve her dreams or amount to much of anything at all”, whose artistic style involves creating classic paintings subverted with such modern materials they are a step too far for most schools, he says she’s a visionary artist.

Turns out circumstances see him needing someone to teach him how to live in the modern world without standing out, without becoming a target for vampire hunters. Will Cassie step up?

Cassie’s narrative is supplemented by emails, text messages, letters, informal notes left on the kitchen table, and Frederick’s diary entries. There’s quite a bit of sexual tension as Cassie and Frederick try to deny their attraction, some explicit descriptions of what happens when they no longer do, and the dialogue is often laugh-out-loud funny.

This is a fun rom-com with vampire, and readers will be pleased to see that a follow-up, featuring secondary characters from this novel, My Vampire Plus-One, is coming. A very enjoyable debut novel.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Cornerstone.