Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Publisher description:

"Sick of hearing about vampires? So is Meena Harper.
But her bosses are making her write about them anyway, even though Meena doesn't believe in them.
Not that Meena isn't familiar with the supernatural. See, Meena Harper knows how you're going to die. (Not that you're going to believe her. No one ever does.)
But not even Meena's precognition can prepare her for what happens when she meets—then makes the mistake of falling in love with—Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side. It's a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire hunters, would prefer to see him dead for.
The problem is, Lucien's already dead. Maybe that's why he's the first guy Meena's ever met whom she could see herself having a future with. See, while Meena's always been able to see everyone else's future, she's never been able look into her own.
And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare.
Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future. . . .
If she even has one. "

So, we begin by complaining about all those vampire stories in which the dark and dangerous vampire falls in love with the beautiful woman and nobly refrains from killing her, and then proceed to write a novel about a dark and dangerous vampire who falls in love with a beautiful woman and...gotcha.

There are so many vampire novels out there, it would be impossible to read one and not see echos of others. We saw Twilight, we saw Evernight, we saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Don't expect a whole lot of originality here.

Do expect a fast-moving story, a couple good steamy bedroom scenes (definitely adult or older YA), quirky characters, and a heroine with a little more intelligence and personality than Bella (we really don't like Bella). Cabot's humor serves this novel - definitely more romance than horror - well. Our favorite passage, an exchange between vampire hunter and motherly nun, waiting for the vamps to arrive:

"I'll put some garlic on her door, for good measure," the nun said with a hearty nod.

"Excellent idea," Abraham Holtzman said. "The oldies are still the goodies."

"And I've got my Beretta semiautomatic," Sister Gertrude added cheerfully, patting her habit, "right here with the silver bullets. That ought to take out a few of those dirtbags."

Hee hee, we do like old ladies with guns. Hey, shades of Stephanie Plum! (What would happen if Cabot and Evanovich cowrote a book? Note to selves: possible future blog post, authors who should collaborate.)

We thoroughly enjoyed the big battle (you know there HAS to be a big battle, no spoiler here), and parts of the ending that we really can't mention more specifically without ruining it. It is definitely set up for a sequel, which we will be looking forward to. For pure entertainment value, we give it a

4 out of 5.