ARC Review: Vlad All Over by Beth Orsoff

Vlad All Over

Author: Beth Orsoff

Publication: Amazon Publishing (November 20, 2012)

Description: Gwen Andersen loves being a schoolteacher, but she isn’t exactly raking in the big bucks. With her bank account shrinking by the minute, she needs a well-paying summer job if she’s going to hold onto the childhood home she inherited from her parents. So when the father of one of her students asks her to fill in as his au pair for the summer, she knows she should be thrilled. Alexander Romanescu is loaded, and Gwen adores his daughter Isabella. Plus, they’re planning to spend the vacation at their ancestral estate—in Romania!

And yet Gwen can’t shake the nagging feeling that saying yes to this man could lead to more than she bargained for. She knows so little about him—and the idea of spending six weeks in the land of Dracula and Vlad the Impaler is more than a little creepy. But the legends of Romania will be the least of her concerns if she doesn’t make some money…fast. And so Gwen says yes: yes to the job, yes to a European excursion…and yes to a summer that will change her path forever.

With her trademark crackling dialogue, exotic locations, and knack for realistic characters, women’s fiction author Beth Orsoff delivers an engrossing tale of love, intrigue, and betrayal. This is not your typical chick lit tale. This is something new. This is gothic chick lit.

My Thoughts: This story was an interesting kind of romance that definitely took a turn for the realistic. There isn't a traditional "happily ever after" at the end of the story. Gwen Andersen is a school teacher. When the father of one of her students asks her to act as his daughter's nanny for a summer in Romania, she reluctantly agrees. It doesn't take long before she falls for him and they begin an affair.

The whole romance things blows up when she learns that he had ulterior motives for asking her to go to Romania and, she thinks, for having a romance with him. Apparently a birthmark on her arm has convinced him that she is an heir to Vlad Tepes. For him that means that she stands to inherit some land in Romania that has gold beneath it. For her it means that he has lied to her from the start of their relationship and that she is the descendant of a mass murderer and torturer. She find the lying unforgivable; he wants to her to accept his apology and continue the relationship.

Things would have stayed at that impasse for ever except that the one time they had unprotected sex was enough to leave her pregnant. Now she is having the baby of a man she doesn't trust. They have to forge a relationship - if only to have him stop suing her every time she turns around.

I liked the relationship between the two of them but I could easily see why they would have trouble forging a lasting relationship. Gwen is not very trusting and really likes to be alone. Alex is domineering and likes getting his own way. While I think he loves Gwen, I can really understand why she doesn't want to be railroaded into a relationship with him.

I enjoyed this story and liked the teaser for the next book in the series that was at the end of this story. I will be eager to read it to find out what happens next for Gwen and Alex.

Favorite Quote:

When his hand slid down to my breast, I finally spoke. "You're not Isabella's father."

"I'm not?" My eyes were still closed, but I could hear the incredulity in his voice.

"No, because if you were we wouldn't be doing this. It would be wrong for me to sleep with my boss, and wrong for you to sleep with your daughter's nanny."

"Are you sure?" he asked, the incredulity replace by amusement. "I thought seducing the babysitter was a common fantasy."

I chose this ARC as one of my recent Amazon Vine books. You can buy your copy here.