Julian Kane is back in town. Five years ago, Julian left Portia Cabot to find the vampire who has his soul. Much to Portia’s dismay, Julian comes back still without a soul, still a vampire and still irresistible. Portia must convince Julian that he is worth saving; all the while Julian does his darnedest to convince Portia that he is not.

The Vampire Who Loved Me by Theresa Medeiros reminded me of all the reasons why I stopped reading romance novels as a teenager. I picked up this book, because I’ve had my fair share of “bad” vampire novel this year and I actually enjoyed the books knowing full well what they are. I forgave them anyway. The romance genre that I remembered never had any vampires. I was curious as to what kind of vampire would be in a romance novel?

Julian Kane isn’t really a vampire. He’s basically an egotistical rake who goes around sleeping with a lot of woman. His being a vampire only works for the plot. As a vampire, he’s allowed to sleep with a lot of woman because he’s “tortured” and he needs their blood. Plus, as a vampire he has to keep the love of his life away from him because he’s no good for her. Every female fantasy rolled into one guy: forbidden and tormented.

Julian Kane is in search of his soul, even though he acts like he all ready has one. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer when the vampire Angel has his soul, he’s basically a regular guy who needs to drink blood. Without his soul, Angel likes to eat and torture people. Huge difference. For Kane, without a soul basically means that he’s still a vampire, but he won’t eat people. A little boring.

Julian Kane as a bat is just kind of weird. I’m all for using mythology in books, but I could never really picture Julian as a vampire. In my mind, Julian is a regular guy who needs to sleep with a lot of woman. So when it came time for him to turn into a bat, I was like “What?” Then came the logistics, where did his clothes go? Does he unbat naked? What’s going on here.

Overall, Medeiros is a fine writer. I finished this book even though I had suspend all of my feminist beliefs for a brief period to get through it. Medeiros sucks you into her story. Even though, I kept saying to myself, “Really” or “Puhleaze” – I kept reading and I wasn’t tortured by doing so.

Book Source: Hennepin Country Library, Eden Prairie, MN

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