[Novella Review] A Vampire's Christmas Carol By Cynthia Eden & World Market Christmas Coal Coffee

Title: A Vampire’s Christmas Carol
Series: None
Author: Cynthia Eden
Publisher: Cynthia Eden
Publication date: November 11th 2013
Page Count: 90 pages
Age Rating: Adult (explicit sexual scenes)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received an ARC to review
Publisher’s page: A Vampire’s Christmas Carol

This holiday season has bite.

Ben Prescott hates Christmas–he’s a vampire, and to him, there’s certainly nothing jolly about the holiday season. While the humans are running around being merry, he’s hunting in the shadows. Ben plans to spend the holidays his way…by stalking deadly prey.

But fate has other plans for Ben.

Three visitors are coming Ben’s way…A demon who will force Ben to face his past, a ghost who will show Ben the present he could have, and a shifter who will reveal the darkness that waits in Ben’s future. Unless Ben can change his ways, he may just turn into a real monster, one who can’t be saved by anyone or anything.

‘Tis the season…to be undead.

Ben’s redemption rests in the hands of the one woman he loved and lost–Simone Laurent. If Ben is going to have a chance at being more than just the beast in the darkness, he has to prove himself to the lovely Simone. A very hard task, considering that, once upon a Christmas Eve, Simone died in Ben’s arms…

Warning: This story features one very tortured vampire, a sexy ghost from his past, and hot scenes designed to melt the winter snow. Plenty of action, adult situations, and steamy times are ahead. Happy holidays!

My Review

A Vampire’s Christmas Carol is a nice little paranormal twist on the classic tale. Vampire Ben is shown the error of his ways and where the dark path he’s on will lead with the help of three beings on Christmas Eve – a demon, an angel, and a panther shifter.

This holiday novella was short, but action and story packed. The plot follows the basic outline of Dickens’ classic so there are very few surprises there (entities show the main character his past, present, and possible future which lead to his ultimate redemption). There are two explicit love scenes which I found to be a bit gratuitous as they didn’t really further the story along. They were also repetitive (both scenes are basically the same).

Overall, I found this holiday novella to be an interesting twist on an old classic and worth it if you like paranormal stories and Christmas (which I do) as it’s a good blend of the two. It’s a bit cheesy in parts, but it’s holiday cheese so it’s more easily overlooked and forgiven.

World Market Christmas Coal Coffee – strong and dark and perfect for Ben whose been more than a little bit naughty ever since the eve he was forced into becoming a creature of the night.