Between a Vamp and a Hard Place

Sims (the Midnight Liaisons series) sets this paranormal romance in present-day Lincoln, Neb., where Lindsey Hughes and her best friend, Gemma, run an antiques booth. They need a cash infusion big enough to let them buy a shop of their own. But the estate in Italy that Gemma buys on the cheap comes with a vampire in suspended animation in a coffin in the basement. Rand FitzWulf, the vampire, would like to know who staked him and left him in the coffin for 600 years. He also falls hard for Lindsey, who has an extremely rare blood type that tastes delicious to vampires. Of course, Rand’s enemies are likely to be vampires too. This is a fast, fun, but wildly inconsistent novel in which the humor is almost ruined by uneven characterization, and the suspense is entirely destroyed by a general lack of clarity. Beginning with a basement in Venice, the improbabilities never stop. The book goes by pleasantly, but without leaving much of an aftertaste. Agent: Holly Root, Waxman Agency. (Jan.)