Book Review - How to Fake Date a Vampire by Linsey Hall

How to Fake Date a Vampire by Linsey Hall

How to Fake Date a Vampire is the second book in the Charming Cove series. And I still maintain that this series really is charming and such a cozy read that's perfect for the autumn or Halloween season. I am rating this one lower than the first book, A Modern Girl's Guide to Magic, but only because there were too many similarities between the two books.

This book follows Emma, who is an apprentice witch with the Aurora coven. In order to become an official member of the coven she needs to prove her worth by planning all the details for the Beltane Ball, the annual party that the Aurora coven hosts. But in order to throw the best party ever, she needs to convince the vampire duke to let her use his beautiful estate for the party. In exchange for allowing her to use the estate, Alaric, the duke, asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend to make his grandmother happy. They just can't fall for each other. Sounds easy, right?

Emma was a cute main character. I just thought she was way too similar to Aria from the first book. They are both witches who started off doubting their greatness since they hadn't yet discovered their true potential/powers. They both fall for the billionaires whom they initially hated. Emma falls for the duke, and Aria falls for the mage. I still thought the characters were really sweet and charming, but the similarities are too apparent to not mention. Also, I was so excited to read a book about a vampire but there was literally nothing special about Alaric that even hinted at him being a supernatural being. It was mentioned/joked about once that he drank blood but I wished to see more about him being a vampire. 

The similarities between book one and this book also can be seen in the plot. At the beginning of the books, we have the female main characters run into their love interests and something embarrassing happens so they end up getting drunk. The next day they go to Charming Cove's coffee shop where Marge gets them their miracle hangover cure, which is literally just a black coffee. Then they need to work together with their love interests to achieve a common goal. There were some unique qualities in each book, but I thought they were just way too similar. 

Overall, still a super cute read but I wouldn't recommend reading this book immediately after the first because the stories are nearly identical.