I should say right away that I am not a vampire type of person. The mixture of kisses and blood doesn’t work for me as a whole (though I freely admit to enjoying a Carpathian novel now and then). But I am deeply, deeply addicted to novels of love and death. Do you know what I mean?

For me, novels of life and death are ones in which the stakes of the relationship involve our deepest will to live. They are novels in which a man or a woman will actually give up their life for the other person. I don’t write that kind of novel, for the most part. Midnight Pleasures and Potent Pleasures are novels of life and death. Fool for Love edged in that direction. Much Ado About You had a subplot of this nature.

In defense of my own characters, I think that they love with just such a fierce passion. But I don’t usually craft my plots around a crisis that brings that love to the forefront of the plot - it’s the Oscar Wilde in me. So naturally, I adore reading novels in which the writer weaves a tale of big stakes, of life and death and love all intertwined together. I admire these novels. I’m deeply jealous of them. I’m so happy when I find one.

So, without further ado, allow me to introduce Teresa Medeiros’s The Vampire Who Loved Me. For those of you who’ve read her novels before, you know that Teresa is a master at creating plots in which the stakes are huge. HUGE. In almost every one of her novels, the plot builds and builds - until it’s clear that the hero or the heroine is facing an unbearable decision. A decision that involves life or death.

The Vampire Who Loves Me is a brilliant mixture of Teresa’s trademark wit and huge stakes. Julian is a gorgeous, tormented, seductive vampire. And Portia wants him. To do her credit, she doesn’t mess around with the sort of coy “love-me-not” statements that Regency heroines often get dealt. There’s one heart-breaking moment that I have to quote. It’s Portia, at the end of the book:

“I used to think that falling in love meant being swept off your feet by a handsome prince who would never leave you. But now I know that a prince can love you so much that he feels he has no choice but to let you go.”

The end…ah, the end. I read it on a plane and was maddened to find myself with tears in my eyes. Read this book. No: run to the bookstore, snatch the book from the bookseller’s hands (pay for it first), and then READ THE BOOK!

Teresa has kindly agreed to pop in and out of the Bulletin Board this month, answering your questions and generally hanging out with us….please welcome Teresa and this extraordinary novel!