Review and GIVEAWAY: How to Discipline Your Vampire

How to Discipline Your Vampire, by Mina Vaughn.

"I think I have one you'll like, if I may," he said politely.

I must be dreaming. "Proceed," I said, both anticipating and dreading what was going to come from his lips next. Please don't be a student scene ...

"I'm a vampire who has endured decades of loneliness. All I want is a woman who I can worship - who will look past my flaws. I need a fearless Domme who will punish me for all my past misdeeds.

This guy was either insane, or a fucking genius.

And to be perfectly honest, I didn't care.

I received a pitch email for this book while I was at BlogHer back in July, and the title of the novel immediately intrigued me. The novel turned out to be a 50 Shades "lite" type book, except there's a Domme (female dominatrix) instead of a Dom (male, like Christian Grey), and the story was very cute and a good read.

Official synopsis:
Cerise Norrel, Type A substitute teacher by day, is ready to quit being a domme. Despite her best intentions, none of her partners can keep up with her scene fetish and attention to detail—let alone her demand that they have a costume and set waiting every afternoon by the time she’s home from school.

Over a dozen potential subs have left her in the past year, but just when Cerise thinks it’s impossible—that she’ll have to go back to vanilla relationships, or be alone forever—she meets William, who wants to make all her fantasies come true. He turns her home into a geisha’s dream apartment, a concert hall with a grand piano (which he uses to play an original composition while wearing a tuxedo), and even rents an abandoned loft for a zombie apocalypse scene—complete with canned goods.

But there’s something strange about William. Well, a lot of strange things. He must be absurdly rich, since he can afford to provide extravagant costumes and props on a daily basis without having to leave work early. He must be insane, since he puts up with Cerise’s over-the-top demands. And most importantly, he doesn’t redden when he’s spanked, and his skin is as cool as satin sheets. When Cerise discovers she’s become dome to the infamous “Chilly Willy,” as he’s known throughout the BDSM urban lore, she begins to find out there’s a whole lot more to her handsome submissive than a creative mind and a hard body.

And when it’s William, ironically, who starts pressing Cerise to give him the kind of commitment she’s never given anyone, it’ll take everything she has to work through her issues, confront her past, and learn to be vulnerable.
-

Both Cerise and William have interesting backstories, which is why this novel works so well. He's a vampire who turns out to be a virgin, until he meets Cerise, and he's a sub (submissive, as in Dominant and submissive) who is looking for the right "mistress." Cerise is a substitute teacher who could be full-time if she wanted, but lacks initiative, and is a Domme who had issues with her last sub and is looking for a new one. They meet at a "speed dating" type event, and later she find out he has the nickname "Chilly Willy," because he's always cold ... which she later finds out is because he's a vampire, but that only turns her on more/fascinates her instead.

I liked both of the main characters in this story, and it was interesting to learn more about Cerise's lifestyle. She's very demanding of her subs but William, being extremely rich (and also a vampire who can do things at lightning speed ...), is able to please her, but when they start to get emotionally closer she has to decide if she just wants to be his Domme or if they can engage in a normal relationship as well.

The one thing that I did find a little weird in the book is that Cerise nicknamed her, um, "lady parts" - her name is Bizzy. I know that in movies and whatnot, guys sometimes do this, or women do this to guys, but this is the first I've stumbled upon it with a woman giving herself a nickname, and it was definitely strange. It did inspire a funny conversation between Cerise and William but I feel that it could have been left out of the book.

Make sure to check out the book's trailer below to get a sense of the novel, and enter my giveaway too to receive an e-copy of the novel.

3.5 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I was given an e-copy of this book for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

GIVEAWAY:

I have two e-copies of How to Discipline Your Vampire to give away to my lucky readers.

Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. The contest ends Monday, September 23rd at 11:59pm - winner will be notified on September 24th and have 24 hours to respond or an alternate winner(s) will be chosen.

Open to all (including international) since they're e-books.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway