Tracy’s review of The Small Print by Barbara Elsborg
I’m in trouble.
Matty suddenly finds herself back in her childhood home, naked and alone, with no clue how she came to be there. When her greedy uncle sells Milford Hall from under her, Matty hides in the attic.
The woman is trouble.
Vampire historian Turner has long had his eye on Milford Hall, and there is no price he won’t pay to own it. He doesn’t expect to find an aggravating female living in his attic, insisting she has a right to be there. The small print in the contract backs her up, but Turner is determined to maintain his privacy. Doesn’t matter she’s the hottest thing he’s seen for years-in order to protect her from his mistakes, Matty has to go.
I eat trouble for dinner.
After a self-imposed twenty year absence from Turner, were-vampire Catch arrives to put the past right and save his former lover from circling enemies. But one kiss from Matty, and Catch has more than Turner to worry about. Neither boy wants to share their new toy.
Turner is a vampire who is not thrilled when he finds Matty living in his new house. But as it said in the blurb, the small print of the purchasing contract says that she gets to stay. But Turner is determined to make her leave. He’s got things to do and he’s not about to have her hanging around when he does them. But Matty, despite how annoying she is to him, gets under his skin and he finds that he really doesn’t want to let her go.
Then there’s Catch who is a were-vamp. He works for the SBI – the Supernatural Bureau of Investigation – and fell in love with Turner 20 years earlier while working undercover. He hasn’t talked to Turner for about that long but shows up at Turners house in order to protect him from 2 evil vamps that were just let out of prison. He’s known since he met Turner all those years ago that Turner was his mate, but when he meets Matty he realizes that she is his mate as well.
Both men find themselves falling in love with Matty but they need find out what exactly Matty is. You see, Matty is quite solid looking to vamps, weres, and were-vamps, but to mortals she’s invisible!
Another great book by Barbara Elsborg. I must say, she really knows how to weave a love story/suspense story into quite an intriguing novel that has her signature humor added in.
Throughout the story we have Matty, Catch and Turner trying to figure out how to make the threesome work. They realize of course that being in bed together is really the easiest part of the relationship. It’s when they’re out of bed and have to figure out all of those logistics that are the difficult part. Matty’s background – and trying to figure out what exactly is up with Matty played a huge role in the story.
Intertwined so skillfully into that story is the portion about a set of one-of-a-kind books that supposedly tell the history of vampires; where they came from and possibly a plant that might exist to let them walk in the sunlight. Turner, 20 years prior, had been commissioned by Gabriel (one of the evil vamps) to explore the books while Gabriel ran a scam called Purelight Calling. He convinced vamps that he could eventually let them walk in the sunlight and he acted like the messiah to them. He thought they were idiots, of course, because he just wanted to get their money from them. He eventually went to prison but was released. He wants to start his scam again but must get copies of the vampire books and he’s convinced by Dava (evil vamp #2) that Turner still has them. So they go searching for Turner who now has Catch and Matty’s lives to think about.
It’s a story that has many twists and turns in it and at one point quite a few players – at times you’re not sure who’s on the “good” side and who’s on the side of evil – but that made it all the more interesting to me.
While The Small Print isn’t necessarily a fast-paced read it definitely has its moments. The story had me smiling while reading and I loved the characters. If you like a good paranormal love story I think you’ll really like this book.
Rating 4.5 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.
Thanks for the lovely review. I’m glad you enjoyed it!!