11.10.2010

Review- Happy Hour at Casa Dracula

Goodreads Synopsis: Latina Ivy League grad Milagro de Los Santos can't find her place in the world or a man to go with it. Then one night, at a book party for her pretentious ex-boyfriend, she meets an oddly attractive man. After she is bitten while kissing him, she falls ill and is squirreled away to his family's estate to recover. Vampires don't exist in this day and age -- or do they? As Milagro falls for a fabulously inappropriate man, she finds herself caught between a family who has accepted her as one of their own and a shady organization that refuses to let the undead live and love in peace.

I don't use the word "snark" or it's colorful cousin "snarky" often, but I'm breaking that fast right now.  Milagro is the definition of "snark".  Open up your Webster and you'll find a curvy latino woman staring back at you by its description. Snark is not about being a smart alick, it's about always being on, about always having an answer. And that can only come from someone with a multi-faceted background and education...hense why I am not snarky.  Milagro is so much more than dry humor and a couple well placed one-liners.  She's someone to be envied. She makes Shakespeare references in the same breath with Latino vulgarity.  And is snappy and educated and sharp as a knife.  Acosta writes her so well, I'd swear that Milagro must be real somewhere living a full life.  And by the end of the book I felt like I knew her as well as I know any of my friends; how pathetic is that.


Acosta has taken a pretty worn-out genre and breathed fresh life into it.  I admire how she's really turned everything on a different angle.  Vampires don't have fangs, have to lather up with sunscreen like a baby on the 4th of July, and will admit "there's no such thing as vampires".  Acosta's vampires merely have a "condition"...and I laugh and I laugh.  


Actually, I laughed a lot in this book.  Acosta keeps everything light, and sets a breezy pace. Our story reads mainly like chick-lit, but the skill of the writing really sets it apart.  There's a conflict, a slightly sorted past, and the hopes of "happily ever after".  I was amazed at how quickly I read through the pages... I know you will too.


Bottom Line: I will follow Milagro anywhere, especially her next book. 


4 stars


*Book was given to me by the author for review

2 comments:

  1. Great review! I was curious how you'd feel about this one, and glad you liked it. Isn't it wonderfully smart? And inventive.

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  2. CC: I feel like I'm about to attempt to write a bad book blurb, but
    "it was wickedly funny and so so smart"

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