The Bite Before Christmas by Heidi Betts

The Bite Before Christmas by Heidi Betts is a collection of 3 novellas, with the tie between them being Angelina Bertolli, a vampire matchmaker. This is my 4th Spirit of Christmas Challenge read. I may try to squeeze one more in before I call it quits for the year, to see if I can't reach that Christmas Tree level!

This was a fun read, I could easily see a series based on cases from Angelina's matchmaking service. I have a few criticisms, but they're all about the cover, front and back. The cover picture is cute, it really is, but who is that guy? He doesn't match anyone in the any of the three stories that I could tell. I think it would have been better if the picture had been of Angelina in a slinky, Christmasy number, since she's the character that loosely ties these three stories together. But otherwise a very cute cover. Now, the blurb on back... someone didn't proofread because two of the stories name different men than are in the actual stories! LOL! Instead of Nick and Sergio, we actually had Sean and Ian. But anyway... on to the stories!

In All I Vant for Christmas, vampire Connor Drake just wants a traditional Christmas with all the trimmings, but his rebellious, teen-age acting siblings won't cooperate. Enter human Jillian, an event planner sent in by Angelina to give Connor the Christmas he dreams of. Not only does she decorate, she gets Liam and Maeve interested and helping. Along the way Connor realizes that he wants Jillian to stay with him, not just for Christmas, but always.

Angelina again takes charge in A Vampire in Her Stocking, when she turns terminally ill Sean (not Nick!) into a vampire and leaves him wrapped up in a bow for her friend Vivian, his secretly vampire assistant who deeply loves him, and is now faced with losing him. Vivian refused to turn Sean herself, believing he would not want that life, and she's afraid that she may be right when at first he seems to reject her. But Angelina is rarely wrong...

Angelina herself is the star of It's a Wonderful Bite, as she's watching the happy couples she's brought together, and then examining her own life with sexy vampire cop Ian (not Sergio!). She loves him deeply, and begins to think that perhaps she'd like to make their commitment more permanent, but Ian just doesn't seem like he'll take the hint without a big push. Angelina has a dream after watching Ian's favorite Christmas movie "It's a Wonderful Life" for the millionth time, where she and Ian are not only not vampires, but not together, and almost loses Ian forever. No worries though, of course it ends on a high note! ;)

The wreath decorating scene with Connor and his siblings was cute, I think though it's a toss up for me which story I liked the best between It's a Wonderful Bite and A Vampire in Her Stocking. These vampire stories seen a little outside of Heidi's norm but I enjoyed them, and I think her Chicks with Sticks series looks cute, and may have to give it a try.

For more information on the author, please see her website:

Heidi Betts