Vampire's Cupcake

Off the Paved Road

by Holly Day

Humans off the paved road are nothing but vampire food.

Eli Stark owns the only grocery store in Last Hope, and he does what he can to feed the people in the human settlement, but the food scarcity is real and most don’t have money to spend. When there is a change of members on the town board, things get even worse.

Thano Moonlight is the leader of the supernatural beings ruling the area around Last Hope. For the last ten months, they’ve ruled the human settlement as well, but it’s time to hand over the reins. If the humans want to make their lives harder, they should have the power to do so, but he’s reluctant to leave Eli behind.

When things turn critical in the town, Thano takes Eli to The Moonlight Ranch, but Eli can’t just abandon the people in Last Hope. They rely on him to make sure there is food to buy. If he has to choose between being with Thano or saving an entire village from starving, he should choose the village, right?

Genres: Fantasy, M M Romance

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 3, 2025

About the author

According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.

Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.

Reviews

[Sandali ♥️ (Slow reading cause of watching BL) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating - 4 stars

As always Holly Day doesn't disappoint. The story is around Last Hope, a human establishment after the supernaturals wiped off the majority of humans. As usual I love how Holly has portrayed how humans are so power hungry and so controlling an evil where as the supernaturals who are supposed to be all of that are the absolute opposite. Eli and Thano are a sweet couple. No matter what is thrown at his way Eli is kind and empathetic and I adore that. I wish there was more built-up to their romance but Thano is a supe I get that it's sudden for them 😂♥️ A good read if you want a dose of realism and fantasy all in one.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it fantasy or too real?🍳

4.5+🌟 stars
The subject matter here is sometimes hard (emotionally) to read but author Holly Day is so good at building worlds and stories where good battles evil and paranormal and humans interact, often in surprising ways. The resulting story is moving and touched pretty close to home on real contemporary social marginalization and prejudice.

Here the supernatural are either indifferent or on the good spectrum, and too many of the humans with influence in their community are inflexible, prejudiced, violent and cruel. Human grocer Eli barely makes ends meet and has major problems sourcing the food his community needs but the powers that be are making moves to make life even more difficult. Eli could find an easy out to escape their oppression, but he does not want to abandon the weak and poor in his community to starvation. What to do?

Yes, there's a MM romance pretty slow build and hovering on the periphery of the town's changing relationship with the supernaturals who control the territory outside the town borders.

And I loved the whimsical enthusiasm and curiosity of many of the shifters. Byrd and Humbert stood out.

Don't expect everything to be resolved and tied up with a pretty bow by the story's end. Only some good results with clouds still hanging on the horizon.

I read a complimentary advance copy of the story; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

[Flick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully heartbreaking

I was glad we got to come back to this world - Romeo and Cian's book was fantastic - and was excited for Eli as I'd really hoped he'd get a HEA. Eli and Thano worked really well together and I loved that Thano got to have someone he could be softer with. I will admit, whilst I loved the book I did find it hard at times. Often Holly's more dystopian books have a basis in the awful things human do to each other, but this book hit really close to home. If you're struggling right now with what's happening in the US just prepare yourself or consider whether to read this on a day you're feeling less fragile. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and shows just how important community is and how good some people can be; but it also shows how cruel they can be, how awful humans can be when they see others who are even a little bit different and how willing they are to hurt others to feel better about themselves or have more than everyone else. I guess it really says something about Holly's characters that even when surrounded by awful things, they shine with how wonderful they are to read. I'm hoping we can have Elijah's story next - he's so kind and I desperately want him to be okay.

[Susan Anne]

In Vampire’s Cupcake by Holly Day, they return to their AU from Panther’s Luck. In this world shifters and other supernaturals basically rule the world, with humans restricted to communities accorded them by the others. The two main characters, Thano the vampire and Eli the human, both are in a rut, routinely going about their businesses. Neither imagines any change to that until the humans in Last Hope (I love how all the towns renamed themselves to more dire names after the supernaturals took control!) decide to implement change, naturally not for the betterment of the average person (not a spoiler, as the blurb includes this). As sometimes happens in fiction, there is more than one instance where I wanted to yell at the character for making a stupid choice. Characters from the first book in the series, Panther’s Luck, appear in Vampire’s Cupcake and the reader would be advised to read it first. And there is a secondary character in Vampire’s Cupcake just crying out for their own book. I found both Eli and Thano to be sympathetic characters, at least when they weren’t getting in their own way. The villains were suitably dastardly to deserve what is hopefully coming for them. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes us back to The Moonlight Ranch and Lost Hope. In this world humans are the minority. They are afforded settlements to live in. The shifters and supernaturals rule this world. The settlement of Lost Hope has been run by a board of supernaturals and human. The supernaturals have decided to let the humans do what they will. And unfortunately the new board has decided to make changes that will make it harder for everyone still in the town. Eli Stark runs the grocery store in the town. Food and money is scarce. If Eli didn't have his chickens, he would have no food at all. Eli is kind and wants to help everyone. Thano Moonlight is the leader of the supernaturals around the settlement. He doesn't care if the new board makes life bleak for their fellow humans. But with one exception. Thano is infatuated with Eli. And he wants to help him despite Eli always putting others first all the time. This is their story. The story is written well and is easy to read. At times the book has a heavy feeling but that is time that the story is set in. This book is the same setting as Panther's Luck. So if you enjoyed that book you will enjoy this book as well. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Belinda Zamora · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're back at The Moonlight Ranch and Lost Hope.
Thano is the vampire leader of Moonlight and Eli runs the grocery store in town.
Thano decides to remove others from the town board and things take a decidedly dark turn.
Eli becomes the target of the new sherif and the board has implemented rules that are going to divide others and humans again.
Thano and Eli have started a relationship but Eli panics because things are moving too quickly.
Luckily, Thano still keeps an eye on him and is able to convince him to leave town because things have gotten dire.
I really liked Elijah and I hope we get his story next because he desperately needs to be saved too.
The crows are absolutely hilarious and I can't wait for more shenanigans from them.

[Yvonne M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. Thano and Eli are are great together and keep each other safe. Eli has a store that he runs and has for a few years now but the board members want to get rid of him because he talks and deals with the others. Eli is a human and the (others) are vampires, shifter and so on. Thano happens to be a vampire who is in charge of the others. He keeps them safe and happy and while doing so he came across Eli and couldn’t walk away. Eli stayed with him in his mind and it turns out Eli is Thano’s mate. Eli runs and Thano comes and gets him back. I really recommend this book to everyone who loves mm romance stories with some (others) involved.

[Joscelyn Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eli and Thano were wonderful characters but they were also a bit irritating at times. Some of their decision options were quite clear but they just couldn't get out of their own way 🤦🏾‍♀️. I really enjoyed watching them finally figure things out, their story is enjoyable addition to the continued struggle between humans and the supernatural citizens that are now top of the food chain.

*I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by BookSirens*

[Deb Kel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loving this series, such brilliant characters both main and secondary. The character development was perfect helping me to really bond with them, making following their journey even more enjoyable. So much emotion and heartwarming moments with all the interactions between humans and the supernaturals as well as some humour to keep you thoroughly engaged.
I received a free arc copy and this is my honest review

[The Word Nerd Reviews Blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampire’s Cupcake, the long awaited book 2 in the Off the Paved Road series. I really enjoyed it, it was fun to see the softer side of Thanno, a side that was hinted at in Panther’s Luck but was hidden by the severe leader persona.

I was so happy for something to finally go Eli’s way, even if it is a direction he never expected. Things are going from bad to worse, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. I’m wondering if hotel owner, Elijah is going to play a role in the next book, he is definitely a sweet guy who needs to find his overprotective Other (and we have hints of who that may be *happy dance*.

Vampire’s Cupcake cannot be read as a standalone. You must read Panther’s Luck first as this book essentially takes off from book 1 and you really need all the backstory and personalities from that book to understand Vampire’s Cupcake. Honestly though, Panther’s Luck was one of my favourite books in 2023, and I’ve read it a few times since, so IMHO, it’s not a hardship to start with Panther’s Luck.

Highly Recommended!!!!