Swipe Bite

Corporate Bloodsuckers #1

by Alexandra Vasti

An icy vampire corporate heiress and a human software engineer must team up to thwart the saboteur who’s turned their sexy human-vampire dating app into a bloodbath, in this mystery romance romp by USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti.

As heir to HemoCorp Industries, vampire Sophronia Vega has devoted herself to the company her family founded. Most recently, she’s led the creation of Stokr: the wildly successful dating app that pairs lusty vampires with humans they can’t accidentally, er, eat. But when Stokr’s matching technology goes haywire—and vampires start draining their dates—Sophronia’s disciplined life goes up in flames.

Enter Casey Amato, the human software engineer whose team programmed Stokr. Casey knows the Stokr failure wasn’t a glitch—the app’s been sabotaged. To fix it, he’ll have to convince the gorgeous, guarded vampire exec that someone in her inner circle has betrayed her.

Sophronia has never met a human who makes her feel quite so . . . thirsty. But to fix her app and save its users, she must team up with the brilliant programmer. As they hunt the traitor, their attraction burns hotter, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Because without Stokr, giving in to temptation could be deadly.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary Romance, Vampires

Kindle Edition

Expected publication November 10, 2026

About the author

Alexandra Vasti is a British literature professor by day and USA Today bestselling romance writer by night. After finishing her PhD at Columbia University, she moved to New Orleans with her family. Her books have received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, BookPage, and Kirkus, and have been featured in The New York Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, People, and elsewhere.

Reviews

[fromthestudyof · Rating 5 out of 5]

UM HELLOOOO where did this book come from

I absolutely loved this. I’ve read and loved this authors regency romances so when her paranormal romance was announced - I requested it on NetGalley immediately. THIS WAS SO GOOD

The writing & male yearning gave me the Ali Hazelwood brand of warm and fuzzies. (The highest of compliments)

So unique & fresh & fun & cute & other adjectives that escape me

things to know:
- she’s a vampire heiress
- he’s a human software engineer on her team
- working on a human x vampire matchmaking app
- he’s down bad
- unprecedented amounts of male yearning

I read this in less than 24 hours

All the stars

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC of Swipe Bite! If I could describe this in one word? HOT.

I opened this and intended to read maybe 20% before going to bed, however I ended up glued to the pages and read the whole thing in one sitting - and I won’t even have any regrets tomorrow, other than being sad this is over. I love Alexandra Vasti’s historical romances, and I love vampires, so a vampire romance by Alexandra Vasti was like an ultimate dream! Alexandra really ate with this one.

I LOVED Soph, she’s such an entertaining character because of how reserved and professional she tries to be. Seeing her open up and display more of her personality was lovely, and very much reminiscent of Casey taming his stray cats. She is fiercely protective of Del, Casey and all of the Pillbugs, extremely smart and committed. Casey was also a wonderful character, similarly committed to both his team and to Soph and he is definitely an acts of service guy. I loved how Del described them as balancing each other, it really was an accurate description of their relationship.

I loved the action in this! Car chases, spying, heists, and guns - so fun and really made the story even more exciting. Excellent pacing overall, I never felt bored.

Unfortunately I must now patiently wait for book 2… Alexandra, I know you’re cooking something real good up in that brain of yours!!

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“We’re all looking to find another person to talk to, to hold on to. Someone who sees us. Someone who makes the world feel brighter and sharper and more profound, just because they exist in it.”

So this was a super fun romance + murder mystery. We have our girl, Sophronia, teaming up with the swoony Casey to figure out what happened with the vamp-human matching app causing it to go all sorts of wrong.

We get a group of misadventures while also seeing the FMC and MMC fall for each other. It was overall a fun story with a touch of spice.

[Elise Rodich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of Advance Reader Copy received from NetGalley.

Given my adoration of Alex Vasti’s previous books, I expected Swipe Bite to be a fantastic romance (which it was). What I did not expect, however, was that it would also be a gripping mystery. When some books try to be both a romance and have a very involved plot, I think one or the other often gets bogged down. This was not the case with Swipe Bite - the romance and the exciting plot swirled around each other perfectly and heightened the enjoyment of the whole book. Soph is our fiercely protective, guarded, shy vampire FMC and Casey is the perfect match as a loyal, dedicated, loving human MMC. Their romance feels realistic (or as realistic as a romance can feel when one is a vampire) and sweet, and they work together as a pair quite well. The mystery was full of red herrings and enough twists and turns that the reveals were always at least somewhat surprising, even when considering the hints throughout the book. It was well thought out and lends itself well to the promise of a sequel. This book was a delight and I’m excited to follow this story further.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was written after reading a Net Galley ARC.

First, let me just say this: OMG I did not expect that ending!!!! Wow, now I definitely need the next book… like yesterday!
Now that I got that out of my chest, let me tell you a bit about me and my reading habits. I love romance books, but paranormal romance is definitely one of my weaknesses, along with historical romance… I first read Vasti’s historical romances back in 2024, and I’ve been reading everything she’s published since then (I think I only have to read Ladies in Hating now), I love her writing and when I saw that she was going to publish a book about vampires I couldn’t be more excited. One of my favourite writers writing a new book from one of my favourite genres? Dream come true. There’s always some worry about such a big change, but I can say with absolute certainty that everything that made me love her historical romance books can be found in Swipe Bite (love the title, btw).
The story starts with our heroine, Sophronia facing a big problem: her app, that matches vampires with humans they can bite safely, is having some big problems… then we have our hero, Casey Amato (sigh), a software engineer in charge of said app.
I thought the story would be only about their romance (I don’t usually read anything about the book except maybe some tropes or things like that), and I guessed it would be a cool paranormal romance, full of eve thing that makes me love Vasti’s books, with a vampire twist, but then, we have a mystery side to the story that had me constantly wondering who would be our culprit! If the romance wasn’t enough to keep me reading (it absolutely was) the mystery kept on giving until the very end (really, the end was amazing).
It was a very well done mix, the romance developed along with the mystery, we have our leads working together and longing for each other (honestly, Vasti writes longing like nobody else), their relationship evolves in a very realistic way and leaves you wanting to read more and more until those two get together (finally!).
I loved both main characters, both were flawed in very realistic ways that made them interesting and not too perfect to be real, they evolved through the story and got over their problems in a way that felt really natural, nothing was rushed with these two. Their romance was addictive!
I think this is a book you have to read if you’ve enjoyed Alexandra Vasti before and, if you love Bride, Alpha… the world feels similar, a world where vampires are real (the lore was pretty cool I thought) and live (and love) between humans. I didn’t expect Vasti to write such a great paranormal romance (it’s kind of a big step from historical romance) but she has never disappointed me. I can’t wait to read the next book (with that ending, it has to exist) and to discover more about Casey, Sophronia and the rest of characters (Del I’m looking at you!).
Definitely give it a try if you like your paranormal romance to feel very contemporary, if you love longing and slow burns… and if you love vampires!!

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review! I've been a fan of Vasti's historical romances for a couple of years now, so I was excited to see her take on paranormal romance! Swipe Bite tells the story of a vampire, Sophronia Vega--biomedical scion and heir to HemoCorp industries, and human Casey Amato, her lead software engineer who runs her brainchild dating app, Stokr, which uses biotech to safely pair humans and vampires who are interested in partaking in some consensual blood sucking (without the risk of accidental exsanguination).

This story contains a mystery, as someone is sabotaging Stokr and causing the matching program to run haywire. Sophronia and Casey, along with a ragtag bunch of side characters, must come together to solve the case before more people can get hurt.

What worked for me: I enjoyed seeing Vasti's take on a new genre of romance. The premise was interesting, and I really enjoyed Casey's grandmother as a character (based on Vasti's own grandmother!). The concept of the app was a fun twist on the vampire / human genre and the uncertainty if Sophronia and Casey were a match added to the stakes of their budding relationship.

What didn't work for me: I felt like there was a lot of repetition throughout the mystery plotline, and overall the pacing felt uneven. I found myself skimming through sections on a few occasions, and unfortunately, I didn't find myself overly invested in the central romance. Maybe removing Casey's POV only getting Sophronia's perspective would have helped add tension?

Ultimately, I think this was a fine book, but not one I'm likely to return to.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore Alexandra Vasti, so when I heard she had written a contemporary paranormal romance, I was immediately excited. I love her writing, her humor, and especially the way she writes couples, and Swipe Bite definitely didn’t disappoint.

As always with Vasti’s books, the couple dynamic is unusual in the best way. She has such a talent for creating pairings that feel fun, unexpected, and genuinely adorable, and Sophronia and Casey were no exception. I really loved the power dynamic between them, as well as the mutual yearning. But more than that, I loved how emotionally open and vulnerable both the FMC and MMC were, not just with each other, but with themselves.

There’s a real emotional arc here, and honestly, I was impressed by how organic it felt considering how short the book is.

The mystery/thriller aspect was a bit more prominent than I usually gravitate toward, since that’s not normally my genre, but it worked surprisingly well here and kept the story moving without overshadowing the romance.

I’m also very excited that this seems to be setting up a series, because I loved the secondary characters. There’s a really fun group dynamic and a slight found-family feeling already developing, and I’d love to spend more time with all of them.

And finally, the vampire lore here is just really fun. There’s not an overwhelming amount of it, but what is there feels creative and fresh.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC.

[✨Poppy✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swipe Bite had all the ingredients of something I should have loved!!! I'm so happy Vampires are back in the contemporary romance genre!
Unfortunately this one fell a little flat. The concept is genuinely fun but the issue for me was the romance itself never clicked. The book is written in third person POV, which already creates a bit of distance, and I think that hurt it here more than it might in another story. I never felt close enough to either character to really invest in them as a couple, and the chemistry between them just wasn't there for me. A lot of their connection seemed to rest on physical attraction and the classic "he smells good" setup rather than anything that felt emotionally earned.
The mystery also got away from itself toward the end. Too many twists and moving pieces, to the point where it started feeling chaotic rather than intriguing. I kept waiting for something to land harder and it never did.
Not a bad read, and I think readers who connect more easily with third person romance will probably get more out of it than I did. Just didn't fully live up to its potential for me.

Thank you Berkley Romance & NetGalley for this ARC!

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sophronia Vega is a high powered ice queen of a corporate executive vampire. Except she is obsessed with her work: a vampire - human dating app called Stokr, which lets the users know whether they are a compatible match — humans that don’t match well to the vampires will bleed to death without intervention.

This turns into a corporate espionage murder mystery because someone somewhere has altered Stokr so it doesn’t work properly, and people are becoming very ill, and potentially dying as a result.

Casey is the lead developer on Stokr, and he’s also a human green flag. Their romance is excellent for anyone who loves a grumpy-sunshine pairing and the story feels kind of like Kindred: the embraced meets Mission: Impossible.

I like the side characters, (Nonna!), and I like the way Casey and Soph have to work together to solve the mystery. Highly recommend to any fans of Ali Hazelwood’s Bride, and Mate books.

I received a free advanced reader copy of this book and I am offering my opinion freely.

[Clarisse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a genre departure for Alexandra Vasti, but a successful one! I'm really excited about the ongoing revival of the vampire romance novel.

Swipe Bite was part mystery, part supernatural and part sweet love story.

Sophronia is a really believable character, and I think her toughness and inner battles carried the story well. I was rooting for her at every turn.
Casey is the perfect counterpart for her, with strong values but also deep softness. I loved their evolution and felt that their love story played out organically. They worked really well together, which was lovely to read.

The plot was easy enough to follow, but it held up: the tech, the app, the potential antagonists gave the story a good structure.
There were perhaps more side characters than strictly needed, but I'm hoping it's to set up eventual further installments in this world.

What I also enjoyed was that I did not see the final plot twist coming, which is rare and a real treat, and brings the rating up for me.

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Chicabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I raced through Swipe Bite in one day, like all devoted readers unable to bear suspension to reach final revelation of the real culprit.

But I got a bit fatigue in the middle. I felt the story dragged on. Missions to spy and track suspects felt repetitive. Speculations jumped from one person to another, and the tension in the mystery solving was unable to keep up.

The relationship between Soph and Casey was lovely and hot. I totally approve. The idea of soulmate applying to matching vampire-human blood clotting was romantic to the core. Because of this intriguing premise, I can tolerate all the other imperfections in the book and finally finish it.

I am half terrified and half doubtful about a second book. I’d prefer another couple as the main characters in another vampire story.

[Larareads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Alexandra Vasti book and I am completely in love. I am a big hater of 3rd POV and I honestly can't get myself to read books like this, but Swipe Bite just pulled me into the story from the start and I couldn't stop reading! The writing, the characters, the tension, the story! It's honestly so so good.

That ending left me wanting so much more and I'm sooo freaking excited for the next book!

Read this if you love:
• paranormal romance
• black cat FMC
• touch him and die
• murder mystery
• so much tension and yearning

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of a dating app to match vampires with humans was so fun and new and really drew me in. I wanted to know more about the app and this world in general where humans and vampires match and date. I felt that the romance itself was a bit of a miss. I liked each character individually but I never felt much of a connection between the two main characters. The author describes their attraction to each other multiple times as well as how good the human smells, but I didn’t see much of an emotional connection.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is set in a world with a human-vampire dating app, which was enough to sell me on this rom com. But it didn’t give much rom or any com… this book is the very definition of ‘fine.’ It’s not great, it’s not like it’s awful, but if you only read X number of books a year this should not be one of the X’s. Soooo much corporate BS, sooooo much v convenient technology… nah. Didn’t care enough about any of it… and it ends with a cliffhanger that is meant to lead to another book I suppose. No thanks, I’m good.

[Lizzy Hartwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A paranormal mystery-romance is a huge departure for Vasti, a queen of historical romance. But I so love her banter and comedy, I’d follow her anywhere, and I’m glad I did. I devoured this ARC (thanks NetGalley) in a single day even if I did get a little queasy from reading about blood. What can I say? Vampire is not my usual genre.

Things I enjoyed: The mystery, the supporting cast including Casey's Gramma Lola and the Pillbugs software team. Plus I enjoyed Casey and Sophronia's character growth and chemistry.

[Mady · Rating 5 out of 5]

ALEXANDRAAAAAA how do you keep doing this!!! This book is a new direction as it’s contemporary but oh my gosh it’s so good! Absolutely loved the characters and the story was REALLY engaging. The story is tense and thrilling while the romance was so sweet at the same time. The pacing was excellent. Another 5 star read.

I can’t wait for the next book in the series AH!

[Mary Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC. Ms Vasti always writes an enjoyable story and this is no exception. I am looking forward to a sequel, but no spoilers.
I agree with another reviewer that it will be enjoyed by fans of Ali Hazelwood; it feels targeted to a slightly younger audience than her previous books.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already loved Vasti from her historical romances and so when I got an ARC from Netgalley for a paranormal romance by her, I dropped everything to read it. The world building??? The character relationships??!? A MMC who likes that she’s a lil bit mean?!!!! Will be patiently waiting for more because art takes time and Vasti is creating it.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting plot and unique world building. Really enjoyed the character development and technology in the world. Would definitely read a sequel!

Read prerelease copy, but did not influence my rating.

[Z$ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this author to fans of Ali hazelwood tbh u won’t regret it

[Stephanie Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wannabe ice queen vampire works with human cinnamon roll coder to try to solve a mystery of corporate sabotage and murder. There’s found family, spying, and feral cats. Great contemporary from AV!