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Eternal Diet
Gwen envies vampires. They are always depicted as beautiful and graceful creatures and she is anything but. She travels to [of course] New Orleans to find one and convince him to share. Which she does. Colin is a centuries old vampire in need of a little updating to fit into the modern computer age so he and Gwen strike a bargain; she will bring him up to speed and he will deliver everlasting life and beauty. Gwen learns that not all desires can be controlled and that they have consequences.
Soon Gwen's friends come looking for her, worried that she has disappeared into the missing persons problem that has New Orleans in its grip and end up entangled themselves in the mystery themselves. Together, Gwen, Colin and friends join forces to find out what is happening to the people of New Orleans.
An ancient evil has resurfaced and is slowly gathering in strength and numbers and Colin is forced to face an old friend.
Soon Gwen's friends come looking for her, worried that she has disappeared into the missing persons problem that has New Orleans in its grip and end up entangled themselves in the mystery themselves. Together, Gwen, Colin and friends join forces to find out what is happening to the people of New Orleans.
An ancient evil has resurfaced and is slowly gathering in strength and numbers and Colin is forced to face an old friend.
263 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 5, 2017
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 13, 2025
Ms Wilson is a newer author I discovered recently (see my review for "Dragon Dreams") and this is her first published book. That being said, it is a little rough around the edges, as many first book babies often are, but I wanted to familiarize myself with the author's back-catalogue and was not disappointed!
In this story, the MC, Gwen, is your average woman who has tried everything she can think of to lose weight and has been unsuccessful in her endeavors--all the fad diets, exercise routines, pills, shakes, you name it! When her friend Reba mentions a hypnotism course that is going to be in town, she figures why the heck not? However, instead of giving her the power of suggestion to eat less or eat healthier foods, the only effect Gwen has is a strange (and somewhat sensual) dream about a vampire...which leads her on a rather unexpected course. After all, vampires are always thin and beautiful, right??
After spending hours upon hours obsessing over her new plan of action and narrowing down the most likely place to encounter a real life vampire to New Orleans, she takes the plunge, upends her life, and moves with no notice except a quick goodbye to her friend. In New Orleans, she meets Colin, a real life vampire, who agrees to turn her in return for her help getting modernized to the 21st century, and the thinks that is that. Unfortunately, there is always a catch...
Not only does Gwen discover there is a slight hitch in her plan for slimness and beauty, but when her friends and sister come looking for her, they all get caught up in a sinister plan much older and deeper than any of them have any clue existed. Those missing bodies around the city aren't just from Gwen and Colin's dinner...
As I said, there are a few rough edges ( a couple of small editing errors) but overall, the story was so much deeper and more exciting than I had initially planned based on the blurb. I was thinking it was going to be one of those light silly reads you read "for science" like some of the questionable romance novels, but I was absolutely sucked in by the deeper plot and the character interactions. Colin is just perfect, too--he's your classic, noble, seductive, beautiful, gentlemanly old-school vampire (no sparkly, moody teen romance here!). I was expecting more of a romance aspect, but was surprised that it wasn't there (though I haven't read the sequel yet)--there is definite admiration between Colin and Gwen, and maybe some budding interest, but the only mention of anything intimate is at her initial turning (the intimate touches and excitement of the victim make the blood taste better) and occasionally when Gwen feeds (she feels a little tingly in her bits). For a bunch of bloodsuckers, it's also not overly graphic with violence, but Gwen does get a kick out of teasing her victims (and they deserve it!). The descriptions of New Orleans are very detailed and, though I have never been there, it definitely makes me feel like I am walking the streets, or sneaking through the swamps.
I am looking forward to seeing what adventures Gwen and Colin get up to next, and definitely recommend this book for a fun, quick, somewhat light read for anyone who enjoys vampires, friendly banter, and morally grey MCs!
In this story, the MC, Gwen, is your average woman who has tried everything she can think of to lose weight and has been unsuccessful in her endeavors--all the fad diets, exercise routines, pills, shakes, you name it! When her friend Reba mentions a hypnotism course that is going to be in town, she figures why the heck not? However, instead of giving her the power of suggestion to eat less or eat healthier foods, the only effect Gwen has is a strange (and somewhat sensual) dream about a vampire...which leads her on a rather unexpected course. After all, vampires are always thin and beautiful, right??
After spending hours upon hours obsessing over her new plan of action and narrowing down the most likely place to encounter a real life vampire to New Orleans, she takes the plunge, upends her life, and moves with no notice except a quick goodbye to her friend. In New Orleans, she meets Colin, a real life vampire, who agrees to turn her in return for her help getting modernized to the 21st century, and the thinks that is that. Unfortunately, there is always a catch...
Not only does Gwen discover there is a slight hitch in her plan for slimness and beauty, but when her friends and sister come looking for her, they all get caught up in a sinister plan much older and deeper than any of them have any clue existed. Those missing bodies around the city aren't just from Gwen and Colin's dinner...
As I said, there are a few rough edges ( a couple of small editing errors) but overall, the story was so much deeper and more exciting than I had initially planned based on the blurb. I was thinking it was going to be one of those light silly reads you read "for science" like some of the questionable romance novels, but I was absolutely sucked in by the deeper plot and the character interactions. Colin is just perfect, too--he's your classic, noble, seductive, beautiful, gentlemanly old-school vampire (no sparkly, moody teen romance here!). I was expecting more of a romance aspect, but was surprised that it wasn't there (though I haven't read the sequel yet)--there is definite admiration between Colin and Gwen, and maybe some budding interest, but the only mention of anything intimate is at her initial turning (the intimate touches and excitement of the victim make the blood taste better) and occasionally when Gwen feeds (she feels a little tingly in her bits). For a bunch of bloodsuckers, it's also not overly graphic with violence, but Gwen does get a kick out of teasing her victims (and they deserve it!). The descriptions of New Orleans are very detailed and, though I have never been there, it definitely makes me feel like I am walking the streets, or sneaking through the swamps.
I am looking forward to seeing what adventures Gwen and Colin get up to next, and definitely recommend this book for a fun, quick, somewhat light read for anyone who enjoys vampires, friendly banter, and morally grey MCs!
May 14, 2020
I liked the author’s ability to set the landscape. I loved the descriptions of New Orleans. I’ve never been there, but as I compared the imagery to pictures, they were actually pretty close to what I was imagining.
I thought the vampire battle at the end was really good! It was really epic, and probably a highlight of the book for me.
Outside of the blatant fat-shaming, I thought the plot was pretty good. It was really easy for me to jump into this book and get lost in it.
When I was living in a thin body, my body was never good enough for me. I was always trying to make myself thinner, and depressed when I wasn’t the thinnest in a room. I had forgotten what that mindset and focus on thinness was like and how exhausting it was. I think at the beginning of the book, the thoughts and pursuit of thinness that Gwen has are so relatable. It was a good reminder of what I’ve accomplished to overcome such terrible self-talk.
I don’t think the author meant to do this, but I think this book was such a perfect example of how ridiculous and contradictory diet culture is. I think this book does a great job of showing a thin person what it might feel like to live in a fat body. As I’ve gotten older, had kids, and my body has changed, I definitely see the difference of how the world interacts with me now that my body is bigger, compared to when my body fits more of the standard beauty ideals. This book does a great job of showing how hard that experience is, and how biased people are against bigger-bodied people. Throughout the book, people treat fat Gwen like absolute trash because of her body size, and they treat her exceptionally well when she is thin.
This is most highlighted on the last page, actually, when Gwen is parting from her sister and friend forever, it seems. There is no sadness, no grieving of her human life that she’s left behind, no tears for the relationships that have to end now, no remorse for the fact that she will basically be alone for the rest of eternity. It’s a “positive” ending because she has achieved her goal of finding a way to be thin. Her friends treat her as if she is now finally worthy. The world she lives in finally finds her worthy of love and acceptance, and she now finds herself worthy of the love and acceptance she has always longed for. Nothing about her character developed or changed, the only thing that did was her physical appearance and the fact that she now has to murder people every day to stay alive. The author stares the audience in the face and asks what the cost of beauty is, and is it actually worth it? It is apparent that the author thinks any lengths are worth the cost of beauty. But, as the reader, I can look at this book and say, no, it actually isn’t a worthy pursuit. It isn’t actually worth my main focus and energy. It shows how the pursuit of “perfection,” really doesn’t get her anywhere. Gwen spent her human life chasing unrealistic beauty standards, and as a result, she really didn’t have that great of a life to walk away from. She didn’t have very many loose ends to tie or bridges to burn in her transition to vampire. She missed out on living while she was alive because of her pursuit of thinness, and now has to miss out on a fulfilling life while she is dead.
I also don’t think this was on purpose but the author showed the truth that diets don’t actually work. She shows that just as there are people who are naturally thin, there are people who are naturally fat. It also highlights the truth that thin does not equal healthy. Gwen was only thin because she literally traded her life and soul for it. A lot of people go to such unhealthy lengths for their thin bodies. Drug use, disordered eating, over-exercising, eating disorders, illness, stress, and mental illness can all be contributors to thinness. But, yet our society praises those efforts. I actually liked how this book shined a bright light on the cognitive dissonance of our culture and what we find worthy.
I really disliked how this author described fat Gwen. Here are some of the adjectives that were used: overweight, dowdy, slob, an apple on toothpicks, stupid, ugly, and not to mention the whole universe of this book treats Gwen like TRASH. I understand that the people in the book interact with Gwen in a negative way because that is really realistic of a fat person’s experience, but the author was so shaming of fat people. It was actually really offensive. The author uses her derogatory descriptions of Gwen to justify her trying to starve herself, waste tons of money on scam diets that don’t work, and willingly placing herself in dangerous and life-threatening situations. I found phrases like this especially troubling, “Yeah, like some guy is gonna wanna rape me.” As if being hot enough to tempt a rapist is a good thing.
I thought there was going to be some redeeming message after she turned into a vampire and was still fat and somehow she learns to love herself and her body. But, no. Her “unique metabolism” as the book puts it, barely makes a difference to the plot at all. And her solution is that she just will just be pretty hungry for the rest of eternity so that she doesn’t have to be “ugly” Gwen.
The first half of this book was SO set up to be a body-positive message. There is one conversation in particular where Gwen asks Colin if she will be beautiful after she becomes a vampire. He tells her she will be “perfect.” I wish that her staying the same would have been a positive thing. I wish that through this experience of trading her life for beauty would have resulted in some actual character development and her achieving a positive sense of self and comfortable being in her own skin. This book was so body-obsessed. I wish there were substance to some of these characters. But there wasn’t.
I thought the vampire battle at the end was really good! It was really epic, and probably a highlight of the book for me.
Outside of the blatant fat-shaming, I thought the plot was pretty good. It was really easy for me to jump into this book and get lost in it.
When I was living in a thin body, my body was never good enough for me. I was always trying to make myself thinner, and depressed when I wasn’t the thinnest in a room. I had forgotten what that mindset and focus on thinness was like and how exhausting it was. I think at the beginning of the book, the thoughts and pursuit of thinness that Gwen has are so relatable. It was a good reminder of what I’ve accomplished to overcome such terrible self-talk.
I don’t think the author meant to do this, but I think this book was such a perfect example of how ridiculous and contradictory diet culture is. I think this book does a great job of showing a thin person what it might feel like to live in a fat body. As I’ve gotten older, had kids, and my body has changed, I definitely see the difference of how the world interacts with me now that my body is bigger, compared to when my body fits more of the standard beauty ideals. This book does a great job of showing how hard that experience is, and how biased people are against bigger-bodied people. Throughout the book, people treat fat Gwen like absolute trash because of her body size, and they treat her exceptionally well when she is thin.
This is most highlighted on the last page, actually, when Gwen is parting from her sister and friend forever, it seems. There is no sadness, no grieving of her human life that she’s left behind, no tears for the relationships that have to end now, no remorse for the fact that she will basically be alone for the rest of eternity. It’s a “positive” ending because she has achieved her goal of finding a way to be thin. Her friends treat her as if she is now finally worthy. The world she lives in finally finds her worthy of love and acceptance, and she now finds herself worthy of the love and acceptance she has always longed for. Nothing about her character developed or changed, the only thing that did was her physical appearance and the fact that she now has to murder people every day to stay alive. The author stares the audience in the face and asks what the cost of beauty is, and is it actually worth it? It is apparent that the author thinks any lengths are worth the cost of beauty. But, as the reader, I can look at this book and say, no, it actually isn’t a worthy pursuit. It isn’t actually worth my main focus and energy. It shows how the pursuit of “perfection,” really doesn’t get her anywhere. Gwen spent her human life chasing unrealistic beauty standards, and as a result, she really didn’t have that great of a life to walk away from. She didn’t have very many loose ends to tie or bridges to burn in her transition to vampire. She missed out on living while she was alive because of her pursuit of thinness, and now has to miss out on a fulfilling life while she is dead.
I also don’t think this was on purpose but the author showed the truth that diets don’t actually work. She shows that just as there are people who are naturally thin, there are people who are naturally fat. It also highlights the truth that thin does not equal healthy. Gwen was only thin because she literally traded her life and soul for it. A lot of people go to such unhealthy lengths for their thin bodies. Drug use, disordered eating, over-exercising, eating disorders, illness, stress, and mental illness can all be contributors to thinness. But, yet our society praises those efforts. I actually liked how this book shined a bright light on the cognitive dissonance of our culture and what we find worthy.
I really disliked how this author described fat Gwen. Here are some of the adjectives that were used: overweight, dowdy, slob, an apple on toothpicks, stupid, ugly, and not to mention the whole universe of this book treats Gwen like TRASH. I understand that the people in the book interact with Gwen in a negative way because that is really realistic of a fat person’s experience, but the author was so shaming of fat people. It was actually really offensive. The author uses her derogatory descriptions of Gwen to justify her trying to starve herself, waste tons of money on scam diets that don’t work, and willingly placing herself in dangerous and life-threatening situations. I found phrases like this especially troubling, “Yeah, like some guy is gonna wanna rape me.” As if being hot enough to tempt a rapist is a good thing.
I thought there was going to be some redeeming message after she turned into a vampire and was still fat and somehow she learns to love herself and her body. But, no. Her “unique metabolism” as the book puts it, barely makes a difference to the plot at all. And her solution is that she just will just be pretty hungry for the rest of eternity so that she doesn’t have to be “ugly” Gwen.
The first half of this book was SO set up to be a body-positive message. There is one conversation in particular where Gwen asks Colin if she will be beautiful after she becomes a vampire. He tells her she will be “perfect.” I wish that her staying the same would have been a positive thing. I wish that through this experience of trading her life for beauty would have resulted in some actual character development and her achieving a positive sense of self and comfortable being in her own skin. This book was so body-obsessed. I wish there were substance to some of these characters. But there wasn’t.
October 22, 2018
Gwen J’sarajen has always had a problem with her weight. No matter what she did to try and slim down, nothing ever seemed to work. She also had a fascination with vampires. They were always so slender and beautiful. If only she could be like one of them, effortlessly slender and beautiful forever.
After a great deal of research into the matter, Gwen came to the conclusion that vampires had to exist, and she was fairly certain that she could find one as she sets out to convince him to help her rather than kill her. After all, there were enough myths and legends about them, and even the most ancient of legends always had some sort of basis in reality didn’t they?
I was entranced by the story told in this book. It was very different from most of the other vampire stories that I have read in the past. I just wish that the editing of the book had been as well done. I ran across a great number of typos in this book that left me very frustrated while reading. Some were spelling errors, others grammatical errors, and some were simple inconsistencies and formatting problems.
Often the author had multiple characters speaking without separating the different speakers into new paragraphs. This sometimes confuses the reader as to who is supposed to be speaking and to whom. One of the other problems I found was that sometimes the city was they were in was referred to as NO and other times it was spelled out as New Orleans. I realize that it’s just a minor thing, but the first time it I ran across it, I had to pause and wonder why the character was yelling NO at someone.
I wish posted reviews allowed for separate ratings for story/plot vs. the writing within the book. If they did, I would rate the story/plot of this one as a 4, but with all the typos and errors I would rate the writing as a 2. I do hope that at some point the author will have the chance to go back through and edit this book again, as doing so would greatly improve the reader’s enjoyment of jt. And I do hope that she will someday publish more books (either with these characters or new ones) as she did have a very fascinating story to tell. But if she does, I would advise hiring an editor to help her with cleaning up the majority of the errors before publication.
After a great deal of research into the matter, Gwen came to the conclusion that vampires had to exist, and she was fairly certain that she could find one as she sets out to convince him to help her rather than kill her. After all, there were enough myths and legends about them, and even the most ancient of legends always had some sort of basis in reality didn’t they?
I was entranced by the story told in this book. It was very different from most of the other vampire stories that I have read in the past. I just wish that the editing of the book had been as well done. I ran across a great number of typos in this book that left me very frustrated while reading. Some were spelling errors, others grammatical errors, and some were simple inconsistencies and formatting problems.
Often the author had multiple characters speaking without separating the different speakers into new paragraphs. This sometimes confuses the reader as to who is supposed to be speaking and to whom. One of the other problems I found was that sometimes the city was they were in was referred to as NO and other times it was spelled out as New Orleans. I realize that it’s just a minor thing, but the first time it I ran across it, I had to pause and wonder why the character was yelling NO at someone.
I wish posted reviews allowed for separate ratings for story/plot vs. the writing within the book. If they did, I would rate the story/plot of this one as a 4, but with all the typos and errors I would rate the writing as a 2. I do hope that at some point the author will have the chance to go back through and edit this book again, as doing so would greatly improve the reader’s enjoyment of jt. And I do hope that she will someday publish more books (either with these characters or new ones) as she did have a very fascinating story to tell. But if she does, I would advise hiring an editor to help her with cleaning up the majority of the errors before publication.
February 20, 2021
Recommended for vampire lovers
A friend suggested this book because he knows my love for vampires and I was positively impressed. Definitely enjoyed the reading! Vampires and diet, I found it a unique concept! Interesting finally having a protagonist that's not the classic beauty and is trying to fight her human defects/obsessions.
A friend suggested this book because he knows my love for vampires and I was positively impressed. Definitely enjoyed the reading! Vampires and diet, I found it a unique concept! Interesting finally having a protagonist that's not the classic beauty and is trying to fight her human defects/obsessions.
December 26, 2019
A good read
First story I’ve read by this author and although my reviews give no pet of the story away, it was a very good book. It was well written and I was able to get into the plot almost immediately. Good job!
First story I’ve read by this author and although my reviews give no pet of the story away, it was a very good book. It was well written and I was able to get into the plot almost immediately. Good job!
August 13, 2020
Fun Read
Despite the very traditional elements of this vampire tale, it is also new and refreshing. I enjoyed the unexpected twist of humor and the unique relationships between the characters and am hoping this is the first book in a series.
Despite the very traditional elements of this vampire tale, it is also new and refreshing. I enjoyed the unexpected twist of humor and the unique relationships between the characters and am hoping this is the first book in a series.
October 7, 2023
A fun fast read. This vampire novel offers an unexpected trope on the young beautiful forever vampire trope . Gwen’s self esteem and body image issues make her relatable even if she is a bit selfish. But Colin her maker is my favorite character.
March 10, 2021
A fun twist on vampire stories!
An interesting spin on the vampire genre - and one that doesn’t take itself too seriously - combined with some unexpected plot twists, make for a fun read. The characters and setting are well-described, drawing the reader into the world. Humorous and entertaining!
An interesting spin on the vampire genre - and one that doesn’t take itself too seriously - combined with some unexpected plot twists, make for a fun read. The characters and setting are well-described, drawing the reader into the world. Humorous and entertaining!
June 19, 2021
I couldn't put this down. I wonder if this could be the start of a series!
November 29, 2020
I really loved this book. I like that it takes something that everyone is familiar with (the slim, beautiful, seductive vampires) and reinvents it. The author makes the reader get acquainted with someone who doesn’t fit the stereotype. Gwen is a character with relatable emotions and thoughts when it comes to the struggle and obsession with weight loss. The way the story unfolds keeps the reader enthralled throughout the book. I highly recommend Eternal Diet for anyone who enjoys vampires, investigations, and strong female characters.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews