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Ben and Fran #1
Got Fangs?
I used to think all I wanted was to have a normal life. You know, where I could be one of the crowd and blend in, so no one would know just how different I am. But now I'm stuck in the middle of Hungary with my mom, working for a traveling fair with my psychics, magicians, and other really weird people, and somehow, blending in with this crowd doesn't look so good.
Fortunately, there's Benedikt. Yeah, he may be a vampire, but he has a motorcycle, he likes the mysterious horse I suddenly acquired, and best of all, he doesn't think I'm the least bit freaky. So I'm supposed to redeem his soul -- if his kisses are anything to go by, my new life may not be quite as bad as I imagined.
193 pages, Paperback
First published January 4, 2005
19 people are currently reading
3546 people want to read
About the author
Katie Maxwell
21 books179 followersKatie Maxwell is a pseudonym of
Katie MacAlister
.
Katie MacAlister is a Seattle-area author of fiction and non-fiction. Her most popular titles are historical, contemporary, and paranormal romance. She also writes Young Adult books under the pseudonym Katie Maxwell and Mysteries under the pseudonym Kate Marsh.
About Katie
as long as she can remember, Katie MacAlister has loved reading. Growing up in a family where a weekly visit to the library was a given, Katie spent much of her time with her nose buried in a book. Despite her love for novels, she didn't think of writing them until she was contracted to write a non-fiction book about software. Since her editor refused to allow her to include either witty dialogue or love scenes in the software book, Katie swiftly resolved to switch to fiction, where she could indulge in world building, tormenting characters, and falling madly in love with all her heroes.
Two years after she started writing novels, Katie sold her first romance, Noble Intentions. More than thirty books later, her novels have been translated into numerous languages, been recorded as audiobooks, received several awards, and placed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. She also writes for the young adult audience as Katie Maxwell.
Katie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and dogs, and can often be found lurking around online.
Contact Katie
You can write to Katie at katie@katiemacalister.com or via snail mail at:
Katie MacAlister
c/o Three Seas Literary Agency
PO Box 8571
Madison, WI 53708
Katie MacAlister is a Seattle-area author of fiction and non-fiction. Her most popular titles are historical, contemporary, and paranormal romance. She also writes Young Adult books under the pseudonym Katie Maxwell and Mysteries under the pseudonym Kate Marsh.
About Katie
as long as she can remember, Katie MacAlister has loved reading. Growing up in a family where a weekly visit to the library was a given, Katie spent much of her time with her nose buried in a book. Despite her love for novels, she didn't think of writing them until she was contracted to write a non-fiction book about software. Since her editor refused to allow her to include either witty dialogue or love scenes in the software book, Katie swiftly resolved to switch to fiction, where she could indulge in world building, tormenting characters, and falling madly in love with all her heroes.
Two years after she started writing novels, Katie sold her first romance, Noble Intentions. More than thirty books later, her novels have been translated into numerous languages, been recorded as audiobooks, received several awards, and placed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. She also writes for the young adult audience as Katie Maxwell.
Katie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and dogs, and can often be found lurking around online.
Contact Katie
You can write to Katie at katie@katiemacalister.com or via snail mail at:
Katie MacAlister
c/o Three Seas Literary Agency
PO Box 8571
Madison, WI 53708
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
February 16, 2008
I freakin love this book. it is the best book i have ever read. it's hilarious. it had me rolling around on the floor laughing. the author is hilarious and she combines the complexity of a teenage girls life with the mythical whatevers of vampires. this book rocks!
December 30, 2010
I got this book because I had previously read the Aisling Grey book by Katie MacAlister and was curious about her young adult books. Katie Maxwell is the name Katie MacAlister uses for her young adult books. This book is the first book in the Goth series. There is one other book after this one called "Circus of the Darned". I actually really liked this book it was a cute, fun and fluffy little read.
Francesca is just your average sixteen year old, except for a couple small facts. First she can read people and objects by touching them with her bare skin (history and what they are thinking). Second she is stuck traveling with the GothFaire through Europe with her mother who is a bonafide witch. More than anything she just wants to be a normal girl. That is until she gets run over by a motorcycle driven by Benedikt (Ben) Czerny. Ben is a Dark One (vampire) and tells Fran that she is his Beloved and destined to bring light into his life. Well, that is all and good, but first things first. Someone is stealing money from the GothFaire; can Fran figure out who it is before the Faire has to shut down for good? How is she going to deal with this Ben guy claiming that they are eternally linked?
This book was a lot of fun. For being such a slim novel it packs a lot of story. Maxwell introduces some interesting beliefs about vampirism (it is linked to male descendants) and also hints at some more interesting plot points (such as the horse, Tesla) that weren't fully addressed in this book.
The plot clips along at a quick place. Fran is a funny and endearing character that is a lot of fun to read about. Ben is a great character too. All the supporting characters are well-crafted and fun. I really enjoyed the book. Keep in mind this is meant to be a light read. It is amusing and cute, predictable but lovable. A nice, quick diversion from heavier topics. The dialogue gets a little over-the-top silly at times, but I found it charming rather than annoying. This is one of those books where even the evil guys aren't all that evil.
This is a very short book. At under 200 pages it only takes 2-3 hours to read, but it is fun. If you are looking for something light-hearted and fun I would recommend this. I am excited to read the next book "Circus of the Darned" and am curious to find out if Maxwell is planning any more books with these fun characters!
Francesca is just your average sixteen year old, except for a couple small facts. First she can read people and objects by touching them with her bare skin (history and what they are thinking). Second she is stuck traveling with the GothFaire through Europe with her mother who is a bonafide witch. More than anything she just wants to be a normal girl. That is until she gets run over by a motorcycle driven by Benedikt (Ben) Czerny. Ben is a Dark One (vampire) and tells Fran that she is his Beloved and destined to bring light into his life. Well, that is all and good, but first things first. Someone is stealing money from the GothFaire; can Fran figure out who it is before the Faire has to shut down for good? How is she going to deal with this Ben guy claiming that they are eternally linked?
This book was a lot of fun. For being such a slim novel it packs a lot of story. Maxwell introduces some interesting beliefs about vampirism (it is linked to male descendants) and also hints at some more interesting plot points (such as the horse, Tesla) that weren't fully addressed in this book.
The plot clips along at a quick place. Fran is a funny and endearing character that is a lot of fun to read about. Ben is a great character too. All the supporting characters are well-crafted and fun. I really enjoyed the book. Keep in mind this is meant to be a light read. It is amusing and cute, predictable but lovable. A nice, quick diversion from heavier topics. The dialogue gets a little over-the-top silly at times, but I found it charming rather than annoying. This is one of those books where even the evil guys aren't all that evil.
This is a very short book. At under 200 pages it only takes 2-3 hours to read, but it is fun. If you are looking for something light-hearted and fun I would recommend this. I am excited to read the next book "Circus of the Darned" and am curious to find out if Maxwell is planning any more books with these fun characters!
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March 13, 2025Got Fangs: Confessions Of A Vampire's Girlfriend.
This is a bookshelf reread.
The story follows Fran, an American girl whose mother is a witch who dragged her to Europe to tour with a Faire full of other people with supernatural abilities. I’m unclear on the timeline because it seems like they’ve been there a while, and Fran is already best friends with fortune teller Imogen, but later Fran says they’ve only been with the Faire for a month, but then she says every time they leave a town where there’s a hospital, they go and do magic tricks for the sick kids, which implies it’s happened several times already since she's been there, and that there are towns where it doesn’t happen because they don’t have hospitals, and then she says their next location will last 10 days, and the whole story takes place at the current stop, over a couple of days, so that would suggest she’s been there long enough to understand this dynamic, but if it typically lasts this long for each stop, she would have had to be there more than a month. It just seems too short a time. But it doesn’t matter, it has no relevance to the story.
Fran is insecure because she’s super tall and naturally very pale with dark hair and eyes, so she looks like she’s trying to be Goth without trying. Strangers think she’s posing as a vampire, which is a rude term among the actual vampires that secretly exist. They prefer being called Dark Ones, and come about when someone is cursed and their sons have to bear the burden of their sins for generations. All sons in their lineage become vampires, while the daughters are immortal but free of vampirism. They’re called Moravian. Imogen is Moravian, which Fran knows because she is psychometric and discovered this by accident.
The psychometric thing was pleasing to me, because I hadn’t really consciously heard of it until the show He Is Psychometric came out, which I just recently got around to watching. I liked further confirmation that it was a real term and how the way it worked was very similar in both stories. When she touches something, Fran can feel the essence of a person based off their intense emotions and can see the history of the object in relation to people who touched it. If she touches a person, she can see their memories and feelings in a way, and learn a lot about them. She can get overwhelmed if she does this too many times in a day. Fran hates her power and always wears gloves. She just wants to be normal and live around other normal people.
Then Imogen’s vampire brother shows up and realizes Fran is his beloved. A Dark One’s beloved redeems their soul somehow. I’m not sure how, it didn’t really explain, except that any sons they have together wouldn’t be vampires. His name is Benedikt, or Ben as she calls him, and there’s a lot about their connection that he won’t yet tell her. He does say he couldn’t hurt her, and he can’t lie to her, so he resorts to not answering some things instead. Fran isn’t so sure she’s ready to be that committed to a guy she just met, or to have a boyfriend who’s a vampire and therefore very not normal, but she likes that he’s taller than her.
Someone keeps robbing the Faire’s money lately, and Fran’s mom wants her to use her secret psychometric abilities to find out who did it. Fran refuses and storms out, but as she walks through the countryside, she comes across a girl crying as her relative sells off their deceased grandfather’s special old horse. Learning he’s going to be sold to become glue or meat, Fran uses all her savings to buy the horse. In order to get permission from her mom to keep him, she has to agree to find the thief. Also she needs to start working at the Faire to earn money to take care of the horse.
The horse’s name is Tesla, and he’s a Lipizzan, though no one in the books seems to know what that is. They just keep saying he’s a special horse, in a mysterious way, and sometimes make it seem like it’s related to being a Lipizzan. I think there’s some supernatural element to that that isn’t revealed in this book. He can also do dressage, but he’s quite old.
The Faire is run by these siblings, a boy and girl. The male sibling has a son who has been Fran’s friend since she arrived and I’m pretty sure he has a crush on her, but even when she uses psychometry on him, she perceives his feelings to fit her own assumptions. The girl twin is scarier and hard to deal with apparently, and she’s a powerful mind reader, so most of the workers have to learn to guard their minds. Fran didn’t learn until Ben feels her struggling through their mental connection and gives her instructions on how to do so. It’s super simple, but I’m not sure why Fran’s mind has never been read before. She’s super paranoid about the lady discovering her power because she will put her to work.
Fran makes up an excuse to the lady for why her mom thinks she can solve the case, and gets permission to touch the safe that has been robbed, gaining a list of suspects based off who's touched it. Little by little she goes to question and touch each person throughout the book, while also getting closer to Ben.
The leader’s son is excited to be a sidekick and fellow detective with her, not that he gets to. He’s one of the suspects. Another is Elvis, an Elvis impersonator who is obsessed with Imogen. Fran views him as a creep in general, but after using psychometry on him, she thinks he’s even more disturbing in his feelings for Imogen than she thought, but he shows no signs of being the thief. He’s there resident demonologist, but insists he’s never summoned one.
The girl twin is certain their former band stole the money and she got them a new band, who casts a glamour when they play music to make people think their music is good when it really sucks. It makes everyone enjoy the music and feel compelled to dance around at the concert, during which Fran freely touches a lot of people and doesn’t care even as if overwhelms her, until she touches someone dark and wicked who wants to kill Ben.
There are a few times she gets mad at Ben for being all macho and thinking he can solve everything while she should stay back and let him handle it all. Mostly it seemed like she was deciding to interpret his actions and words that way and get herself worked up, but at the end of the book he really did act that way. It was amusing though. I’m not sure we really got much characterization for him beyond being perfect and sometimes too-guy. I wasn’t really sure why he liked her except that she was his beloved so he had to. He’s been hoping for so many centuries to have a beloved, so he was probably ecstatic no matter who it was, otherwise I would have questioned if he was happy or disappointed over who he got. For Fran’s part, I think some of her feelings were superficial for his appearance, and that he was nice to her. But she got mad at him a lot, and I wonder how that influenced his feelings. It doesn’t matter though, because she can basically do no wrong for him, but not in a way that I could properly grasp because they hadn’t had a build up to that, it was just the way it was, so I couldn’t find it sweet.
Anyway, Fran rules out all her suspects, except her mom kind of, but she was certain it wasn’t her. Then the witches kept doing a circle because they could sense something unclean around that was bringing danger to the world. And it started to rain frogs.
After Imogen gets enraged by a note from Elvis demanding he meet her, where she sends Ben to deal with him, Fran passes Elvis who seemingly has no knowledge of it and isn’t on his way to meet Imogen. He’s seems oblivious, but that part is a lie, he did a good job though. It makes her recall something that’s been bothering her for a while that she couldn’t put her finger on from the hospital magic show: Elvis could do sleight of hand, which she realizes is how he stole the money. Also he summoned a demon, but he didn’t use it to steal the money, but to kill Ben so he wouldn’t protect Imogen from Elvis.
She tells Imogen and runs off to warn Ben, but arrives too late and the creature has already attacked him. Imogen hits it with her car and tells Fran she has to use the beloved connection to draw out Ben’s mind and get him to stay alive and heal himself, which will bond them more deeply and eternally in way that is not apparent even when it happens, so I don’t know what that was about. While he recovers, the girls beat up the creature.
Basically Imogen stabbed it through the heart with silver to slow it down after breaking its legs with the car. While Fran tries to talk about how much she does know about them in order to defeat them, she learns Elvis lied to her before because he told her steel burns them, but it’s silver. She spends the beating berating Imogen for adding to Ben’s mindset that he can do everything and girls should stand back. Imogen denies it until Ben stumbles over and warns them to back up so he can deal with the creature even though he can barely stand, so Imogen admits she bears partial responsibility for him thinking this way, especially since she always thought it was easier to send Ben to deal with things even though she could handle them herself.
The whole time, the creature is fighting back and snarling curses and throwing them around, which does damage but they ignore it and just stand back up to keep arguing and hitting it with hard things until it dissipates.
Elvis has fled the Faire, but Ben plans to track him down and punish him, despite Fran saying he shouldn’t. She then huffs at him and tells him to go away, get himself killed, he’s too difficult to deal with ever again, as she has many times throughout the book. The end.
I don’t know why this is called Confessions Of A Vampire’s Girlfriend because they’re not dating, she’s not confessing anything, and most of what’s going on has little to do with her relationship with Ben.
It’s meant to be very humorous, and it did have some humorous moments. I should have made note of most the good ones, but I didn’t think to do that. I’d rather remember the good stuff since ideally I’m not going to reread or keep it.
Here is the only quote I did make note of:
“The creature shrieked again, an angry shriek, one that promised pain and retribution and all sorts of revenge that I couldn’t even imagine. I ignored it.”
That’s all I’ve got.
I figured I wouldn’t read the next book and just find a detailed summary instead, but I couldn’t find one. But other reviews of the sequel did say it ends on a cliff hanger and then no more books came out, except the author primarily writes adult fiction, and she has a Dark Ones series that does give a book to Fran and Ben to continue or finish their story in that genre. Sounds too mature for me though, so I’m good not continuing. I found some vague overviews of it, and I think I can look harder if I want a more detailed one.
This is a bookshelf reread.
The story follows Fran, an American girl whose mother is a witch who dragged her to Europe to tour with a Faire full of other people with supernatural abilities. I’m unclear on the timeline because it seems like they’ve been there a while, and Fran is already best friends with fortune teller Imogen, but later Fran says they’ve only been with the Faire for a month, but then she says every time they leave a town where there’s a hospital, they go and do magic tricks for the sick kids, which implies it’s happened several times already since she's been there, and that there are towns where it doesn’t happen because they don’t have hospitals, and then she says their next location will last 10 days, and the whole story takes place at the current stop, over a couple of days, so that would suggest she’s been there long enough to understand this dynamic, but if it typically lasts this long for each stop, she would have had to be there more than a month. It just seems too short a time. But it doesn’t matter, it has no relevance to the story.
Fran is insecure because she’s super tall and naturally very pale with dark hair and eyes, so she looks like she’s trying to be Goth without trying. Strangers think she’s posing as a vampire, which is a rude term among the actual vampires that secretly exist. They prefer being called Dark Ones, and come about when someone is cursed and their sons have to bear the burden of their sins for generations. All sons in their lineage become vampires, while the daughters are immortal but free of vampirism. They’re called Moravian. Imogen is Moravian, which Fran knows because she is psychometric and discovered this by accident.
The psychometric thing was pleasing to me, because I hadn’t really consciously heard of it until the show He Is Psychometric came out, which I just recently got around to watching. I liked further confirmation that it was a real term and how the way it worked was very similar in both stories. When she touches something, Fran can feel the essence of a person based off their intense emotions and can see the history of the object in relation to people who touched it. If she touches a person, she can see their memories and feelings in a way, and learn a lot about them. She can get overwhelmed if she does this too many times in a day. Fran hates her power and always wears gloves. She just wants to be normal and live around other normal people.
Then Imogen’s vampire brother shows up and realizes Fran is his beloved. A Dark One’s beloved redeems their soul somehow. I’m not sure how, it didn’t really explain, except that any sons they have together wouldn’t be vampires. His name is Benedikt, or Ben as she calls him, and there’s a lot about their connection that he won’t yet tell her. He does say he couldn’t hurt her, and he can’t lie to her, so he resorts to not answering some things instead. Fran isn’t so sure she’s ready to be that committed to a guy she just met, or to have a boyfriend who’s a vampire and therefore very not normal, but she likes that he’s taller than her.
Someone keeps robbing the Faire’s money lately, and Fran’s mom wants her to use her secret psychometric abilities to find out who did it. Fran refuses and storms out, but as she walks through the countryside, she comes across a girl crying as her relative sells off their deceased grandfather’s special old horse. Learning he’s going to be sold to become glue or meat, Fran uses all her savings to buy the horse. In order to get permission from her mom to keep him, she has to agree to find the thief. Also she needs to start working at the Faire to earn money to take care of the horse.
The horse’s name is Tesla, and he’s a Lipizzan, though no one in the books seems to know what that is. They just keep saying he’s a special horse, in a mysterious way, and sometimes make it seem like it’s related to being a Lipizzan. I think there’s some supernatural element to that that isn’t revealed in this book. He can also do dressage, but he’s quite old.
The Faire is run by these siblings, a boy and girl. The male sibling has a son who has been Fran’s friend since she arrived and I’m pretty sure he has a crush on her, but even when she uses psychometry on him, she perceives his feelings to fit her own assumptions. The girl twin is scarier and hard to deal with apparently, and she’s a powerful mind reader, so most of the workers have to learn to guard their minds. Fran didn’t learn until Ben feels her struggling through their mental connection and gives her instructions on how to do so. It’s super simple, but I’m not sure why Fran’s mind has never been read before. She’s super paranoid about the lady discovering her power because she will put her to work.
Fran makes up an excuse to the lady for why her mom thinks she can solve the case, and gets permission to touch the safe that has been robbed, gaining a list of suspects based off who's touched it. Little by little she goes to question and touch each person throughout the book, while also getting closer to Ben.
The leader’s son is excited to be a sidekick and fellow detective with her, not that he gets to. He’s one of the suspects. Another is Elvis, an Elvis impersonator who is obsessed with Imogen. Fran views him as a creep in general, but after using psychometry on him, she thinks he’s even more disturbing in his feelings for Imogen than she thought, but he shows no signs of being the thief. He’s there resident demonologist, but insists he’s never summoned one.
The girl twin is certain their former band stole the money and she got them a new band, who casts a glamour when they play music to make people think their music is good when it really sucks. It makes everyone enjoy the music and feel compelled to dance around at the concert, during which Fran freely touches a lot of people and doesn’t care even as if overwhelms her, until she touches someone dark and wicked who wants to kill Ben.
There are a few times she gets mad at Ben for being all macho and thinking he can solve everything while she should stay back and let him handle it all. Mostly it seemed like she was deciding to interpret his actions and words that way and get herself worked up, but at the end of the book he really did act that way. It was amusing though. I’m not sure we really got much characterization for him beyond being perfect and sometimes too-guy. I wasn’t really sure why he liked her except that she was his beloved so he had to. He’s been hoping for so many centuries to have a beloved, so he was probably ecstatic no matter who it was, otherwise I would have questioned if he was happy or disappointed over who he got. For Fran’s part, I think some of her feelings were superficial for his appearance, and that he was nice to her. But she got mad at him a lot, and I wonder how that influenced his feelings. It doesn’t matter though, because she can basically do no wrong for him, but not in a way that I could properly grasp because they hadn’t had a build up to that, it was just the way it was, so I couldn’t find it sweet.
Anyway, Fran rules out all her suspects, except her mom kind of, but she was certain it wasn’t her. Then the witches kept doing a circle because they could sense something unclean around that was bringing danger to the world. And it started to rain frogs.
After Imogen gets enraged by a note from Elvis demanding he meet her, where she sends Ben to deal with him, Fran passes Elvis who seemingly has no knowledge of it and isn’t on his way to meet Imogen. He’s seems oblivious, but that part is a lie, he did a good job though. It makes her recall something that’s been bothering her for a while that she couldn’t put her finger on from the hospital magic show: Elvis could do sleight of hand, which she realizes is how he stole the money. Also he summoned a demon, but he didn’t use it to steal the money, but to kill Ben so he wouldn’t protect Imogen from Elvis.
She tells Imogen and runs off to warn Ben, but arrives too late and the creature has already attacked him. Imogen hits it with her car and tells Fran she has to use the beloved connection to draw out Ben’s mind and get him to stay alive and heal himself, which will bond them more deeply and eternally in way that is not apparent even when it happens, so I don’t know what that was about. While he recovers, the girls beat up the creature.
Basically Imogen stabbed it through the heart with silver to slow it down after breaking its legs with the car. While Fran tries to talk about how much she does know about them in order to defeat them, she learns Elvis lied to her before because he told her steel burns them, but it’s silver. She spends the beating berating Imogen for adding to Ben’s mindset that he can do everything and girls should stand back. Imogen denies it until Ben stumbles over and warns them to back up so he can deal with the creature even though he can barely stand, so Imogen admits she bears partial responsibility for him thinking this way, especially since she always thought it was easier to send Ben to deal with things even though she could handle them herself.
The whole time, the creature is fighting back and snarling curses and throwing them around, which does damage but they ignore it and just stand back up to keep arguing and hitting it with hard things until it dissipates.
Elvis has fled the Faire, but Ben plans to track him down and punish him, despite Fran saying he shouldn’t. She then huffs at him and tells him to go away, get himself killed, he’s too difficult to deal with ever again, as she has many times throughout the book. The end.
I don’t know why this is called Confessions Of A Vampire’s Girlfriend because they’re not dating, she’s not confessing anything, and most of what’s going on has little to do with her relationship with Ben.
It’s meant to be very humorous, and it did have some humorous moments. I should have made note of most the good ones, but I didn’t think to do that. I’d rather remember the good stuff since ideally I’m not going to reread or keep it.
Here is the only quote I did make note of:
“The creature shrieked again, an angry shriek, one that promised pain and retribution and all sorts of revenge that I couldn’t even imagine. I ignored it.”
That’s all I’ve got.
I figured I wouldn’t read the next book and just find a detailed summary instead, but I couldn’t find one. But other reviews of the sequel did say it ends on a cliff hanger and then no more books came out, except the author primarily writes adult fiction, and she has a Dark Ones series that does give a book to Fran and Ben to continue or finish their story in that genre. Sounds too mature for me though, so I’m good not continuing. I found some vague overviews of it, and I think I can look harder if I want a more detailed one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2011
Got Fangs?
Our heroine is Fran, a 16-year-old girl who thinks she's a freak. Yes, I know most 16-year-olds think they're freaks but Fran is definitely not your average girl. She's 6 feet tall and, in her words, built like a linebacker, her parents are divorced, her mother is a witch (for real, not the kind most teenagers think of), and then there's the fact that she has to wear gloves all the time since if she touches you with her bare hand she gets a quick visit to your head.
Since her father has just picked himself up a trophy wife he has sent Fran to stay with her mother. So Fran is now stuck in a trailer with her mother travelling around Europe as part of a 'GothFaire'. Some very odd people are part of the fair - including magicians who can do real magic, a psychic with a dead boyfriend (really dead, like a couple of hundred years dead), and a demonologist who dresses, talks, and behaves like Elvis. Her best friend at the fair, is Imogen, a 400-year-old Moravian woman reads palms and rune stones.
Our hero is Benedikt, Imogen's younger brother. (Younger, but not that much younger.) Benedict is a 'Dark One', a soulless vampire. Unlike many of the more popular vampires, 'Dark Ones are truly cursed. Not their fault, in most cases, as their curse is the result of something an ancestor did. But there is a cure, if a Dark One finds his Beloved and bonds with her he gets his soul back.
Benedict has been searching for his Beloved for almost 300 years. He plans to love her and protect her and decide what's best for her. Then he meets Fran, and she is his Beloved, but she's not too sure about the love thing, is not impressed with the protect part and he better get over the idea of making her decisions.
So here's never-been-kissed Fran, with an instantaneous super hot boyfriend she's not sure she's ready for, with baggage she's really not prepared for, and a white witch mother who is really unhappy with the thought of her 16-year-old daughter dating the soulless undead and the power to do something about it.
The plot is pretty light involving Fran solving the thefts at the fair, acquiring a very old horse, and being forced to read palms at the fair to earn the horse's upkeep. Of course there is the part about Ben dying, or the part where she and Imogen beat up a demon, and the part where Fran learns that a Mississippi kiss is better than an Iowa one... (Read the book for an explanation of that one. Oh, and don't worry about Ben, he's sort of immortal.)
Our heroine is Fran, a 16-year-old girl who thinks she's a freak. Yes, I know most 16-year-olds think they're freaks but Fran is definitely not your average girl. She's 6 feet tall and, in her words, built like a linebacker, her parents are divorced, her mother is a witch (for real, not the kind most teenagers think of), and then there's the fact that she has to wear gloves all the time since if she touches you with her bare hand she gets a quick visit to your head.
Since her father has just picked himself up a trophy wife he has sent Fran to stay with her mother. So Fran is now stuck in a trailer with her mother travelling around Europe as part of a 'GothFaire'. Some very odd people are part of the fair - including magicians who can do real magic, a psychic with a dead boyfriend (really dead, like a couple of hundred years dead), and a demonologist who dresses, talks, and behaves like Elvis. Her best friend at the fair, is Imogen, a 400-year-old Moravian woman reads palms and rune stones.
Our hero is Benedikt, Imogen's younger brother. (Younger, but not that much younger.) Benedict is a 'Dark One', a soulless vampire. Unlike many of the more popular vampires, 'Dark Ones are truly cursed. Not their fault, in most cases, as their curse is the result of something an ancestor did. But there is a cure, if a Dark One finds his Beloved and bonds with her he gets his soul back.
Benedict has been searching for his Beloved for almost 300 years. He plans to love her and protect her and decide what's best for her. Then he meets Fran, and she is his Beloved, but she's not too sure about the love thing, is not impressed with the protect part and he better get over the idea of making her decisions.
So here's never-been-kissed Fran, with an instantaneous super hot boyfriend she's not sure she's ready for, with baggage she's really not prepared for, and a white witch mother who is really unhappy with the thought of her 16-year-old daughter dating the soulless undead and the power to do something about it.
The plot is pretty light involving Fran solving the thefts at the fair, acquiring a very old horse, and being forced to read palms at the fair to earn the horse's upkeep. Of course there is the part about Ben dying, or the part where she and Imogen beat up a demon, and the part where Fran learns that a Mississippi kiss is better than an Iowa one... (Read the book for an explanation of that one. Oh, and don't worry about Ben, he's sort of immortal.)
June 28, 2014
Honestly the book was kinda cheesy in my opinion. My bestie read it in 2005 and loved it and recently told me to give it a try because it was a quick read. I did read it quickly and it wasn't horrible but I didn't really care for it. The main character made a lot of jokes that weren't funny and the author often would put "(in case you were wondering)" in the book every few pages and I would just think to myself, actually...I couldn't care less.
One line said something about a guy pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Which is all fine and good. The author then adds in "(The rabbit's name is Gertrude, in case you were wondering)" and I just thought it was kind of odd and unnecessary.
One line said something about a guy pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Which is all fine and good. The author then adds in "(The rabbit's name is Gertrude, in case you were wondering)" and I just thought it was kind of odd and unnecessary.
March 16, 2022
-This review is just an opinion and is subjective. Not to be taken seriously- Thank god this is short....it's so bad
The biggest reason I didn't like it was because it was really juvenile for a teen book. I thought the traveling circus aspect would be neat, it was lame. I don't think I like when main characters has a special power but has such hate towards it. It had a Elvis impersonator character which was ugh ew. The main character was pretty childlike for being 16.Even the love interest treated her like she was 12 years old. Their fights would be childish as heck. She liked to call people a boob because she wouldn't swear.....a boob. This book was just cringe and terribly written and told. The whole WHY reason of the book was lame! With all that being said I didn't hate it. It's a silly little book to read to pass the time.Not to be taken too seriously but I just couldn't like it love it kind of thing. I have the second book so I'll read it. Side Note: My copy had pages missing and miss prints 😆
The biggest reason I didn't like it was because it was really juvenile for a teen book. I thought the traveling circus aspect would be neat, it was lame. I don't think I like when main characters has a special power but has such hate towards it. It had a Elvis impersonator character which was ugh ew. The main character was pretty childlike for being 16.Even the love interest treated her like she was 12 years old. Their fights would be childish as heck. She liked to call people a boob because she wouldn't swear.....a boob. This book was just cringe and terribly written and told. The whole WHY reason of the book was lame! With all that being said I didn't hate it. It's a silly little book to read to pass the time.Not to be taken too seriously but I just couldn't like it love it kind of thing. I have the second book so I'll read it. Side Note: My copy had pages missing and miss prints 😆
April 5, 2023
Re-Read: April 2023
Format: MMP
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Mystery with Romance
Content: kissing/light making out, demon fighting, dying
This is one of those teenage favorites that still engrossed me after all these years in spite of the then-common and now-annoying "my existence is to protect weak you" boy and "I can take care of myself so back off" girl pairing (also looking at you Twilight and Mediator, to sadly name just a few). Despite its short length, it is crammed with multiple plot elements: two mysteries, a romance, and a new pet, not to mention exploring a circus full of characters. This made it a rather rushed read - especially the end which climaxed and wrapped up way too fast for any emotional impact - but I must admit even with its many flaws I enjoyed rediscovering this teen fave and will continue straight into the sequel. Probably won't hold on to the books for future reads, though.
Format: MMP
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Mystery with Romance
Content: kissing/light making out, demon fighting, dying
This is one of those teenage favorites that still engrossed me after all these years in spite of the then-common and now-annoying "my existence is to protect weak you" boy and "I can take care of myself so back off" girl pairing (also looking at you Twilight and Mediator, to sadly name just a few). Despite its short length, it is crammed with multiple plot elements: two mysteries, a romance, and a new pet, not to mention exploring a circus full of characters. This made it a rather rushed read - especially the end which climaxed and wrapped up way too fast for any emotional impact - but I must admit even with its many flaws I enjoyed rediscovering this teen fave and will continue straight into the sequel. Probably won't hold on to the books for future reads, though.
January 19, 2025
"Review written as a teen around 2009/10 - probably not how I'd feel about this book if I read it now!
Quote:
"You know that creepy kid who saw dead people in Sixth Sense? He's Norman P. Normal compared to me."
Review:
At under 200 pages this book is an extremely quick read, I finished it in one sitting. For being so short, I think that the characters are quite well developed. The take on vampires, magicians and psychics is interesting and I like the whole concept of "GothFaire". Katie Maxwell's writing is naturally funny and the mystery in the story is well concealed, leaving the ending a surprise (though I'm not quite sure about the culprit's motive).
Reccomended to:
Those who want a quick, funny mystery involving vampires and magic."
Quote:
"You know that creepy kid who saw dead people in Sixth Sense? He's Norman P. Normal compared to me."
Review:
At under 200 pages this book is an extremely quick read, I finished it in one sitting. For being so short, I think that the characters are quite well developed. The take on vampires, magicians and psychics is interesting and I like the whole concept of "GothFaire". Katie Maxwell's writing is naturally funny and the mystery in the story is well concealed, leaving the ending a surprise (though I'm not quite sure about the culprit's motive).
Reccomended to:
Those who want a quick, funny mystery involving vampires and magic."
July 14, 2020
Definitely the kind of thing you'd expect from a mid-2000s paranormal romance for teenage girls. Absolutely riddled with dated slang and not especially cerebral. The worldbuilding was pretty interesting with some unique bits, and the mystery aspect has some thought put into it. Sometimes I just want to read a book that is fun and doesn't ask too much of me. This was nice book candy.
November 15, 2021
I read this many moons ago as a teen and its always stuck with me. This was a reread that I enjoyed just as much as the first time because of how light, silly and airy it feels. I've read some pretty intense and I do mean *intense* things over the past few years so taking it back to the basics was a breath of fresh air.
February 5, 2022
I loved this book as a kid but 15 years later not so much. Both the h/h are absolutely unbearable; they are so annoying. Also how convenient that a 300yr old "dark one's" beloved is a 16 year old girl. :l Why did we let that trope go on for so long in YA novels.
December 20, 2018
Seems like this is an older book but reading it in retrospect its seems to touch on themes now cliche.
August 26, 2021
Okay, honestly I forgot how cute these books are. While I think you get on board with Ben and Fran pretty quickly, I also loved the side characters. Pretty much all of them. Also, love Tesla.
September 24, 2021
One of my favorites as a teenager.
November 4, 2024
15 years later and this still got me giggling. Perhaps this was a sign that my dating life was doomed from the start
December 24, 2024
I read it only because I am cleaning out my stash.
April 7, 2025
Re-read. Read the original back in 2005. Back then I loved. Now I think some parts are cringy 🤣 How YA has changed
November 17, 2012
Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com
Francesca (Fran) is currently touring Germany with a Goth Faire, courtesy of her mother, who is a witch. After her father had what she kindly refers to as a midlife crisis, Fran was sent to stay with her mom--who is finally living her dream, living with people who are just like herself, seeing the world, and having fun. Unfortunately, the Faire has caused Fran to feel like even more of a freak than she did back home--not only is she six feet tall with dark hair and pale skin, but she's been cursed (blessed?) with the ability to read thoughts and feelings in other people just by touching them.
After buying a horse on a spur-of-the-moment trip away from the Faire grounds, her mother ropes her into a mission--Fran can keep the horse if she gets a job with the Faire to pay for his feed and vet bills, and if she helps the Faire owners, Absinthe and Peter, find out who's been stealing from the nightly take. She sets off to become an apprentice of Imogen, who reads palms and runes, as her job, and embarks on a Nancy Drew-ish mission to casually touch each individual who's had access to the safe.
During all of this she runs into (literally), Benedickt Czerny, who is Imogen's brother and who also happens to be a Moravian Dark One--a vampire. Added to that, Ben informs Fran that she's his Beloved, the one woman destined to redeem his soul. As she's reeling with all this implies, her investigation leads her to think that evil is in the camp, that someone has not only been stealing money but is planning on killing Ben.
As Fran and Ben begin a relationship, Fran begins to see that she's not a freak and an outsider, but someone who just might have more in common with the people of the Faire than she ever thought.
Katie Maxwell has written a funny and entertaining vampire story that's perfect for all ages. The mystery into the thefts and who wants to harm Ben is perfectly woven, and the last chapter definitely leaves it open for more stories starring the Dark One and his Beloved. An overall excellent read!
Francesca (Fran) is currently touring Germany with a Goth Faire, courtesy of her mother, who is a witch. After her father had what she kindly refers to as a midlife crisis, Fran was sent to stay with her mom--who is finally living her dream, living with people who are just like herself, seeing the world, and having fun. Unfortunately, the Faire has caused Fran to feel like even more of a freak than she did back home--not only is she six feet tall with dark hair and pale skin, but she's been cursed (blessed?) with the ability to read thoughts and feelings in other people just by touching them.
After buying a horse on a spur-of-the-moment trip away from the Faire grounds, her mother ropes her into a mission--Fran can keep the horse if she gets a job with the Faire to pay for his feed and vet bills, and if she helps the Faire owners, Absinthe and Peter, find out who's been stealing from the nightly take. She sets off to become an apprentice of Imogen, who reads palms and runes, as her job, and embarks on a Nancy Drew-ish mission to casually touch each individual who's had access to the safe.
During all of this she runs into (literally), Benedickt Czerny, who is Imogen's brother and who also happens to be a Moravian Dark One--a vampire. Added to that, Ben informs Fran that she's his Beloved, the one woman destined to redeem his soul. As she's reeling with all this implies, her investigation leads her to think that evil is in the camp, that someone has not only been stealing money but is planning on killing Ben.
As Fran and Ben begin a relationship, Fran begins to see that she's not a freak and an outsider, but someone who just might have more in common with the people of the Faire than she ever thought.
Katie Maxwell has written a funny and entertaining vampire story that's perfect for all ages. The mystery into the thefts and who wants to harm Ben is perfectly woven, and the last chapter definitely leaves it open for more stories starring the Dark One and his Beloved. An overall excellent read!
August 21, 2012
I love this book!!! It's one of my favorites!
The concept of a girl who feels out of place and weird and meets a vampire, with whom they are destined to be together(his beloved), is what intrigued me so much to not be able to put this book down whenever i read it. Paranormal possibilities that make us yearn for more or even for this to happen in reality....
I recommend this book to readers that love paranormal romantic comedies.
The concept of a girl who feels out of place and weird and meets a vampire, with whom they are destined to be together(his beloved), is what intrigued me so much to not be able to put this book down whenever i read it. Paranormal possibilities that make us yearn for more or even for this to happen in reality....
I recommend this book to readers that love paranormal romantic comedies.
November 13, 2023
Read as a teen. Absolutely love it. I still read this today.
November 5, 2010
Very quick read, very cute. Katie MacAlister is one of my favorite authors & in preparation for her new Dark Ones novel, I figured I'd read the back story on Benedickt and Francesca, or Ben & Fran.
Fran is a 16 year old psychometric, she can feel or see images whenever she touches objects or people. She is in Hungary at a Goth Faire with her mother and Benedickt Czerny enters her life. He is a vampire, or a Moravian Dark One as they preferred to be called and claims that Fran is his Beloved, the one and only woman who can redeem his soul. Not exactly what you want to hear as a sixteen year old! But he is awfully handsome, so maybe the boyfriend/girlfriend thing might not be so bad to try out for a while...
I really like Fran, she is a classic Katie Mac heroine with wacky humor and a strong backbone - even against the incredibly Alpha male that is the Dark One. Their arguments over who protects who were really adorable.
It was definitely obvious that it is geared toward the younger crowd, but still a pretty decent read if you keep that in mind & I look forward to breezing through the second one, Circus of the Darned.
Fran is a 16 year old psychometric, she can feel or see images whenever she touches objects or people. She is in Hungary at a Goth Faire with her mother and Benedickt Czerny enters her life. He is a vampire, or a Moravian Dark One as they preferred to be called and claims that Fran is his Beloved, the one and only woman who can redeem his soul. Not exactly what you want to hear as a sixteen year old! But he is awfully handsome, so maybe the boyfriend/girlfriend thing might not be so bad to try out for a while...
I really like Fran, she is a classic Katie Mac heroine with wacky humor and a strong backbone - even against the incredibly Alpha male that is the Dark One. Their arguments over who protects who were really adorable.
It was definitely obvious that it is geared toward the younger crowd, but still a pretty decent read if you keep that in mind & I look forward to breezing through the second one, Circus of the Darned.
December 26, 2015
I love this book, I am a fan of Katie McAllister's books and thought I would give the young adults books a try. I first read this book a few years ago and passed it onto my oldest son who also loved it.
The main character is Fran and she is not a vampire, but her mother is a witch and they are traveling with a Gothic Fair through Hungary, which I thought was so cool. You don't often find stories set in Hungary and being part Hungarian I was kind of happy to see that. So in the fair there are all kinds of people, some good and some bad. Most of them have some unique magical talent. The vampire, Ben, is visiting his sister in the fair. He wears a bit to much silk for me, but sounds yummy all the same. I rather like his personality. I especially like his 312 year old "old world manners" and how they go up against 16 year old Fran's typical teenage mouth!! She puts him in his place a few times, I enjoy her character every time I read this book. I am looking forward to reading the sequal!
A fast and funny read...
The main character is Fran and she is not a vampire, but her mother is a witch and they are traveling with a Gothic Fair through Hungary, which I thought was so cool. You don't often find stories set in Hungary and being part Hungarian I was kind of happy to see that. So in the fair there are all kinds of people, some good and some bad. Most of them have some unique magical talent. The vampire, Ben, is visiting his sister in the fair. He wears a bit to much silk for me, but sounds yummy all the same. I rather like his personality. I especially like his 312 year old "old world manners" and how they go up against 16 year old Fran's typical teenage mouth!! She puts him in his place a few times, I enjoy her character every time I read this book. I am looking forward to reading the sequal!
A fast and funny read...
July 21, 2022
( 2005 ) -This review is just an opinion and is subjective. Not to be taken seriously-
Thank god this is short....it's so bad
The biggest reason I didn't like it was because it was really juvenile for a teen book. I thought the traveling circus aspect would be neat, it was lame. I don't think I like when main characters has a special power but has such hate towards it. It had a Elvis impersonator character which was ugh ew. The main character was pretty childlike for being 16.Even the love interest treated her like she was 12 years old. Their fights would be childish as heck. She liked to call people a boob because she wouldn't swear.....a boob. This book was just cringe and terribly written and told. The whole WHY reason of the book was lame! With all that being said I didn't hate it. It's a silly little book to read to pass the time.Not to be taken too seriously but I just couldn't like it love it kind of thing. I have the second book so I'll read it. Side Note: My copy had pages missing and miss prints 😆
Thank god this is short....it's so bad
The biggest reason I didn't like it was because it was really juvenile for a teen book. I thought the traveling circus aspect would be neat, it was lame. I don't think I like when main characters has a special power but has such hate towards it. It had a Elvis impersonator character which was ugh ew. The main character was pretty childlike for being 16.Even the love interest treated her like she was 12 years old. Their fights would be childish as heck. She liked to call people a boob because she wouldn't swear.....a boob. This book was just cringe and terribly written and told. The whole WHY reason of the book was lame! With all that being said I didn't hate it. It's a silly little book to read to pass the time.Not to be taken too seriously but I just couldn't like it love it kind of thing. I have the second book so I'll read it. Side Note: My copy had pages missing and miss prints 😆
November 1, 2017
This book was immediately very entertaining when were first introduced to Fran we immediately recognise that she herself has some very deep emotional turmoil when it comes to her gift. She eventually goes into the details of her special gift and once she does I believe it only brings more interest to her character she is a silly young girl who is very ashamed of her ability to see others emotions through touch. Even when she meets Ben it is a very interesting first encounter. She is definitely a unique character who doesn't just rely on her boyfriend to save her from every little thing even when she wants to she doesn't ask for his help even when she should and try's her hardest on her own. The other characters involved in the Faire are also very interesting including Elvis who turns out to be the main culprit someone I personally figured was to stupid to pull something like that off. It shows even the strangest character can be one of the smartest people in the book...in a sense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2024
This was actually really good. I liked it lots. Better than the next book. It was on the more lighthearted side as well, but the romance was much better than in Silver Kiss. The catalog description says it's the first book in a series, which I did not know, and now I might have to try and find the others. It's the story of a girl who's spending the summer with her mother, who happens to be part of a traveling carnival. The trick is, they all are like, what they really are. The carnival is full of witches, vampires, and psychics, and of course, our heroine is a form of psychic as well, and she ends up falling in love with the brother of one of the other carnival workers. There's also a bit of mystery thrown in there for good measure, cause that's how these things work.
October 3, 2011
This book came out before the "Twilight" series, just saying in case you notice any similarities. I read this book as a teen and what I liked about this book was that Fran lives at the fair (away from depressing school), she has a horse, she travels from place to place in Europe, and there's a really cute guy in the picture. What I didn't like about this book was that Fran was kinda of a weirdo to everyone and a bit insensitive. Also that she thought that 13 was too young to go to the fair. I really thought that was ridiculous and condescending. I didn't like it that Ben's character took so long to build. I would have liked to know more about him and his past. There are a couple of typos and grammatical errors.
June 2, 2010
I really enjoy reading this book. Katie Maxwell's well written story is funny and entertaining. Even though it's such a short book, there is a lot explained in less than 300 pages.
Fran, daughter of a witch(Mom), I think she is very unique. With the special ability she was blessed, Fran canread thoughts and feelings in other people just by touching them; isn't that cool?
Through out the book, Fran runs into this really cute boy, the brother of Imogen, Benedickt Czerny. Ben is a vampire, also known as a Moravian Dark One. Ben believes that Fran is his Beloved; meaning they were destined to regain his soul.
Fran, daughter of a witch(Mom), I think she is very unique. With the special ability she was blessed, Fran canread thoughts and feelings in other people just by touching them; isn't that cool?
Through out the book, Fran runs into this really cute boy, the brother of Imogen, Benedickt Czerny. Ben is a vampire, also known as a Moravian Dark One. Ben believes that Fran is his Beloved; meaning they were destined to regain his soul.
October 9, 2013
Fran just wants to be a normal teenager. However, when her mom, who happens to be a witch, decides to sell their home and join a travelling carnival, Fran's shot at being normal seems to disappear. She is gifted with her own unique talent that she tries to keep hidden. She can hear what people are thinking or feeling when she touches them. She wears gloves most of the time. Then along comes Ben, a vampire who declares she is his beloved (the only one who can save his soul). Well this teenager thinks he is hot but come on that is a lot of a commitment for someone so young. She just wants to go home and go to school and have normal teenage problems.
February 10, 2015
Ich habe laaange gebraucht um endlich mit der Reihe weiter zu machen und leider hat sich mein Eindruck als ich das Buch das erste mal in die Hand nahm bestätigt, es ist nicht sehr lesenswert. Fran ist einfach nur nervig als Teeanager (im Erwachsenenalter hat sich das leider auch nicht sonderlich gebessert wie ich in dem Folgeband feststellen musste...)
Ben und Imogen sind die einzigen die ich noch Ansatzweise unterhaltsam und symphatisch fand als Charaktere. Die Story dümpelt so vor sich hin und eigentlich ist alles nur ein Riesengroßes Drama.
Ich hab es hinter mir, ein Glück und ein Buch weniger auf dem SuB.
Ben und Imogen sind die einzigen die ich noch Ansatzweise unterhaltsam und symphatisch fand als Charaktere. Die Story dümpelt so vor sich hin und eigentlich ist alles nur ein Riesengroßes Drama.
Ich hab es hinter mir, ein Glück und ein Buch weniger auf dem SuB.
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