The Single Undead Mom’s Club by Molly Harper

single undead mom's clubNarrated by Amanda Ronconi

Molly Harper and Amanda Ronconi are one of those author/narrator perfect pairings so whenever there’s a new book out, I snap it up. The Single Undead Mom’s Club is the latest in the Half Moon Hollow series. Filled with Ms. Harper’s trademark humour and the Hollow’s kooky characters, it was a lot of fun, but less romantic than previous instalments.

Libby Stratton is a widow with a six-year-old son, Danny. She has terminal cancer and in an effort to remain with Danny for as long as possible, she places an ad on Craigslist for a vampire to turn her in exchange for cash. Very fortunately for her, she stumbled upon a vampire who did just what she asked for and didn’t even take her money.

Jane Jameson-Nightengale and Dick Cheney (the vampire, not the former Vice President), as representatives of the Council for the Equal Treatment of the Undead, become her mentors – most particularly Jane.

Libby has to learn to navigate being a new vampire, a custody dispute between her and her in-laws over Danny, and a weird stalker-type who turns up at odd times throughout the book.

The story also had a love triangle of sorts. Just who will win the hand of fair Libby was unclear for most of the book. While it did turn out like I thought it would, I thought the book was also unusual in the context of the series. And no, I’m not telling who Libby ends up with (here at least, hit me up on Twitter and I just might).

Love triangles aren’t my favourite trope. One of the issues with it, is that to keep up the tension of who the lady will end up with, there is necessarily less romance overall (or, she dates two guys and, call me old-fashioned, but that makes me uncomfortable.) It is for that reason that the book content gets a B- not a B from me. Otherwise, the story is very entertaining.

Amanda Ronconi is, as always fabulous. She and Ms. Harper must have some kind of mind merge thing going on because Ms. Ronconi just nails the humour with perfect comedic timing. The characters are well differentiated by tone, pitch, accent and affect, even though her male voices aren’t all that deep. I thought she did a great job with Danny in particular.

Dick Cheney and his inappropriate t-shirt collection always make me laugh. And, even if I read one of the books, it’s always Ms. Ronconi I hear in my head; she is so closely associated with the series for me.

Even though the story wasn’t quite as romantic as I would have liked, I still enjoyed meeting Libby and her family and watching them be absorbed into Jane’s group of supernatural friends. Ms. Ronconi’s ability to deliver the absurd with a straight face make this a series which is always a pleasure to listen to.

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Kaetrin


AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION

TITLE: The Single Undead Mom's Club

AUTHOR: Molly Harper

NARRATED BY: Amanda Ronconi

GENRE: Paranormal Romance

STEAM FACTOR: Glad I had my earbuds in

REVIEWER: Kaetrin [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015OYE9V2/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy The Single Undead Mom's Club by Molly Harper on Amazon[/button]