Book Review: I'm the Vampire, That's Why by Michele Bardsley

Broken Heart Oklahoma is a dying city with the highest rate of divorce and the highest percentage of single parents in Oklahoma. Resident Jessica Matthews is a single mother of both a son and a daughter. One evening while Jessica was doing the one chore that her son had, that of taking the trash cans out to the curb, she was attacked by a "monster" who drained her of blood. When Jessica "woke up" she was sucking blood from the thigh of a very handsome naked man who was chained to the wall. This was Jessica's introduction to the fact that she had died and was now a vampire.

The man, Patrick O'Halloran was a 4,000 year-old vampire. He and his Consortium had come to Broken Heart to start a new base of operations. The Consortium was an organization created to facilitate relations between humans and non-humans and Patrick believed that Broken Heart was the perfect location. They were also trying to find a cure for the "Taint." The "Taint" was a disease that only attacked vampires and made them insane. They had given the vaccine to Patrick's brother, Lorcan to cure him and it had turned him into a beast. Lorcan was the "monster" that had killed Jessica along with several other town residents.

Jessica was wearing a Claddagh faith ring that had belonged to Patrick when he had been human. It had been his wedding ring and the matching ring had belonged to his wife. The ring had come to Jessica through her family and had been in the family for generations. Patrick believed that the Claddagh ring on Jessica's finger meant that she was destined to be his soul mate. Jessica doesn't want to believe this though she is wildly attracted to Patrick.

So in addition to her own misgivings about Patrick, Jessica is worried about being a mother to her children now that she is a vampire. But Patrick has everything planned in a way that will help Jessica to be a mother to her children so that they can live as normal a life as possible. The other town residents who were now vampires too would also benefit from the plan.