Someone let the vamps out. Of course, it was an American vampire suing for job discrimination. So begins the great Coming Out, followed by the usual upheavals of both human and vampire societies.

Jane Jameson is good at her job as librarian. Living alone with her dog in her inherited house in a small southern town with her dysfunctional family eying her house jealously, she feels happy with her life. Then, she is fired. She stops at a bar, gets drunk, meets tall, dark and handsome Gabriel, leaves alone, but on her way home she gets shot. On the point of death, Gabriel turns her into a vampire to save her life.

So begins this funny funny series.

I must say the humor is the best part of the book. If it wasn't for Jane's quipping and joking, this could easily be a dark, angsty gothic horror genre. Also, the vampires have a Council that is a mirror image of neighborhood homeowners' associations everywhere, with the additional responsibilities of policing and putting on trial misbehaving vampires. Who else could control, faster, stronger, telepathic, beautiful monsters who are exactly as dysfunctional as human families? To help out the new vampire, especially since the humans and vampires live in the same neighborhoods and work the same jobs (humans take the day shift, vampires work nights), the World Council for the Equal Treatment of the Undead printed a handy little booklet, 'The Guide for the Newly Undead.' Each chapter begins with an excerpt from the guide, which gives insight to the tribulations awaiting poor Jane.

I liked it. It's not Jane Austen and its not William Faulkner, but honestly, is that why you are reading this review, or thinking of reading a series about a silly Kentucky/Ohio border town, and a wisecracking vampire woman? Give me a break, and don't be trying to convince me you are only interested in 'literary' VAMPIRE paranormal books!

Jane's father loves her unconditionally, but her mother is a smothering nuisance and her sister Jenny is stupid, jealous and murderous. Thankfully, Jane has a best friend, Zeb, who has known her all of her life and has her back. Oh, and besides Gabriel, another vampire, Dick, Gabriel's enemy, also has the hots for Jane. Throw in a vampire-in-pink real estate agent, the Council who wants to put Jane on trial for a murder of a vampire she did not commit, and a lot of werewolves (still hiding from society), a support group called Friends and Family of the Undead, ghosts and a Walmart aisle full of vampire products such as toothpaste and sun screen, and you've got a great funny beach read.