Melissa Kendall
Dragonblade Publishing
15 November 2025
186
eBook - EPUB
PNR
ARC via NetGalley
After fifty wearisome years of searching for his fated mate, vampire Cordon Shaw, Viscount Grayson, compiles a list of activities to complete before the lack of a mating bond kills him. In his pursuit of some sense of satisfaction, he stumbles upon a gorgeous woman who rebuffs his advances—and so he can’t resist relieving her of the box containing a beautiful scarf tucked in her pocket.
Then he receives an invitation to visit the shop of the same woman whose name is carved on the lid of the item he stole.
Respectable dressmaker Kitty Carter is determined to make her business prosper, even if it means making sacrifices, such as not chasing after the handsome thief who harassed her in the market. When she learns the mistress of a viscount had a public fight with her modiste, she writes to the viscount directly to petition his patronage.
Then he arrives with her stolen scarf wrapped around his neck.
She valiantly holds her tongue during the appointment despite his constant teasing, only for him to cancel the entire order and instead offer to pay her for each scandalous task she helps him complete. It’s an absurd proposition, but she cannot refuse, especially after a thug demands she repay the loan her parents took out to help her open her shop. But as steamy encounters in opera boxes and hedge mazes turn into awkward afternoon tea with her family and meeting his unusual siblings at midnight rituals, Kitty must decide what to the allure of short-term pleasure, or the chance for enduring happiness.
The Vampire's Guide to Wooing a Dressmaker was a mixed bag for me. I was first drawn to the premise, which held a lot of promise. The idea of vampires dying if they don't find their mate was interesting, but I felt it was a little underdeveloped and I would have liked a bit more world building around that. The first interactions between Cordon and Kitty were fun but, for me, the story then devolved too much into insta-lust and it was just one sex scene after another, most serving little real purpose other than titillation, while the rest of the story took second place in the ranks of importance. There was scant work done on their relationship outside of the bedroom (or other locations), so I struggled to find it believable when they were then suddenly deeply in love. Cordon's actions, too, at times were pretty questionable (and not in the fun morally grey-character sense) and his bucket-list items too seemed pretty single-focused and lacking in depth for someone who had lived for so long and had surely seen/experienced most of those things already in such a long lifetime. If you are looking for a super-spicy paranormal romance tale and are not worried about any deeper themes, you will surely find something to like here, but for me it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I am giving it 3 stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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