Reviewed by CJ | Rating: 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 | 📱
⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read Our Nanny is a Vampire yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
Opening Hook
That cover has zero business being this cute for a book that packs such big emotions. I went in expecting fun and fangs and came out having felt far more than I expected. Buckle up, Buttercup.
The Full Story — Spoilers Included
We meet Conrad a few years after his wife died, and he is barely holding it together. Not in a dramatic way, but in the quiet, exhausted, “I don’t have the energy to say no to my grieving kids” way. And because of that, his three kids have run off nanny after nanny in quick succession. It makes sense though, because these three are a lot, but in the very best way.
The oldest is bookish and sharp as hell, the kind of kid who notices everything. The middle one tells these wild, detailed stories and everyone keeps scolding him for lying instead of nurturing the fact that the kid is a natural storyteller. And the youngest is pure chaos. She’s curious about everything and afraid of nothing, which obviously spells trouble until someone channels that curiosity for good instead of handling it with a time-out.
Enter Winnie. She comes recommended by an old lady down the street, which makes zero sense to Conrad because the twenty-something woman on his doorstep definitely did not babysit an elderly woman’s children. Winnie just assures him she’s older than she looks and has plenty of nanny experience, and his desperation keeps him from asking more questions. I’ve had busy kids like that, and it sounds reasonable to me, haha.
It turns out that she’s exactly what this family needs. She actually sees these kids for who they are; she channels the storytelling and works with the curiosity instead of punishing it, and she slowly starts pulling this family out of the grief sink hole they’ve been living in for years. Conrad notices the change in everyone, including himself, and she shows him that they need his attention more than they need a big house and money. Obviously he falls for her a little along the way, but it’s sweet because she’s falling for all of them as well.
This brings us to a home invasion where Winnie takes the robbers out without breaking a sweat, but the kids catch her doing it and see her for what she really is. As I’m sure you can predict, they did not freak out; which felt pretty realistic to me, because my own kids would be thrilled about a vampire nanny, no I saw no problems there.
Here’s where it gets heavy: Winnie’s past isn’t just “I’m a vampire, and I deal with it.” Two hundred years ago, she was turned by an awful, heartless man. Her sire controlled her (and I mean literally controlled her blood to make her do whatever he wanted), but she eventually got free of him by working around the compulsion and dumping him in the ocean. She’s been looking over her shoulder ever since, waiting until he shows back up to punish her. Unfortunately, that’s caught up with her now, just as she’s living her best afterlife, and his plan isn’t just to kill Conrad and the kids – he wants to force Winnie to do it herself.
The kids already knew about the vampire thing before any of this and easily convince Conrad, because it kind of makes sense with her covering every inch of skin outside, driving a hearse, etc.), so when the showdown happens, this family is ready to fight for each other, and that includes Winnie. The kids love her, Conrad loves her, and she loves them right back, and that is worth fighting for.
Best Part of This Book
Watching Conrad actually come back to life. Not just in a “get the girl” kind of way, but learn to ease up on burying himself in work to escape the pain, and see his kids as the brilliant, funny little people they are instead of just three more people he’s failing.
Worst Part of This Book
It’s not a flaw so much as a warning: this book carries some real weight. Grief, control, abuse… it hits you as the reader, and if you feel things deeply, expect to feel the pain right along with them.
The Steam Rating Breakdown
🔥🔥🔥 — There are sex scenes, open door and explicit, but they’re not too frequent. The romance matters, but it’s not the driving force of this book; the family and their healing is just as big a factor. Content warnings: grief, death of a spouse off page, past abusive/controlling relationship (via literal blood control), home invasion and violence.
The Ending — Satisfied or Disappointed?
Satisfied. The showdown delivers, the sire gets what’s coming to him, and the family (Winnie included) comes out the other side intact. She finally gets the normal, messy, loving family life she’s wanted since her own was taken from her, and they get some of their hope and optimism back.
The Character We Loved to Hate
The sire. Hundreds of years of controlling someone’s literal blood and body, then showing up to force her to kill the people she loves is truly the work of a monster with no redeeming qualities, and I am happy to repot that the book doesn’t try to give him any.
Would We Reread It?
No. I always have a lot of fun reading Roxie Ray’s books and this was no exception, but it’s a heavier read than I go looking for on a reread.
Who Is This For
Anyone who wants their romance with some emotional meat on it; readers who don’t mind sitting with grief and abuse on the page, and who want to watch people who’ve lost a lot slowly learn how to lean on each other as they work their way through it together.
Where to Get This Book
📖 Physical Book
📱 Ebook
Ready for more reviews from CJ? Find More Here
Plot Twisted. 🔥
📱 | Series: Standalone | Genre: Paranormal Romance | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
TAGS: paranormal romance, vampire romance, standalone romance, nanny romance, single dad romance, grief in romance, Roxie Ray, Lindsey Devin, spoiler review, romance with kids, romantasy, open door romance