Book Review: Cozy Up to Blood by Colin Conway (Cozy Up #3)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Twilight spoof; our lead characters

Cons: Weak mystery; struggle to believe the premise

The Bottom Line:

Stranded on island

With thief, vampire lovers

Humor saves the day

Hiding Out on an Island with…Vampires?

When I am perfectly honest, I can see the problems in the Cozy Up series by Colin Conway.  And they were more obvious than ever in Cozy Up to Blood.  And yet there is something compelling about them that keeps bringing me back for more.

This book centers on Murray Lee, who has found himself trapped on the island of Belfry off the coast of Oregon due to floods washing out the bridge.  He’s just in time for the annual festival dedicated to the movies in the Evenfall series, a popular vampire themed series of books and movies which were filmed on the island.  This means there are plenty of outsiders posing as vampires around town.  Someone is taking advantage of the crowds by attacking some of the locals, stealing from them, and biting their necks.  The local police think that Murray is a good suspect since he is new to town but obviously not part of the Evenfall crowd.

But Murray doesn’t want the police looking into him or his past.  He has a secret.  And it might have something to do with the motorcycle gang sitting on the other side of the bridge waiting for the water to recede.  Can he clear his name without revealing his past?  Will he even get off the island alive?

Let’s start with the problems with the premise.  Those who have read the earlier two novels in the series know that Murray Lee isn’t our main character’s real name but his latest identity in the Witness Protection Program.  Now, I get that his former gang finding him is part of the series.  But I have a problem with Murray being left alone like he was in this book.  Oh, the author tried to explain it away, but I kept yelling at the book “This makes no sense.”

Then there’s the mystery of the neck biting thief.  It’s a sub-plot here.  As such, the resolution winds up feeling extremely rushed.

And yet, I enjoyed reading this book.  Part of that is because I like Murray, no matter what name he is trying to hide out under here.  I want him to succeed in staying safe, and I want to know what happens next to him.  We do spend a lot of time on this, so I am not complaining.

I also got a kick out of the Evenfall craziness.  Even though I’ve never seen them or read the books, this fictional series is clearly spoofing the Twilight series, and the various characters’ reactions to the series and characters was hilarious.  I enjoyed those scenes, and they take up quite a bit of the book.

The book is a bit of a faster read than the novels I usually read, which also helped.

The series has flaws, and Cozy Up to Blood definitely shows them off.  And yet, I’m hoping that we get another story with our hero.  We were certainly left with a set up for the next book.  If you are intrigued by these books, wait until you can get them on sale before buying them.

Check out the rest of the Cozy Up series.