The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen

The Vampire Stalker:
What if the characters in a vampire novel left their world--and came into yours?

Amy is in love with someone who doesn't exist: Alexander Banks, the dashing hero in a popular series of vampire novels. Then one night, Amy meets a boy who bears an eerie resemblance to Alexander. In fact, he IS Alexander, who has escaped from the pages of the book and is in hot pursuit of a wicked vampire named Vigo. Together, Amy and Alexander set out to track Vigo and learn how and why Alexander crossed over. But when she and Alexander begin to fall for each other, Amy wonders if she even wants him to ever return to the realm of fiction.

This was a light, quick read by Allison Van Diepen, and it was one of those books with a great premise that really drew me in, but unfortunately I wasn’t completely captured by the characters or the storyline. The idea of fictional characters coming to live is every fans dream, Allison’s unique explanation borders more on the science-fiction side rather than paranormal elements, and this made the story a little dry to me. Allison did manage to tug on my heart strings a few times, although I would have liked to see a little more romance; by the end Alexander changes his whole life to be with Amy, but I felt that little of their time was actually spent together. The book did manage to hold my interest adequately, keeping me reading so I could find out what was going to happen next. The tension and danger felt a little glossed over to me. Had the author delved a little deeper into the Otherworld (where Alexander originally came from) and the characters’ emotions, the story would have given me a deeper connection to them and to the book itself.