Vampire Claus

By: Robert Winter

Narrated by: Robert Winter

Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Find some holiday cheer any time of the year with the best-selling romance Vampire Claus, narrated by the author.

"Twas the night before Christmas, but what’s stirring is a little more dangerous than a mouse."

Taviano is nearly 200 years old and never wakes in the same place twice. Weary and jaded, the vampire still indulges in memories of childhood Christmases in Naples. He lingers in shadow, spying on mortals as they enjoy the holiday.

When Taviano spots a handsome young man in Boston loaded down with presents and about to be mugged, he can’t help but intervene. Soon, he’s talking to joyous, naïve, strong-willed, and funny Paul, a short-order cook who raised funds to buy Christmas presents for LGBTQ children. Before he knows what’s happened, Taviano is wrapped up in Paul’s arms and his schemes to get the presents delivered by Christmas morning.

A vampire turned into a Christmas elf.... What could go wrong?

Vampire Claus is a stand-alone gay romance about a lonely vampire and a fearless mortal with no instinct for self-preservation. A heartwarming ending, no cliff-hanger, and a young man who discovers he has a thing for fangs. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

©2017 Robert Winter (P)2019 Robert Winter

Really good.

This book was a different view of vampires in certain aspects which made it a really good read. It also has a really sweet turn where the vampire finds out that Paul really is connected to him in a strange way. I enjoyed the story.

Enjoyable story

I enjoyed this different take on a nice Christmas story.

The sound quality isn’t the best, but I really did like the different voices the author used for the characters.

Well written and well read!

I thoroughly enjoyed this story when I first read it and listening to Robert perform this work was a joy. It’s a great Christmas vampire tale and while not all authors could pull off the narration, Robert does a great job telling this tale. Although not a professional narrator, Robert clearly knows the story and the characters well, and so is successful in this endeavor. I’d recommend his stories and his performance and look forward to listening to him again.

A story to go back to every year for the holidays

How could I not have my interest piqued with a blurb that says “A Vampire turned into a Christmas elf… What could go wrong?”? From the moment I read that, I already knew I needed to read this story. Now after doing so, I can safely say I have a new addition to my holiday re-read pile ;-)

Paul is a wondrously naïve, generous and giving man who seems to care more about taking care of others than about himself. I will admit though, his street slang did make me feel a bit out of place to where I was more able to identify with Taviano’s character (apart from the whole vampire thing of course). Taviano tries to live by a moral code, only feeding on those who would be considered “bad” people—criminal, thugs and the like. He’s inexplicably drawn to Paul, even as he tells himself to leave the man alone and move on.

Paul and Taviano together are deliciously naughty and sizzling hot, so if you’re looking for that you’ll definitely be satisfied by what you find here. My interest was even further piqued with Taviano’s inner bloodbeast, and after reading this I’m wondering if another story might be on the horizon given the open-ended things the beast communicated to Taviano.

Vampire Claus is a great way to spend a few hours, and it fits in well to the holiday paranormal romance genre. And like I said—it has made its way onto my yearly holiday re-read list. This was a 4-star read for me, and I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, sexy, and even touching holiday romance. This story is for readers 18+ for adult language and sexual content.

The narration: The author did a good job with the voices for this story. It was easy to differentiate between characters, and the pacing of the narration was smooth and even. My only issue with the narration was the hollow, sometimes tinny quality of the recording. That aside, all else about the author’s narration was spot on. The recording quality does bring my narration rating down to 3.5 stars, but don’t let that stop you from picking this one up—I found that turning up the volume did help.