Title: Road Trip with a VampireAuthor: Jenna Levine
Pages: 416
Publication Date: Oct. 14, 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Paranormal
Synopsis:
Reformed bad witch Grizelda “Zelda” Watson had hoped to never see another vampire again when she slipped away to sunny California for a fresh start. She’d grown tired of them and their nonsense ages ago. But when a vampire with amnesia unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep with a letter from her old friend Reggie, and asks for her help, she can’t say no. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Peter Elliott is tall and gorgeous, looks great in yoga shorts, and has the kind of dark hair and surly expression Zelda’s been a sucker for for hundreds of years.
Peter isn’t completely harmless—he is fanged, after all—but he’s harmless enough, and soon becomes the only person in Zelda’s new life who knows the truth about what she is. If she can help him decipher the cryptic notes in his journal, the only clues to his lost memories, she might as well try before sending him on his way.
But when an alarming message from Peter’s past coincides with a clear sign that Zelda can’t keep running from her own, they embark on a cross-country road trip for answers—only to find what they’re looking for in each other.
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Road Trip with a Vampire is such a fun paranormal rom-com! I loved the premise, characters, and humor, and the romance was swoon-worthy.
The story follows Grizelda the Terrible, or Zelda as she now calls herself, who runs her own yoga business. No one knows she’s a witch, and though it’s difficult, she tries to limit the use of her power. She hides that part of herself because of everything it cost her in the past, and she’s determined to keep her new life safe. But when the enigmatic Peter comes into the picture with no recollection of his life, Zelda’s mundane life irrevocably changes. The pair end up taking a road trip to try to learn more about Peter’s past and their connection.
I adored Peter. He’s broody and a bit unsure of himself, which is no surprise considering he doesn’t know who he is. All he has is a journal with cryptic messages and clues and Zelda’s companionship. Watching him try to piece together his life while figuring out what he really wanted for his future was intriguing, and I enjoyed unraveling the mystery of his past alongside the characters. Each stop along their road trip (love the chicken store and the hat – so funny!) revealed more about Peter and gave him a chance to uncover pieces of who he used to be. I also thought the story explored an interesting contrast with Zelda hiding from her past while Peter is desperate to learn about his.
Of course, my favorite part was the romance! The chemistry between Peter and Zelda was amazing, and the banter was fabulous, with some laugh-out-loud funny scenes and some beautifully tender scenes, too. The dialogue felt natural and fun, and I loved the way their relationship built gradually with a good mix of sweetness and spicy sexual tension. They make a great pair, despite the obstacles that stand in their way.
I didn’t realize when I started the book that it was part of a series. There are actually two books before this one in the My Vampire series. However, the book totally works as a standalone, and at no point in the story did I feel lost or confused. That being said, I enjoyed this one a lot and fully plan on going back and picking up the first two books! Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.
- road trip
- only one bed
- forced proximity
- amnesiac vampire MMC
- witch & vampire
- hidden identity
“My heart doesn’t beat anymore, but it can still break.”
“If you don’t expect vampires to suppress who we are, why do you insist on suppressing who you are?”
By day, Jenna Levine works to increase access to affordable housing in the American South. By night, she writes romance novels where everyone always finds love, no matter who (… or what) they are. When Jenna isn’t writing she can usually be found imagining she is hiking somewhere beautiful, starting knitting projects she won’t finish, or spending time with her family and small army of cats.
Excerpt:
Updated Excerpt from The Annals of Vampyric Lore, Seventeenth Edition, pages 1123-24
Watson, Grizelda (b. ~1625, approximate; England): Little is known about Grizelda Watson’s earliest life. She first rose to prominence in the late eighteenth century due to her then-unrivaled flair for the dramatic and her penchant for outlandish practical jokes. Her infamy grew exponentially in the last quarter of the nineteenth century when she adopted the nickname Grizelda the Terrible. She allegedly committed a series of crimes involving arson in what is now the American Pacific Northwest and in Chicago during the early twentieth century. “I like to watch things burn,” she once told a confidant.
Ms. Watson made few public appearances in the earliest part of the twenty-first century. Unsubstantiated rumors suggest that Ms. Watson now goes by the name Zelda Turret and runs a popular yoga studio in Northern California.
Before her disappearance, Ms. Watson was famously quoted as saying she “laughs hard, lives hard, and plays hard.” She briefly had groupies in the final decades of the twentieth century, shortly before her disappearance, many of whom adopted this quote as their mantra. T-shirts with this saying can still be found on Etsy.
Once upon a time, I was a bad bitch. Or more accurately, a bad witch.
People used to cower when they heard my name. Vampires especially. Sure, my reputation for sowing chaos had been only partly earned from things I actually did, but that had never bothered me. It was almost funny, what people thought and what they’d believe based on nothing but rumor and hearsay. One of my favorite things to do in the bad old days had been to start rumors about myself just to see how far they’d fly. I’d even made a sport of it.
Until one day, it wasn’t fun anymore, and I walked away from all of it.
Anyway, all that had been a decade and a lifetime ago.
Now, in my very different new life-dressed in my workout gear in the alley behind my yoga studio, my hair pulled back into a messy ponytail-all I had to do was to pick up a large cardboard box of trash and chuck it into the dumpster in front of me.
Without magic.
How quickly my life had changed.
I reminded myself I could do this. If I could set fire to half of Europe with nothing but the wind at my back-or so the legends about me used to go-surely I could do this.
I took a deep breath and bent at the knees as I slid my hands beneath the bottom of the box. It wasn’t heavy, but it was large and unwieldy, nearly coming up to my waist. I was as small as I had once been fearsome, barely five foot two and with short arms to match. Using magic to dispose of this trash would have been much easier, but that was out of the question.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t done my nightly ritual before coming outside. A stupid oversight. So on top of my body being about twenty-five percent too small to adequately handle this job, now my hands were shaking. No sooner had I lifted the box a few inches off the ground than it slipped from my arms. Much of its contents-mostly yoga mats and leotards that had been ruined when our roof had leaked during a freak rainstorm last week-spilled out onto the pavement.
Fuck.
It had taken me forever to lug that thing out here. Now I’d have to spend another ten minutes picking everything up and starting all over again.
I was just about to get to it when I straightened and saw something that pushed all thoughts of ruined leotards and overlarge boxes out of my head.
Or rather-someone.
It was past ten, and the only light to see by came from the moon, partially obscured by clouds. But even if I didn’t have such preternaturally good night vision that I could spot a falcon a hundred yards away in the middle of a dark forest, it still would have been impossible to miss the giant man who stepped into the alley and directly into my line of sight.
This man was-no exaggeration-the most gorgeous hunk of handsome I’d seen since moving to my new community. He had the kind of broad-shouldered build I’d only seen a handful of times outside romance novels and wore a snug-fitting black T-shirt that did him all kinds of favors. When he crossed his arms across his chest, it pulled the sleeves of his shirt taut, showing off well-defined biceps that suggested he spent more time in a gym than anyone really ought to.
His wavy dark brown hair looked purposely unkempt and curled up just enough at the nape to suggest it had been a while since his last haircut. I bet it would be soft as hell were someone to reach up and give his locks a tug.
Not that I was imagining doing exactly that as I stared at him.
He cleared his throat. It broke the spell. Too late, I realized we were all alone in a dark alley and he had at least a foot on me. Back in the day, if this man had wanted to hurt me, it would have taken less than a thimbleful of my power to send him running. But things were different now.
In my new life, I used as little magic as I could get away with. To someone in the mood for violence, I looked like an easy target.
Excerpted from Road Trip with a Vampire by Jenna Levine Copyright © 2025 by Jenna Levine. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
