Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780373514236
ISBN number: 0373514239
Label: Silhouette
Manufacturer: Silhouette
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: October 10, 2006
Publishing house: Silhouette
Sale Popularity Level: 1028117
Studio: Silhouette
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Product Description:
Megan's preparing to walk down the aisle with her triplet sisters as her bridesmaids when their long-lost grandfather Darkheart interrupts with staggering news: they are heirs of an ancient vampire-slaying legacy. One of them is a natural-born slayer. One is a healer. One will become a vampire. And they're all in imminent danger from the vamp who murdered their mother.
With a fiancé out for blood, a bodyguard as wild as he is wolf and a dreamy detective on her trail, Megan is unnerved and deeply conflicted. If the prophecy is true, she may be her sisters' deadliest enemy. But if it's not, who will save them all from a world turned vamp?
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Rated by buyers 
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I've got a theory. I think _Dressed to Slay_ is actually a long-lost episode of Buffy. The Scooby Gang has been hit by another demonic curse. This time, instead of falling silent or bursting into song, they've all been turned into Cordelia, and I mean first-season Cordelia. (All but Giles, that is. He miraculously escapes the Cordelia curse, but picks up a Russian accent.)
The comparison breaks down pretty quickly, though, because if Joss Whedon had written _Dressed to Slay_, I'd probably like it better. I'll say it right up front: _Dressed to Slay_ was not my cup of tea.
The very first chapter consists of the three Crosse sisters infodumping their entire life histories to each other. These girls grew up together, so they're telling each other things they already know. There's so much fashion name-dropping that I hope Juicy Couture and Jimmy Choo paid Allen for the product placement. Then, as the plot thickens, our heroine gets into an argument about Mariah Carey in the middle of a fight for her life, and breaks the fourth wall to dispense fashion advice to the reader, also in the middle of a fight for her life:
"If any goth-types reading this are thinking, _God, how stupid can this chick be not to know vampires can't be killed with lead?_ I have two things to say to you. One: I hoped the books and movies were wrong on that; and two: a couple of grey dresses are admittedly a good starting point for a wardrobe, but at a certain stage, why not consider adding a few pale neutrals?"
The plot consists, for the most part, of Megan and her sisters doing moronic things. Megan mocks herself often for behaving like a "Too Dumb to Live" horror movie heroine, but keeps doing it anyway. The heroines are saved by dumb luck more often than not. Along the way, they have catty arguments and exchange dialogue that's sometimes funny, but more often than not feels like it's trying too hard to be Hip And Zany.
Megan has two love interests. One is dull as dishwater. The other stands over her smirking while she goes into anaphylactic shock. Be still my heart. (Literally?)
But what I really couldn't get over was what felt like an enormous plot hole in the middle of the book. This is spoilery, so I'll try to be vague. Megan breaks into the office of the villain and finds a strange weapon there. She immediately decides to go kill vamps with it. I can almost ignore the fact that there's no foreshadowing that suggests this type of weapon would even work on the undead. Maybe Megan's super-special slayer heritage clued her in somehow. But ...the whole scene implies that Megan intentionally walked into the "lion's den" without _bringing a stake of her own_. Not to mention, why would the villain, who knew the weapon's provenance, _leave it out in the open_? I guess the heroine and villain are equally matched in the Too Dumb to Live department.
Overall, there's just too much character stupidity in this book. It's hard to empathize with the protagonists when you spend the whole book wanting to hit them with the Clue Bat.
If _Dressed to Slay_ has a saving grace, though, it's a complete lack of pretension. Allen clearly knows she's writing camp. If there's anything worse than a bad vampire novel, it's a bad vampire novel with delusions of grandeur. That's one flaw you won't find here.
Rated by buyers 
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I found this book almost impossible to read mostly due to the very poor editing and total lack of guidance given the author. The author came up with an interesting idea but got far to carried away in many scenes and used mostly 2 dimensional characters who really did change much over the 100 pages I managed to read, hence my comment about lack of guidance from the editor. As far as the editing itself is concerned, many scenes could have been cut by a half to three-quarters to improve the flow of the storyline which is choppy at best. I'll put this book back on the shelf until a time when I am bored to tears. Perhaps then I'll be able to finish it. Not recommened.
Rated by buyers 
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Meg, Kat, and Tash Crosse were not thrilled about marrying their bland as dishwater fiances, but they were resigned to it. They certainly did not want an escape clause in the form of the three grooms-to-be becoming vampires who would try to kill them, but that's what they got. Instead of weddings and husbands, they find themselves with a legacy and a grandfather that they thought was dead re-entering their lives. As it turns out, one of the triplets is a Daughter of Lilith, the chosen vampire slayer of this generation. One is a healer. The third is destined to become a vampire. It looks to Grandfather like Meg is the vampire to be, so she finds herself excluded from the how to kill vampires 101 lessons and saddled with a shapeshifter named Mikhail who watches her like a hawk so that he can stop her from doing evil or protect her, as the case warrants. Meg can't decide if she's annoyed with him, attracted to him, or both, but there's really not time to figure all that out. There's a vampire queen on the loose who needs to be stopped, and it is up to the Crosse girls to do the job.
**** Reading the books out of order as I found myself doing, I knew how it would end, but that did not change how enjoyable the story was. Getting additional background information, especially how the slayer myth has been reinvented for this series, was helpful and interesting. If you enjoyed Buffy, then it's a sure bet you'll like this as well. ****
Rated by buyers 
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This book is one of the best. Ms.Allen is a rising star and I will buy more of her books.
Rated by buyers -
Rarely do I stop reading a book by page 30. This book is horrible! Poorly written, poorly edited, and even the very first ten pages make no sense. The female characters are all bumbling idiots; the male characters are all dark, evil, but still superior to the females in every way possible.
Do NOT! waste your money on this book, unless you need something for a dart board. One page at a time.
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