Falling for a Villainous Vampire

Last year, I loved Charlotte Stein‘s book, Dealing with a Desperate Demon, and I was excited to continue the Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures series. Now the third installment is out: Falling for a Villainous Vampire. I loved this!

Marley is a witch who can remember a few past lives over the last two hundred years, and in each one, she dies at the hands of the vampire stalking her, Halsten. This time, Marley is ready for him when he finally turns up. With the help of her two witch friends, Marley casts a spell on Halsten to make him forget her… only it has some unintended consequences. Halsten ends up forgetting everything, and all that’s left is a Medieval Viking who’s desperately in love with Marley and is prone to pontificating about said love in the form of flowery sonnets. While Marley works out what to do about his amnesia, she can’t help but fall a little bit in love with him, too. But how can she reconcile this new (old?) version of Halsten with the murderous vampire he’s been up until now?

What I Liked:

• A Viking in love. The villainous vampire version of Halsten was fun and all, but his Medieval Viking self is one of the best things to ever happen in a book. I loved his guileless sweetness and how he’s unafraid to declare his love for Marley in the most poetic language. He’s completely uninhibited and open and full of romance, but also ready to do literally anything to protect Marley or make her happy. What a dreamy guy!
• Amnesia. The fact that Halsten has forgotten the past several centuries is a major part of his character arc and personality change. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that Marley also has some amnesia about her own past lives. I loved the interplay of memory and understanding of who someone is in your life.
• Love across time and space. This is really one of those books about true, undying love. That’s all I can say for now.
• Phone. This character was so sassy and so much fun, especially in the audiobook format!

Audiobook:

Yael Rizowy does a fabulous job of narrating Falling for a Villainous Vampire. It’s all told from Marley’s point of view, and she captures her personality so well. The narrator is also great with other accents and languages, like Halsten’s (Medieval) Swedish, as well as the Siri-esque, robotic speech of Marley’s familiar, Phone. The different manners of speaking were so well executed, too, from Halsten’s poetic declarations of love to Marley’s parts in their more intimate moments. This was such an enjoyable audiobook from start to finish!

Final Thoughts

Falling for a Villainous Vampire is one of my favorite books this year! I flew through it and only wish I could reread it already. This is a paranormal romance for fans of witches and vampires, Vikings, and a whole lot of amnesia driving the plot. There’s some danger, but it’s mostly swoony and pretty funny.

So far I’ve absolutely loved both of the Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures books I’ve read. I still need to got back to the first one, How to Help a Hungry Werewolf, and I need to read Charlotte Stein’s earlier 2026 release, An Education in Longing. Stay tuned, because I have some catching up to do!

Special thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Falling for a Villainous Vampire here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Falling for a Villainous Vampire by Charlotte Stein
Series	The Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures
Audiobook Narrator	Yael Rizowy
Audience	Adult
Genre	Paranormal Romance
Number of Pages	288
Format I Read	Audiobook & Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	October 27, 2026
Publisher	St. Martin’s Griffin

Official Summary

The third standalone in Charlotte Stein’s Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures series, featuring a blood-pumping enemies-to-lovers romance for the ages!

Marley Maples is sure she’s finally evaded her vampire mortal enemy. Halsten has stalked her across oceans of time, and many, many lives. But now she’s arrived at the age of thirty in Hollow Brook, with no sign of him. So she’s devastated when he suddenly shows and yet again tries to make her life hell. Until her two witchy best friends suggest a spell to make him forget all about her.

There’s just one issue: he forgets his whole existence with it. All Halsten now remembers is being a big, hot, vampire Viking. And all he sees when he looks at Marley is his beloved little witch, his saviour, the light of his life. He goes from being a horror that haunts her nightmares, to a man who loves her and will protect her at all costs. And as much as she’s skeptical, she can’t help finding his fish-out-of-water, warrior ways and his desire to defend her endearing.

Maybe even a little sexy. In fact, it’s starting feel very sexy indeed.

And if she’s not careful, she’s going to lose herself to a man she swore to hate. A man who might return to her eternal enemy, at any moment…