You don’t have to know whether Twilight is that dusky after-dinner time or something much more to enjoy Kimberly Raye’s latest romp, Sucker for Love. Fifth in Raye’s “Dead-End Dating” series, Sucker for Love will have readers happily suspending reality to forget protagonist Lil Marchette is a vampire when she sounds just like their BFF.

It’s terms like BFF, OMG, and all the other dead-on (pun intended) slang and dialogue of self-proclaimed “divalicious darling” Lilliana that will suck readers into the latest book in this lovable if improbable series. Book five finds Lil, her personal assistant Evie, and her BFFs Nina One and Nina Two trying to rescue Dead-End Dating from the economic downturn when a handsome crasher at her PR event makes off with a regular client and the “rescue” takes on epic proportions.

While trying to rescue her customer, Lil deals with her own inattentive boyfriend, cops with direct ties to the Down Under (waaay down in vampire terms), and her own lusty brothers and their girlfriends. Seems everyone’s finding true love except Lil, and she can’t even find her kidnapped client. Although it’s a life-and-death caper, nearly every page brings a laugh, and if that sounds like an oxymoron, then Raye may have just created a new genre: Paranormal Romance Suspense Humor or PRSH, as Lil would call it in her BFF code.

Some of the funniest dialogue comes during Lil’s encounters with her mother. Female readers from teens to 40-somethings can appreciate the overbearing mother/exasperated daughter dynamic. I certainly did. And then I tucked the book into my 26-year-old daughter’s purse.

Earlier reviews have compared Raye’s character Lil to Stephanie Plum or Betsy Taylor. This book’s back-cover blurb cites Bridget Jones. That I can see, as well as Helen Fielding’s other character, Olivia Joules. There’s also a little bit of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone in the sass and caper and definitely some of Kate White’s hip Bailey Weggins. Readers who keep their copies of Vogue, Glamour or People magazine on the bedside table will definitely “get” Lil.

Although the book is classified as paranormal romance, readers don’t have to follow or even understand the vampire craze to enjoy the book. Those looking for a serious mystery should be forewarned that this series is mostly fang-in-cheek, and those who blush at anything beyond a good kiss Francais might want to hang out the Do Not Disturb sign or choose a less explicit book.

But there’s something for everyone when Lil rushes to save her customer as she also comes to terms with her commitment issues and her commitment-shy but hunky boyfriend, Ty. Meanwhile she’s also got to deal with a tanking business, a pregnant human sister-in-law, Lil’s mother’s efforts to thwart the vampire-human baby plans, one accidentally-pregnant BFF, three clueless brothers, a bunch of other wacky customers, and the inherently wacky setting of small-town Texas, where everything, including the dialogue is bigger, hotter, and wackier still.

“Dead End Dating” is just one of Raye’s series. She also writes NASCAR romance titles for HQN and steamy erotica romance in the Blaze series for Harlequin. Many of her books are set in her home state of Texas, and she even combines her various series for some serious cowboy-vampire romance, too. Based on Sucker for Love alone, it’s not hard to see why Raye has been nominated for the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award and several Reviewers’ Choice awards from Romantic Times.

Sucker for Love is a quick read, a fun escape, a few minutes to curl up and feel diva-licious. That earns an award from me any day. I’ve already marked my calendar for Here Comes the Vampire in March 2010.