Review: Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Synopsis from Amazon:
Classified Ads: wanted personal assistant to Her Royal Highness. Duties: whatever is asked, without hesitation, including but not limited to secretarial/administrative, household, defense, blood donation, driving, companionship, prey disposal, and love slavery. At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high school theater wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight. Meanwhile, her reckless and adoring guardian angel, demoted to human guise as the princess' personal assistant, has his work cut out for him with the Master's Death Day gala fast approaching. Can Zachary save his girl's soul and redeem himself before all hell arrives, quite literally, on their castle's doorstep? In alternating points of view, vampire Miranda and angel Zachary navigate a cut-throat eternal aristocracy as they play out a dangerous-and often darkly hilarious-love story for the ages.

Review:
Written in first person narrative (which I adore) with alternating perspectives of the male & female protagonists, gives an excellent (and often very funny) insight into their thoughts, feelings and actions. Often completely at odds with what the other person is thinking/doing. Lovely references to the classics - eg Dickens and Shakespeare - for some reason I love references to classics in books, I think it reinforces the story and shows how well read these authors are. I like to think that I am becoming better educated in the classics due to these references, it inspires me to read the classics (admit it you read Wuthering Heights after reading the Twilight Saga - I did). Or even that I can become better educated by simply reading these references (wishful thinking - better educated by process of osmosis).
Terrific story line containing Vampires and Angels (what more could you ask for). Very fast paced action, sometimes I had to re-read a page just to clarify the intricacies of the plot. There was only one thing that spoilt it for me, and that was the amount of gory imagery used; being of the squeamish variety (I faint at the sight of blood) plus I have a vivid technicolor imagination, this aspect just did not work for me but it did not detract from the plot either.
The book contains one of the best quotes I have ever heard:

I'm almost positive that no-one has ever actually died from humiliation

So, in conclusion a good, fast paced, action filled read. I am looking forward to reading Tantalize and then seeing how the protagonists from these books cross over in Blessed . Also looking forward to less disturbing descriptions ;)