Ava Markham is tired of pretending to be happy for all of her friends that have become ‘Others’.  She hates that the friends she is close to are another species.  She is happy that they have fallen in love but that doesn’t help Ava, who just so happens to still be alone. Leaving behind a claustrophobic party, Ava begins the long walk home to her apartment.  Thinking she is paying attention to her surroundings, she really isn’t and the unexpected happens.  Ava is attacked and left for dead – although, she doesn’t quite die, much to her dismay and has Vladimir Rurikovich to thank.  She doesn’t feel much like being indebted to Vladimir, after all he only helped her become the one thing she hates most in the world – an Other. 

When I first met Ava in Ms. Warren’s early Ellora’s Cave publications, I thought her very self centered and borderline hateful.  I am happy to report that in You’re So Vein, she honestly is self centered, completely hateful, and so annoying at times that I really wanted Vladimir to smack her.  Her verbal abuse alone was not endearing to say the least and I had grand visions of Vladimir somehow taping her mouth closed so he could just shut her up for one second.  She was ungrateful and rude and quite honestly, I could not stand her character. 

Vladimir was a much more likeable character.  A member of the European Council of Vampires, he is sent to New York to find and apprehend a rogue vampire.  Saving Ava was not a choice for Vladimir, it was something that he had to do.  If there is one thing I can commend him for it is for the fact that he loved and cared for Ava in spite of her attempts to shut him out.  He loved her flaws and all and his loyalty to her endeared him to me.