17255435Title: Shade of Vampire

Author: Bella Forrester

Publisher: Self Published

Publication Date: December 2012

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Paranomral

Series or Stand Alone: Series Book One

Synopsis can be found here.
I purchased this book to review.

Review:

Well, that was actually pretty cool.

The story follows Sophia on her 17th birthday as she is kidnapped and taken to a remote island where she will become part of this VIP vampire Derek’s harem. Of course, when he sees her, he falls in love with her. Of course, she can’t help but be drawn to him. Of course, not everyone is happy with this turn of events.

I’m always wary to read self published books, but I’m really glad I read this one. There’s a lot of creativity there with some cool settings. I think their world has a lot of stuff going for it, but I wish there was more! I want more history and more world building and more description. I think of the most interesting things about this book is the world and sadly, it was overlooked.

I liked Sophia more than I thought I would. It would be easy to make her weak and whiny and while she doesn’t jump out at me wanting to be her best friend, she doesn’t annoy me. I think she could grow into a likeable heroine. Derek is tortured and sad and “oh, I’m so put upon to rule the Vampire Kingdom, blah blah blah”. He’s a dreamy male lead and I can see the appeal.

Now let’s talk DARK. Lucas is a great character. Menacing and evil, I think he might be my favorite character in the book. There’s a lot of possibility with him and he may become the most interesting of the characters. I mean, Derek is cute and broody and all. But wow, Lucas is pretty evil. I’m not saying I like evil. But you know, he’s way interesting.

Things that I could do without: Insta-Love. Of course they are both <best Zoolander voice> “Ridiculously Good Looking”. In fact, it’s mentioned more than a few times about how beautiful Sophia is. I mean, I get it. But I sorta felt like each time, it took me out of the story. Sophia has a pretty strong backbone and some spice to her but it felt like being constantly reminded that she was beautiful was the most important thing I was supposed to know about her. Sigh.

Also, of course Sophia is amazing and perfect and nothing is wrong with her. Really? Nothing? <eye roll>

The other thing I’m a little confused about is Derek. Yes, he’s dreamy. But he’s been asleep for 400 years, yet he talks/behaves like he has been around us all this time. I mean, 400 years is a long time. You’d think he’d be a least a little slow on the learning curve, use a little bit of different/older language and metaphors, maybe have some old school morals or behaviors?

And last but not least, there’s a scene at the end where something has happened and Sophia has to talk Derek down from doing something she thinks he will regret. I’m not gonna lie. What? Really? After what dear boy Lucas just did and Sophia’s the one defending him? A little unbelievable and cliche.

Still, none of this lessened my enjoyment of the story or my need to finish the book during my lunch break. For real. Totally late to get back to work.

Overall, A Shade of Vampire is perfect when you’re looking to satisfy that vampire hunger. It’s fun, short and creative, keeping the vampire myth interesting.

Rating 7 Would Recommend