Claire Farrell

This book...well, this book was very on the edge for me. It's a vampire novel, and it seemed to take a very realistic take on vampires, which was refreshing...but that was where the book and I ceased to get along. Ava's relationships with both of the boys in her life seem mediocre at best. There is no real heat, no real passion...no real emotion, to be honest. The man she enslaves seems to have more connection to his emotions than she does. Overall, the book just seemed to lack substance for show more me. There was nothing about it besides the way they portray vampires that really makes it stick out. show less

Ava Delaney calls herself a hybrid - a living, breathing human who happens to have vampire poison running through her veins. The only thing greater than her thirst for human blood is her capacity for guilt. She does her best to avoid the human world, for everyone's sake.

When Ava accidentally enslaves a human while saving him from a vampire, she realizes she has to look for help setting him free. Despite her misgivings, she expands her world but finds herself dragged into a possible vampire show more civil war. With the help of some new friends with ambiguous loyalties, she tries to find a way to keep her human, and herself, alive. show less

Another freebie from January.

This book had one thing on most of the other free ones from January - the writing style was palatable. Very few spelling and grammar mistakes and the sentences managed to flow, which at least made me feel like I wasn't banging my head repeatedly against a brick wall trying to read it.

The book is a quick, easy read that I didn't find actively painful. Ava as a character is a bit of a mixed bag - she's basically Blade-lite: the only half-vampire in existence and show more everyone wants her. She struggles to be a good person, largely exiled from the rest of the world. She has bolted-on OCD as her "flaw" which is actually just irritating and doesn't add anything to the novel. She's also annoyingly perfectly functional in society, despite being a total recluse with a traumatic past.

I think this book is meant to be a love triangle, but I didn't sense that any of them had any spark with each other, or frankly even liked each other all that much. Peter's shady past was tantalizing, but never materialized into anything. I ended up feeling like the whole thing was basically a big, flashing "please buy my next book" sign.

The story and characters failed to capture me in any significant way, but I don't regret the time I spent reading this like I do so many others. I zoomed through it in a few hours and would say its worth it if you don't have anything else to read while waiting in a queue.

Format: Kindle
Price Paid: Free
Recommended: Reluctantly
Value: no more than .99 cents
Will I buy the next: no show less

I'm guilty again of reading a book solely because of the redheaded cover! Which is very nice, by the way.

My advise, read it if you have absolutely nothing else to read. This is like an emergency supply when you are in the queue or on the train and want to pass the time but have no other book at hand. It's readable, and it's easy, but quite empty.

There is no depth, there is no original plot, more like non-violent, non-blood drinking variation of female Blade, a slightly OCD daywalker and show more Ebay seller Ava Delaney.

The story is typical. Ava creates a mess by accidentally glamouring a human into a thrall while trying to save him from the vampire. Now she needs to undo the bond. She finds help from human vampire hunter Peter and some mysterious magical creature with a bookshop - Eddie. Then she proceeds to make even more mess, getting tortured and nearly killed in process, rescued and indebted to some powerful creatures.

I didn't feel for her or for any other character, I simply didn't know enough to love or hate them. The only thing I liked is Ava's fear of number 6. She counts when she is nervous, you see, but avoids 6 at all costs. So it's like "I had 14 steps to make, 14 is good, 4 1 is 5 not 6..." I can totally relate. I had a phase when I was obsessed with numerology and had to count, check and convert any number I dealt with to a single number which was "lucky" for me :)

Verdict: alright, passable, but not tasty enough to enjoy. show less