Brenda K. Davies

After the shadow that the Twilight series cast on vampire stories, I wasn't expecting this to be a great book. Most of the vampire-based novels and novellas coming out these days, have obvious influences from Stephanie Meyers' books. The synopsis sounded interesting, so I figured I'd give it a try. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised.

While I could definitely see some similarities between this book and the entire Twilight series, it was only in certain areas, and only when I consciously show more looked for it. It's still original enough to be interesting and exciting, and no one sparkled...

The depth of the characters was surprising and enjoyable- not something I had been expecting. Sera's struggles and past pain are things I think a lot of young women can relate to, and her character draws you in from the first page. Her personal growth, and the relationship she develops with Liam, are both simply wonderful. Liam is a perfect example of a vampire-version dream hunk in most young women's day-dreams. He's confident and strong, but also has a softer side, much like a sparkly guy with great hair we're all familiar with...

The side characters are awesome as well, and all do a fantastic job of shaping the story and helping the events go from interesting to exciting. You couldn't ask for better friends than the ones Sera and Liam have, and the relationships we see with them give the story added depth.

The surprising twist in the last quarter of the book was simply fantastic, and added a sense of danger and suspense to the story. While I personally didn't care for the ending itself, I know most people would, and it was a decent ending for the story. It's sure to satisfy most readers.

The writing was very good, flowed easily and quickly. The author does a fantastic job of capturing all the emotions of the story, without being too dramatic or getting lost in dialogue. I took off a star for grammatical/spelling errors that, while they might not bother some people, pull me out of the story.

With humor, fun, adventure, mystery and romance, this is a wonderfully well-rounded book, sure to appeal to any vampire, romance, or YA/NA fan. show less

Mediocre to the core including all the typical shortcomings you find in most mediocre romance stories of this ilk.
Action is written like it's supposed to be a movie. It describes typical movie cover pose shots but in text form. Instead of being badass or impressive this just comes across as awkward and amateurish. A lot of authors (like this one) don't seem to realize that a book is a fundamentally different medium that requires a different kind of scene setting. There are various different show more ways of describing fighting scenes that work very well in written form but imitating Hollywood blockbusters just doesn't.
The romance is your run-of-the-mill fated mate attraction spiced up with a bit of classic contrived conflict that keeps them apart a little bit.
The politics are unbelievably naive. These fae people have to invent basic governing systems like democracy in the 21st century and nobody thinks this strange despite them being reasonably familiar with modern human society.

It just doesn't hold together as anything other than a paranormal bodice ripper with a flimsy urban fantasy backdrop. show less

After the shadow that the Twilight series cast on vampire stories, I wasn't expecting this to be a great book. Most of the vampire-based novels and novellas coming out these days, have obvious influences from Stephanie Meyers' books. The synopsis sounded interesting, so I figured I'd give it a try. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised.

While I could definitely see some similarities between this book and the entire Twilight series, it was only in certain areas, and only when I consciously show more looked for it. It's still original enough to be interesting and exciting, and no one sparkled...

The depth of the characters was surprising and enjoyable- not something I had been expecting. Sera's struggles and past pain are things I think a lot of young women can relate to, and her character draws you in from the first page. Her personal growth, and the relationship she develops with Liam, are both simply wonderful. Liam is a perfect example of a vampire-version dream hunk in most young women's day-dreams. He's confident and strong, but also has a softer side, much like a sparkly guy with great hair we're all familiar with...

The side characters are awesome as well, and all do a fantastic job of shaping the story and helping the events go from interesting to exciting. You couldn't ask for better friends than the ones Sera and Liam have, and the relationships we see with them give the story added depth.

The surprising twist in the last quarter of the book was simply fantastic, and added a sense of danger and suspense to the story. While I personally didn't care for the ending itself, I know most people would, and it was a decent ending for the story. It's sure to satisfy most readers.

The writing was very good, flowed easily and quickly. The author does a fantastic job of capturing all the emotions of the story, without being too dramatic or getting lost in dialogue. I took off a star for grammatical/spelling errors that, while they might not bother some people, pull me out of the story.

With humor, fun, adventure, mystery and romance, this is a wonderfully well-rounded book, sure to appeal to any vampire, romance, or YA/NA fan. show less

After the shadow that the Twilight series cast on vampire stories, I wasn't expecting this to be a great book. Most of the vampire-based novels and novellas coming out these days, have obvious influences from Stephanie Meyers' books. The synopsis sounded interesting, so I figured I'd give it a try. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised.

While I could definitely see some similarities between this book and the entire Twilight series, it was only in certain areas, and only when I consciously show more looked for it. It's still original enough to be interesting and exciting, and no one sparkled...

The depth of the characters was surprising and enjoyable- not something I had been expecting. Sera's struggles and past pain are things I think a lot of young women can relate to, and her character draws you in from the first page. Her personal growth, and the relationship she develops with Liam, are both simply wonderful. Liam is a perfect example of a vampire-version dream hunk in most young women's day-dreams. He's confident and strong, but also has a softer side, much like a sparkly guy with great hair we're all familiar with...

The side characters are awesome as well, and all do a fantastic job of shaping the story and helping the events go from interesting to exciting. You couldn't ask for better friends than the ones Sera and Liam have, and the relationships we see with them give the story added depth.

The surprising twist in the last quarter of the book was simply fantastic, and added a sense of danger and suspense to the story. While I personally didn't care for the ending itself, I know most people would, and it was a decent ending for the story. It's sure to satisfy most readers.

The writing was very good, flowed easily and quickly. The author does a fantastic job of capturing all the emotions of the story, without being too dramatic or getting lost in dialogue. I took off a star for grammatical/spelling errors that, while they might not bother some people, pull me out of the story.

With humor, fun, adventure, mystery and romance, this is a wonderfully well-rounded book, sure to appeal to any vampire, romance, or YA/NA fan. show less