Pretty When She Dies

Amazing Foray Into Vampire/Necromancer Lore

Loved, Loved, Loved!

I wish I picked this up sooner! Rhiannon's gift for storytelling had me sucked (heh) in from page one with the spunky Amaliya. Her journey through vampiredom is as awesome as I can imagine anyone writing it.

She has instantly become one of my favorite authors for her way with words, the way the scenes fill your mind, feel rich and alive with character themselves. And the characters - Cian and Amaliya are excellently penned, their own pasts, flaws, and inflections feeling true to life...or death in this case...carried along by a narrative that bounces from character to character, only enriching the ride taken to the end.

I've said enough - I need more!

Courtesy of Smash Attack Reads

Interest in Book: Firstly, it's Rhiannon Frater. That should really be enough. Secondly, it's Rhiannon Frater's take on vampires. I knew going into this book I would get the darker side of vampires, but wow. I got so much more than I expected. In true Frater fashion, the opening of this book will grab you and plant your ass in a seat until it's had its way with you. And it will be rough, so hold on to your skivvies...

World-Building: I love Rhiannon Frater's brain. When the zombie apocalypse occurs, and if this incredible author should perish at the teeth and/or claws of zombies, I sure hope they leave her brain intact. A lot to ask for, I know, but I would preserve it in the Museum of Awesomesauce show more Awesomeness, of which I will be the Curator of Awesome. Am I getting through to you? Good. Now that my zany personality has your attention, I would want to preserve her brain because we need to learn from it. Dissect it and welcome all the treasures inside. Ha. You thought I was finished babbling. Sucka!

So really where I'm going with this is that Rhiannon's world-building always leaves me satisfied. Like a good piece of chocolate, ya know? This world isn't so different from our own, aside from the fact that paranormal creatures are your neighbors in Amaliya's world. What I loved most about the world-building was how Rhiannon took a story about a newly turned vampire and added a nice dose of necromancy on top, just to keep it interesting. Amaliya's sire is a serious threat to mankind and the mystery and danger surrounding his character kept the intensity-level sky high. Amaliya is connected to him more deeply than she imagined, yet he is also surprised by how deep that connection goes.

Characters: Amaliya's dealt a shitty hand when her throat is ripped out during a sneaky coffee date. Her pursuer leaves her in a shallow grave, only to rise again a few nights later with no recollection of how she got there, and one hell of a rumbling tummy. As one would expect, things just go downhill from there. Amaliya is thrust into the vampire life with no assistance, no knowledge, no guide. She has to deal with her asshole father and his clan, whose reactions to Amaliya's new nature were very realistic. She has to figure things out for herself, which puts those around her in danger. Luckily, she finds herself in Austin, TX, the home to vampire master Cian, who was, in no way, expecting Amaliya to sashay into his life. She turns his life upside down and inside out, and he likes it so good. I love Rhiannon writing some sexy time! Cian and Amaliya's romps were just the right amount of umph and ahhh. Totally hot without being over the top raunchy.

Amaliya's grandmother, Innocente, will grab your heart and squeeze it. She is an amazing character, with the ferocity of a thousand army ants in your pants. I did not find her reaction to Amaliya's new self very realistic, but as I got to know more about Innocente, things fell into place. Cian's girlfriend pre-Amaliya, Samantha, was a wacky bitch with a sassy mouth. She's going to be fun, I can just tell! I demand more! I also love that Rhiannon gives such life to animals in her books. The few moments that Samantha's cat, Beatrice, graced the pages were so hilarious.

Lasting Impressions: Awesome, of course. Need more? Ok. When Amaliya finally comes to terms with what she is, a major curve ball is thrown and she needs to slide into home quickly or the ref will be sending her ass back to the dark side. The villain is a tricky, malicious, evil bastard who made me squee with glee. I loved him in all his evil glory. A really well-written villain who has many tricks up his sleeve. So read the book. And then the rest of the series. I just know it will fulfill my need for dark vampires, vengeance and a good laugh or two. show less

I bought this book for two reasons: 1) the cover and 2) I have heard nothing but wonderful things about Rhiannon Frater’s books. I can now say after reading this book that the cover and the story are perfect for each other in terms of them both being alluring and badass. And I can also say that I need to go by every single one of Rhiannon’s books now.

Let me first make a disclaimer to all of those people who love YA vampire novels. This is NOT a YA novel. This is finally a novel for 20-something year old’s who want they little bit of extra adult content. This book is dark, passionate, sexy, and everything that a vampire novel should be.

Amaliya is a character that I found I could easily sympathize with. She comes from a pretty show more terrible family who never expected much out of her and who always thought she would be a screw up. So when she is turned into a vampire and is forced to run, she doesn’t really find it that different from the life she had been living to begin with. Throughout the novel, I loved seeing her get stronger. She starts off having no identity and not really sure where she belongs. But by the end, she is incredibly sure of herself and knows that she has somewhere she belongs.

Cian, the vampire that Amaliya finds in Austin, is the Master of Austin. He is responsible for the well being of the city. At first, I didn’t like this guy. I wanted to punch him. I can’t stand when vampire try to mimic a human life. Thankfully, when Amaliya comes into his life, this perfect facade slowly starts to unravel, much to the chagrin of Robert, his human servant and Samantha, his human fiancee.

Robert is a jackass and Samantha is a jealous bitch. I’m sorry for being so blunt. But I really disliked these characters, not because they were poorly written. But because they were fabulously written to be those characters you want to dislike. I understand that Robert has been loyal to Cian for a hundred years and that is just watching out for him, but it gives him no right to be an ass. I understand that Samantha is threatened by Amaliya’s lure and temptation that she has on Cian. But seriously, her stupid romantic notion that she can tame a centuries old vamp into being the perfect human husband….dumb.

The Summoner was a character that was just pure evil. Normally I can find some sort of redeeming quality in the villains, but not in hi. And that was perfectly fine with me. I was terrified and hated this man the whole time I was reading this book. His creepy necromancer skills plus immortality equals scary-as-hell-villain.

Grandma Innoncente and Sergio were my favorite characters aside from Amaliya and Cian. I don’t want to give away too much away about them and their roles in this book, but they are not to be underestimated. Especially, Grandma.

I also don’t want to give away too much of the plot twists and folds, but everything is really excited and moves easily from one chapter to the next. And Amaliya was such a great protagonist. I really liked that this book is not first person like most books I read. Again, I love YA, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to jump to different characters and really get a good look at all of the angles.

This book was really wonderful. The action was intense and the vamp sex scenes were crazy! But in a good way. I just seriously cannot get over how thankful I am that this book is geared to us 20-something year olds. I still love YA vamp novels, but it’s good to have a book like to go to when you’re tired of the teen angst. show less

It’s a comforting feeling to have an author you trust so implicitly that you have no doubts when you pick up their book that you are going to enjoy every sentence. I used to be a huge fan of vampire novels, but over the last few years that interest has waned. I’m happy to say that Rhiannon Frater’s Pretty When She Dies reminded me of why I used to love reading about vampires.

Amaliya wakes up buried beneath the forest floor. She has no idea who she is, or how she was buried, or more importantly, why she is still alive. When she crawls out, covered in dirt and blood, it all starts to come back to her. She had gone for coffee with her Psychology professor and he’d bitten her. Dirty, disoriented and hungry for blood, Amaliya has no show more idea where to go or what to do. After feeding on a fraternity full of drunken college students, she sets off for home. The problem is, her family doesn’t want her. Eventually, she arrives in Austin and finds herself under the care of Austin’s vampire king, Cian. But someone has followed her. Someone who knows who and what she is. Someone who wants to destroy her and settle an old debt with Cian.

What most intrigued me about this particular book was the way Ms. Frater included necromancy into the story. Amaliya’s maker is not only an ancient vampire, he can also control the dead and uses them to do his bidding. It was like a mashup of two of my favorite things — hot, sexy vampires and zombies. Win and win.

As always, the characters in this book are relatable and completely unforgettable. I loved Amaliya. She was vulnerable yet tough, dangerous yet sympathetic. I really felt for her as she struggled to deal with who and what she was. Cian is also an awesome male lead, and I enjoyed watching he and Amaliya’s relationship blossom. I will say, the sex scenes are nothing short of page-burning.

I think one of my favorite characters was Amaliya’s grandmother. She’s a little spitfire and always made me laugh whenever she was in a scene.

I’m on the blog tour for the second installment, Pretty When She Kills on October 3. I can’t wait to dive in and see what happens with Cian and Amaliya next. show less

Amaliya finally has her life on track. She's attending college (away from her horrible family), earning good grades, and trying to find her place in the world. Then, she has a coffee date with her attractive psychology professor and it all goes to hell. After awakening in a shallow grave, she goes on a bloodthirsty rampage on campus. The professor is actually a sadistic vampire who likes to create other vampires and see how they fare without providing any sort of guidance. Amaliya has no idea about her powers or what her limitations are, so she runs from her problems, leaving a wake of blood and death along the way. It's only a matter of time before others of her kind will take notice of her rather uncontrolled behavior and either help show more her out of her situation or kill her to preserve peace.

I've been meaning to read Pretty When She Dies for years, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it is a fun, fast paced book with no shortage of engaging characters and savory moments of horror. I liked Amaliya for the most part. She comes from an abusive home where everyone thinks she's worth nothing despite anything she's done to the contrary. She dyes her blonde hair black, has copious tattoos, and enjoys metal music. Her shtick is a little Hot Topic misunderstood goth for me, but I understand her drive to find her place and set herself apart from where she comes from. Her interests and aesthetic are different than most of the female protagonists out there, so it was interesting to read another perspective. The first half of the novel is setup and her own journey of self discovery. She knows absolutely nothing about being a vampire except that she needs to drink blood. Everything else is trial and error or simply stumbling upon discoveries. This part is also a genius way to show the vampires abilities without dedicated pages and pages to infodumping. The explanations and discoveries are integrated seamlessly into the text as Amaliya discovers all of this with the readers. Her strength and fire made me root for and admire her despite her missteps and occasionally rash decisions. She doesn't need Cian, the love interest, to come save her at every turn. I don't think there are many things I hate more than a strong woman made conveniently weak to have the strong man come in and save her.

The secondary characters are also quite memorable.. My favorite of them was Innocente, Amaliya's grandmother, ghost seer, and devout Catholic. Unlike so many vampire books out there, Innocente figures out Amaliya's affliction rather quickly and accepts it. Her granddaughter isn't very different from how she was before, so she isn't going to abandon her or condemn her. I loved her hilarious assumption that Amaliya needed to to be helped to the light to move on. When she finds out her granddaughter is in trouble, she gathers up all her portable religious artifacts to help. She isn't daunted by her age or her lack of strength, only driven by love and her sense of justice. I especially enjoyed that Innocente, the most unlikely part of their outcast group, is responsible for defeating the big bad of the novel. I want to read the rest of the series just to see more of this bad ass old lady.

My least favorite of the secondary characters are Samantha and Roberto, both part of Cian's circle of friends/followers. Samantha is a shrew of a woman who is engaged to Cian. From the moment she met Amaliya, she threw around terms like "whore" and "trash" simply based on her appearance. Everything she did was powered by saving her fiance from Amaliya and not much else. This annoyance is only secondary to Roberto, the two faced and centuries old servant to Cian. It didn't take much to get him to backstab his master and so many of his actions were disturbing throughout the novel. There were few things about the story that bothered me, namely the sheer number of coincidences that the plot relied on. Amaliya happened to run into Cian the first night in his territory and a similar situation happened with another vampire master. The first person Samantha whines to about her problems just so happens to be the son of a vampire hunter who made a pact with Cian. A few coincidences are fine, but it was coincidence after coincidence that made the plot a little too convenient.

I always enjoy Rhiannon Frater's writing. It flows so well that I read huge sections of the book in one sitting without realizing it. While there are moments of levity and humor, the dark horror elements are what I especially enjoyed. Frater knows how to disturb and when to let the blood flow. Although Pretty When She Dies isn't perfect, I enjoyed following Amaliya (and Innocente) through all of their adventures and I look forward to reading the other two books in the series. show less

This easily belongs to the top 0.1% of urban fantasy and yet I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I would've expected.
The opening is very engaging and immediately captured me.
It's gruesome though. Really dark and gruesome.
The book uses every opportunity to insert world-building into normal situations in a natural fashion. but it's sometimes not very subtle about it but it never leads to painfully stilted dialogue.

While reading this book I constantly felt like the author was very aware of all the clichées and stereotypes as well as general genre tropes and either subtly and skillfully subverted or deliberately avoided them.

But this very aspect of the book makes things, I am usually comfortable talking about in a review, spoilery because show more we all know the tropes by now.
So this spoiler is here because I can not talk about the meta game the author plays without spoiling the very thing that makes this so enjoyable and unique. But all outright story spoilers will be contained in an additional layer of nested spoilers.

After the very engaging gripping opening, the pacing suffers a bit when the theme completely shifts to romance drama as the MC enters a kind of love triangle but not as the center but as the OW.
It takes until the climax for the pacing to pick up again.

A lot of these trope subversions threw me for a loop. On one hand, I appreciated how the author played with the meta context but on the other hand, it just made me uncomfortable for the MC to be in such a position. The love interest cheats with the MC on his fiancée.

Morality in this book is truly gray to the point where it made me surprisingly uncomfortable sometimes.
This also leads to probably the single biggest flaw in the book. Despite this moral ambiguity the author always shoehorns reason into the story to dislike characters that are about to be killed. Sometimes literally in the sentence before.
"Oh, by the way, that guy raped someone 3 years ago." *gets shot in the head*
Only unlikable people are allowed to be killed by the good guys. The punishment doesn't need to fit the crime though. You just have to dislike them first. This comes across as very forced and it also sometimes spoils the tension because you know there can only be one reason for the awkward addition.

That being said, in general, every time I recognized a classic stupid trope setup and was already preparing a disappointment rant in my head it turned out to be premature.

Ultimately, the ending was way sweeter and happier than I expected.


The second big weakness are the action scenes. Don't get me wrong, they are still much better than a lot of urban fantasy, and the most important part, the tension, was conveyed decently, but they failed in enabling me to imagine them properly. I rarely had a clear picture of who is where in relation to each other or the actual body movements and how they interacted.

While I feel like this book easily deserves 4 stars just because of its skillful play on tropes and just by the virtue of the sheer number of pitfalls the book deliberately avoided, my personal enjoyment was much closer to 3 stars and I don't really know why.
I think while there are very few bad clichées to be angry about the overall story was still just kind of meh. On a macro level, it's just another vampire romance despite the much better execution.
I would love to have read this after my 10th vampire romance and not after the 100th. show less

Though this is technically my second Rhiannon Frater novel, it's my first pure experience, since the first novel I read she coauthored with Kody Boye. Though The Midnight Spell was a cute, fun read, I was looking forward to the dark, creepy novels Giselle of Xpresso Reads made me so curious about when she fangirled all over them. With Pretty When She Dies, I got just what I was hoping for: a dark, sexy, creepy, comic read.

Pretty When She Dies opens with a bang as Amaliya digs herself out of her grave. Covered in dirt and weirdly hungry, she stumbles into her dorm room to take a shower. Once clean, she heads out in search of food, passing up a lone student for something more that she senses. More turns out to be a secret frat house orgy, show more where Amaliya proceeds to murder thirteen students, after which she has sex with her maker. Whoa, right?

Amaliya, though, isn't really like that usually. She sort of is, in that she does love sex and she's not opposed to killing as a vampire. However, she actually loathes her maker, who raped and killed her, but she didn't remember that in the haze of being newly awoken. She hardly knew who she was at that point. In case the circumstances of her transition to vampirehood were not enough of a clue, turns out that her maker, Professer Sumner, is actually one of the most powerful vampires ever and a freaking sadist. This girl has fantastic luck.

While not really breaking any new ground with vampire lore, Frater does what she does well. The vampires aren't sweet and innocent, though they can love. They murder. They're violent and powerful. Pretty When She Dies is gory and has plenty of sexual content. Actually, it's got a fairly similar vibe to True Blood, what with being set in the south (Texas, rather than Louisiana) and about intense, sexy vamps.

Of course, there's a romance, which, for me, was the weak part. It was pretty hot, actually, but the infidelity and the fact that the couple "falls in love" in less than a week is disappointing. Now, I'm going to be totally honest and say that the infidelity didn't bother me as much as it should have, because Cian's fiancée Samantha is really annoying. She's basically like Sookie, convinced she's made the vampire Bill or Eric into a sweet fluffy human, when along comes Amaliya to prove that's not true. However, Cian and Amaliya thinking they're in love so fast? Blergh. Seems like they've both lived enough to know the difference between lust and love.

The supporting cast is delightful and brings a lot of humor into Pretty When She Dies. Though I hated Samantha when she was with Cian, she starts to be hilarious when she teams up with local vampire hunter, Jeff; she makes all sorts of Buffy comparisons, which amused me greatly. Plus, I freaking adore Amaliya's cousin, Sergio, and grandmother, Innocente. As Amaliya says, "you shouldn't fuck with little Mexican grandmas," and boy is she right. Innocente is fantastic, and totally my favorite character. Not only is Amaliya a powerful female character, but Innocente is as well, and Samantha even shows some promise.

Rhiannon Frater's vampires harken back to the classic vampire lore. Dark, comic and sexy, I highly recommend Pretty When She Dies to anyone looking for a quick, fun read that's still not tired of vampire stories. show less