Afterlight

If you enjoyed [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1307515757s/41865.jpg|3212258], this book is for you. Because it's almost an exact copy.
I hated every page of [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1307515757s/41865.jpg|3212258], so I hated this book too.

The plot is almost non-existent, the characters have no merits, no qualities, nothing of interest whatsoever.
The entire book revolves around the fact that Eli is a hot guy and Riley really cares about her brother. So what!?
When the author momentarily (MOMENTARILY) forgets about Eli's hotness, she delights us with endless descriptions of Riley's outfits. Really, dear Elle... show more who cares!?
At least, Riley is a bit smarter than [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1307515757s/41865.jpg|3212258]'s Bella, who (let's say it sincerely) is quite dumb.

Well, bottom line: if you have even a single brain cell left, please don't waste time on this. show less

Afterlight was wickedly good for so many reasons:

1) I love the whole setting in New Orleans and the care with which author, Elle Jasper, describes the old cemeteries, architecture, etc.

2) You can tell the author did her research-- everything from gothic lifestyle & clothing, to running a tattoo parlor, to the musical selections she chose to give us readers a real connection with the main character Riley and the overall mood/tone of the novel.

3) I think what fascinated me the most about Afterlight is how Elle Jasper introduces us to the "Gullah" culture. I will be the first to admit that I never heard of the "Gullah" and I am half African American myself. At first I thought Jasper made up the term "Gullah" and that Riley's adopted family show more was just the author finding a unique way of putting a fresh spin on witch mythology. But as I continued to read and became swept away with the language of Riley's beloved Preacher man and his wife Estelle, it dawned on me that "Gullah" culture is real. Once I figured that out, I was pretty much hooked. I know this shouldn't be about race or skin color, but there is something fascinating about a gothic white girl who is basically adopted by the ebony skinned "Gullah" witch doctor Preacher man, and falls in love with a 19th century vampire named Eli. Anthropology has always been a love of mine, so the fusion of these different subcultures and culture were intriguing.

4) Now for the "strong female vs. the alpha male" situation I mentioned earlier. Many times you have either a submissive female with a completely dominate alpha male hero that takes control. Other times you have books that say the female heroine is strong and can completely take care of herself but once you start reading, you realize she is just as submissive as the others. I guess what I am trying to say is, it's hard to find an author that truly commits to making their female lead character strong and independent. Or maybe I should say they have a hard time finding the perfect balance. In my opinion, Jasper hit the nail on the head with Riley and Eli. It was easy to convince me that Riley was a strong willed, sassy, modern woman before Eli came into the picture. After all, this girl somehow found the strength to beat addiction, find her self-worth and confidence after being in abusive relationships, put herself through college, opened up her own business which became quite successful, and most importantly, is in the process of raising and providing for her younger brother. What completely sold me was Riley and Eli's interactions with each other. Instead of Riley folding under Eli's dominate personality, she continued to prove that she was smart, capable, and can really kick some ass. I understand Eli's issues and why he is such an alpha--he is a 19th century vampire after all. But more then that, while he respects and admires her fighting abilities when battling her own species, he has his doubts about her being able to defend herself against vampires. He knows that deep down she is just a fragile human that does not have the strength or speed to go up against such a threat. Completely understandable in my book. Overall, I think Jasper does a great job proving that Riley is a tough chick. While she has feelings for Eli, she doesn't just turn into a submissive partner. She constantly keeps Eli on his toes.

I wanted to quickly comment on 3 remarks that I found in negative reviews that I completely disagree with. One, a reviewer said that Afterlight was too Twilightish. Umm, did they read the same book I did??? Do I see a few similarities between Afterlight and Twilight? Yes. But not in a negative way. That particular reviewer acted like this book should have been for Young Adult readers, and trust me, this is not a book for kids.

Another critic complained that the love scenes were not fully developed (meaning they weren't explicit enough). I found this interesting because I normally like things ruanchy. However, that also depends on the story and how it is written. The scenes were very hot and Jasper didn't really leave anything to the imagination. I don't feel that she left us hanging and while they could have been more explicit such as in the way the author describes certain body parts (use your imagination), I don't think it was neccessary.

Lastly, the harshest remark was from a reviewer that said Eli is a "forgettable" vampire. I couldn't disagree more. Eli is a perfect blend of old world 19th century vampire and modern day, brooding, sexy maleness with fangs. He's got the accent, the sex appeal, the alpha male tendencies without being a complete prick, and most of all, the ability to control the urge to take Riley's highly addictive blood more than any other vampire, including his own family. While we learn all these things about Eli, he also remains somewhat of a mystery which is sexy as hell. I want to know why he was in seclusion and away from his family for so many years. It didn't get explained in Afterlight, so I can only guess that it will be revealed in the 2nd or 3rd book in the series.

My only criticism is that some parts do get very repetitive. Riley constantly tells us that she is a badass. Honey, we already know that! You've proven it many times over, so you don't have to keep telling us. I also thought the ending of the book was a little weak (the battle scene was a bit anti-climatic). But that tends to happen when stories are written in 1st person. If you read the book, you'll know what I mean.

Other then those minor things, Afterlight is a solid series starter for the Dark Ink Chronicles. I look forward to checking out book 2 called Everdark. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

It’s a sad but true fact that rarely do excellent covers yield equally excellent books. AFTERLIGHT has one of my favorite covers of the year and I honestly was afraid to read it because I knew the story couldn’t possible live up to the stunning cover. Wow was I wrong.

AFTERLIGHT is like The Lost Boys meets L.A. Ink (Elle Jasper actually references the movie in the book). Hot vampires, badass chicks, and wicked tattoos. Seriously, if Corey Haim was somehow in this book I could die happy. The fictionalized version of Savannah in AFTERLIGHT is sultry and seductive with a supernatural secret: vampires. Afterlight vampires are the non human killing—most of the time—variety, and strigio show more vampires are the drain-you-dry-and-feast-on-your-still-beating-heart kind.

Tattoo artist Riley Poe is a former wild child trying to make a life for herself and raise her younger brother Sean when he unwittingly releases two of the the most notorious strigois ever. The sibling relationship between these two was instantly relatable and endeared both brother and sister to me immediately. Riley herself is a smartass. She talks a big game but she actually delivers. She’s got more street smarts than people twice her age (and the emotional scars to prove it) but her hard life hasn’t managed to destroy her ability to care deeply. I loved that resiliency about her. I also loved her honesty. She doesn’t play games with anyone including herself. She doesn’t always understand her emotions, but she does freely acknowledge them.

I was not expecting the romance in AFTERLIGHT. Usually there are cover clues, or major cues in the description (which in hindsight there were), but I was totally caught off guard by the white hot relationship between Riley and the Afterlight vampire Eli—in a good way. It’s maybe the best I-want-you-but-I-might-kill-you romance I’ve read all year (and that’s saying something).

And Eli…I loved Eli. He has a mocking humor and possesses a powerful intensity that I could literally feel while reading. Vampire desires warring with human desires and control barely held onto by willpower alone. This is the kind of romantic lead I want more of.

Overall, AFTERLIGHT is very reminiscent of Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series. The heat of the romance coupled with the UF emphasis on world building is balanced nearly perfectly (no easy feat). There is a preview for the next Dark Ink Chronicles book at the end of AFTERLIGHT which only makes the wait until next summer for EVERDARK, when it releases on June 7, 2011, that much harder. Loved this one!

Sexual Content: Masturbation. Graphic sex. References to rape, References to prostitution. show less

Do you ever see a book and just from looking at it, you know you are going to love it? This is one of those books from me. I remember seeing the cover for the first time and I thought, “woah, that is sweet!” I read the summary and knew I had to have this book. Luckily I did not have to wait long for it and I devoured it in one sitting. I could not stop reading, I was addicted!

Riley is ridiculously cool and she is one kick as$ chick. She has this wicked dragon tattoo that starts on her lower back, goes up her spine, then goes down her arms and end at her fingers. C’mon that sounds cool, right? I only wish I could meet her in real life so I could see what all her tattoos and crazy outfits really look like. Plus seeing Eli, would not show more be bad either….mmm…Eli….*slaps self out of day dream* What? Oh, sorry….he is just so hot, you are going to have to read the book to find out what I mean ;) Trust me though, definitely worth your time. I only wish I knew what was going on in his brain half the time because I bet it would be really interesting.

The book is told through Riley’s eyes and it is definitely a fun place to be. The way she thinks and speaks puts a fun, unique spin on life. Because of this it the story reads much differently then other books out there right now, which I loved about it. Riley is in no way a damsel in distress, she can definitely take care of herself, well against mortals that is. The vamps pose a little bit of a problem, being superhuman and all. Doesn’t mean she does not going to give it her best shot though. Watching her give some of the Dupres a run for their money while training it hysterical. I love that she does not just sit back and watch life happen, she is out there trying to fight for what she wants and she is doing it while wearing six inch heels.

The book does center around the world of vamps, but the mythology is not like anything I have read before and I was grateful to hear new stories and think about vampires or “creatures of the afterlight” in a new light. It was refreshing. The story itself moves very quickly, you are sucked into the action right away and don’t really stop until the last page. Even then, you are left with questions still swimming in your head and aching to know what is going to happen next. Luckily, this book is part of a trilogy so we will get to see more of Riley and Eli come summer 2011. Yay! I don’t think, no, I know I would not be happy with just the one book so thank you to Elle for writing more :) I literally don’t think I can say enough good things about this books, I could keep gushing, but instead of reading my review, go out and get the book and read that! Go on…stop reading my review, go! show less

I’m going to give this one to you straight and to the point. I absolutely think I hated this book. I’m not sure that I wanted to finish it. However since I have this strange compulsion to finish everything that I start reading I did end up finishing it. I kept thinking that it would get better I should have known it wouldn't. The writing was amateurish at best it was not what I would expect from someone who writes full time. If this is how her next book is I seriously doubt she will be a full time writer for too much longer.

Ok what I felt through most of the book was boredom it was like I’d read it all before in other better books, plus hey I did read it before because she mention things several times during the book. I swear I show more wanted to strangle the writer after having to read the same thing about walking the dog or going to drink tea. Jesus we get it you walk your dog then go drink your tea with preacher man every day you don’t have to mention that in every chapter. It got so tedious trying to read that I wanted to tear the book in half.
To me this book felt like a bad mix of Twilight, Vampire Academy, and Mercedes Thompson series. Twilight because she smelled so good she was in danger of being eaten to death. I spent half the time waiting for Eli to say that she was his brand of heroin!!!!! Sad but true and he got pretty close I remember him saying something about her being like a drug. Then the vampire academy because she kept differentiating between the two types of vampires one being a good kind the other bad she also kept calling them Stragori which was a kicker for me. Then Mercedes Thompson series most likely probably because of the characterization, not because the stories were anything alike just the character seemed familiar. They are both athletic tattooed with long black hair and have snarky personalities who work a lot.
I don’t say this lightly but it just felt like she pulled her characters out of other peoples stories renamed them and tweaked a classic paranormal plot line a little. To me nothing about this story was original it just felt too familiar to even be the littlest bit interesting. Maybe I’m being to hard maybe I’m not but its up to you to decide for yourself. show less

I have had this book on my to read list for a while now. A while meaning at least 1 year or so. As i was thumbing through my to-read list for something interesting to read, i decided that it was time to try this book. It has a very YA cover and title, and even though i read YA books (there are really many good ones for adults) i had read my share of really bad ones.

This one was different: Sometimes, you don't know what your craving or like, until you have it and then you wonder what in the world took you so long to try it. Well, this book fits the bill. It plays in Savannah Georgia, and i did not know how much i enjoy reading books in history ridden places.
The female main character is fun, strong, and kick butt. But she also has a show more responsible side to her. The other characters include vampires and gullah. The vampires are nicely different, as in they can be out during the day and consume human food for pleasure, something i always look enjoy reading.
I don't usually tell the story line or give spoilers, but i rather tell you that the author does not dip into the obvious cliches, the story continues on nicely without becoming too boring. I actually always looked forward to opening this book and reading a few pages.

If I could give more than just whole stars, i would. I can only recommend this book to anyone that likes Urban Fantasy or to someone who would want to ease into the genre. I am uploading the next book to my ereader and that is another series i am adding to my growing list of series. show less

This book was recommended by my evil twin, Donna @ Bites, and it didn’t disappoint. I can easily sum up its awesome by informing you that it is a VAMPIRE STORY, set in the SOUTH, and it features some entertaining PORN. All of these things are good things. Other instances of awesome- the character names (Riley Poe, Eligius Dupré), the kindly voo-doo father figure and the over abundance of skin tight leather. It had a fair amount of cheese, what with Riley constantly reminding us JUST HOW badddddd she use to be and the fact that she bothered to clean a Vampire’s skin with antiseptic before giving him a tattoo. You know, the sort of nonsense that one can easily forgive in exchange for hot vampire porn. The book is purchasable based on show more its cover alone, but it’s nice that the guts where equally as decorative. show less