Title: A Shade of VampireAuthor: Bella Forrest
Format Acquired: PDF
Publication Date: December 14, 2012
Publishing House: Self-published
ISBN: 9781481280761
Source of Copy: Sent by author for review
Summary:
On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake.
A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves more than her blood.
She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine.
An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.
Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince.
Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.
Will she succeed? ...or is she destined to the same fate that all the other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?
Review:
What a way to spend your seventeenth birthday. Sofia's best friend forgets her birthday, she gets sedated and captured by someone (Or is it something?) and is carted off to an uncharted island in the middle of nowhere, just when she was taking a leisurely stroll. Then to add insult to injury, she finds out that she's going to be part of this so called Prince's harem and oh, she just realized that vampires do exist. So there - happy birthday, Sofia.
A Shade of Vampires' characters are just that - characters. They felt so stiff that we just couldn't rouse any modicum of empathy for them. They were okay characters, but hardly unforgettable. We wanted to see some measure of surprise when Sofia met the vampires for the first time, or maybe some panic when she was captured and a heavy dose of fear since she was going to be forced to be part of some stranger's harem. We're pretty sure that Sofia has never met a vampire before and when she was faced with a vampire ready and willing to suck her blood she was so... chill with it all. It was disconcerting. Derek Novak, the so-called vampire prince, the savior of all vampire-kind, has just woken up from years of sleep to fulfill his destiny. When he lays eyes on the beautiful Sofia, it's love at first sight and he can't let go of her. He's possessive - a character trait far too common in YA male protagonists - and assertive. It's either his way or the highway. And while we would like to say that they make a cute couple, they really didn't manage to stir any feelings inside of us. They were just a boy and a girl who were attracted to each other and whose attraction is wholly based on outward appearance and a few supposedly touching lines said in the heat of the moment.
We found that A Shade of Vampire actually reminded us more of a novella that would lead to the actual first book.
It also felt like Lucas was more of a bad guy simply because he was the stereotypical nemesis who wanted the protagonist's new toy just for the sake of having it. But then, it's light, it's easy to read, and it's an easy fix for people who are not looking for anything particularly heavy. We could imagine people reading this in between contemporary novels.
If you're in the market for a very light paranormal read, you could consider picking this one up. There were no forced romantic scenes (Yay, no awkward kisses!), and the pacing was okay. We'd recommend this one for people who are hesitant about the paranormal genre, and who are more likely to appreciate contemporary novels.
Source of Copy: Sent by author for review
Summary:
On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake.
A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves more than her blood.
She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine.
An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.
Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince.
Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.
Will she succeed? ...or is she destined to the same fate that all the other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?
(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)
Review:
What a way to spend your seventeenth birthday. Sofia's best friend forgets her birthday, she gets sedated and captured by someone (Or is it something?) and is carted off to an uncharted island in the middle of nowhere, just when she was taking a leisurely stroll. Then to add insult to injury, she finds out that she's going to be part of this so called Prince's harem and oh, she just realized that vampires do exist. So there - happy birthday, Sofia.
A Shade of Vampires' characters are just that - characters. They felt so stiff that we just couldn't rouse any modicum of empathy for them. They were okay characters, but hardly unforgettable. We wanted to see some measure of surprise when Sofia met the vampires for the first time, or maybe some panic when she was captured and a heavy dose of fear since she was going to be forced to be part of some stranger's harem. We're pretty sure that Sofia has never met a vampire before and when she was faced with a vampire ready and willing to suck her blood she was so... chill with it all. It was disconcerting. Derek Novak, the so-called vampire prince, the savior of all vampire-kind, has just woken up from years of sleep to fulfill his destiny. When he lays eyes on the beautiful Sofia, it's love at first sight and he can't let go of her. He's possessive - a character trait far too common in YA male protagonists - and assertive. It's either his way or the highway. And while we would like to say that they make a cute couple, they really didn't manage to stir any feelings inside of us. They were just a boy and a girl who were attracted to each other and whose attraction is wholly based on outward appearance and a few supposedly touching lines said in the heat of the moment.
We found that A Shade of Vampire actually reminded us more of a novella that would lead to the actual first book.
It also felt like Lucas was more of a bad guy simply because he was the stereotypical nemesis who wanted the protagonist's new toy just for the sake of having it. But then, it's light, it's easy to read, and it's an easy fix for people who are not looking for anything particularly heavy. We could imagine people reading this in between contemporary novels.
If you're in the market for a very light paranormal read, you could consider picking this one up. There were no forced romantic scenes (Yay, no awkward kisses!), and the pacing was okay. We'd recommend this one for people who are hesitant about the paranormal genre, and who are more likely to appreciate contemporary novels.
Rating:
I agree. This book was fun, but so short that it felt like an introduction :) Nice review.
ReplyDeleteMel@thedailyprophecy.
Wow what a horrible birthday. I am disappointed that the characters weren't developed and that this read like an intro, I may way for reviews on the next book and decide, because the premises sounds interesting.
ReplyDelete