May 102013
A Shade Of Vampire
*** #1 Christmas Bestseller in Vampire Romance, Paranormal & Fantasy. Over 300 Five Star Reviews (Amazon USA & UK). ***
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 much more than her blood.
She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine.
An island uncharted by any map a
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A well-written vampire romance,
Sofia Claremont never imagined that her life would change forever when she decided to take an evening stroll along the shore, to ponder the usual trials and tribulations of 17 year-old girl. Faster than one can spell ‘shanghaied’, she was kidnapped by a vampire, transported to a remote island/vampire coven, and, rather reluctantly, given as a gift to Derek Novak, a legendary vampire conveniently waking up just now from a 400 year sleep.
The book is, essentially, a YA romantic story with a strong adventure element and a whole lot of vampires, each with different agenda. Sofia and Derek like each other from the start, but their positions, backgrounds and responsibilities are so different that it makes their attraction for each other almost impossible.
The prose is polished, and plot is well conceived. Story is told from viewpoints of Sofia and Derek, so reader understand motivations and thought process of both main characters.
Personally I enjoyed it and I am looking forward to continuation of Derek and Sofia’s adventures.
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|Fast Paced, Entertaining, And Romantic…,
Derek Novak, where have you been all my life?
I cannot get over how much I thoroughly enjoyed A Shade of Vampire. Bella Forrest does an amazing job not only building a world within a world, but she creates these relatable and interesting characters that I love. With the exception of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’ books, I have yet to find a vampire series that I love, like really adore to the point where I want to re-read it immediately after I finish it until now.
A Shade of Vampire combined all of my favorite elements and juggled them together in a well written and extremely pretty package. Sophia is a 17-year-old girl who was pretty much abandoned by her family and taken in to be raised by someone else’s. She doesn’t have a lot of friends and the only person she’s really close with is her best friend Ben, who she’s got feelings for.
The night of her birthday she’s out taking a walk on the beach, when she’s abducted by a vampire names Lucas, Derek’s brother. I despise Lucas! I totally want to pull a Buffy on him!
He does his best to instill fear in Sofia after she wakes up in The Shade, but despite her fear, she doesn’t let herself be a victim and I love that about her. She’s smart, intuitive, rebellious, and opinionated, though her mouth undoubtedly gets her in trouble. Within the first few minutes of meeting Derek she makes a lasting impression on him that touches him to his core. Her words, “I know an excuse when I hear one. Don’t you dare deceive yourself into believing that you’re the victim, Derek Novak,” did something to him and from that point on I knew I was going to be head over heels for Sofia and Derek.
The crazy thing is this book isn’t that long; probably less than two hundred pages and yet so much happens. It’s incredibly fast paced, but not in a confusing way. Everything makes sense and flows nicely. Forrest did an excellent job of painting both sides of Derek, both the darkness inside of him and the man. She made we fall in love with these two characters and I’m pretty sure I’m going to explode if I don’t more soon.
I think I mentioned my lack of love for Lucas and honestly I’m not too crazy about Ben either, but that’s only because I don’t think he treats Sofia good enough (I’m loyal to my favorites haha), but it takes a good writer to make me so emotional about a story and boy was I emotional about this one. I even teared up at the end (stop judging me). So, so good. I’m going to get this book in hardcover ASAP I love it that much.
If vampire books are you thing and you’re looking for a compelling story to go along with your romance, A Shade of Vampire is what you need because Derek and Sofia are so OTP (One True Pairing) I want to draw pink fluffy hearts around them and read stories about their vampire babies haha. (Sidenote: Twilight taught me vampires can have babies and now I think they all should.)
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|Intriguing vampire world with some great characters,
I was asked by the author to read and review this book.
A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest is a novella about Sofia, a teenaged human girl, and Derek, the leader of vampires. This story is told in alternating viewpoints between these characters. Initially, I was worried that I wouldn’t like this book because the beginning is pretty stereotypical of the “classic” vampire story. Then once Sofia is captured by Lucas, Derek’s evil brother, and Derek wakes up from an enchanted sleep, things start really getting interesting. We get introduced to their lair, and the hint of danger from the outside Shadowhunters as well as the danger to Sofia on the inside. Derek finds Sofia intriguing and different from any other girl he’s ever met, and Sofia too starts to realize that he is more than just a vampire. Mix in a best friend that Sofia once had unrequited love for, and you got some great twists.
I really enjoyed reading particularly Derek’s perspective. It was neat seeing someone who has woken up from a 400 year enchanted sleep and start to learn basic knowledge of current events. I thought that Sofia and Derek’s relationship as well done, and the world building was intriguing. The pacing was good once I reached the 20% mark. Readers should beware that the beginning is a bit slow, but to keep on reading.
The one thing I would have suggested would be to make this a full length novel. I think we could have learned more about the Shadowhunters and maybe seen one in action. Right now, it just doesn’t make any sense why they are so terrified by these people (are they even people?). It would likely still need to be a trilogy to fit all the lore and plot twists, but I think more could have been explored.
That said, it was a fun first installment in this series, and I’m interested to see what Forrest has up her sleeve next for these characters.
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