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Author:
Thomm Quackenbush
Genre:
Contemporary Fantasy/Paranormal Fiction
Book
Rating: 7
Personal
Rating: 6.5
The
book read much like the first installment.
All the makings of awesome without actually getting there. The plot seemed to be going somewhere and
then sorta plateaued. Just like the
first novel. One new character seemed to
just fall out of the sky only to create tension. I honestly just sort of meandered my way
through knowing there would be no real clues along the way, and all the answers
and the conclusion would be dumped on me at the end. Much like the first installment.
Let’s
just start of with Shane. Still in denial she is no longer human. She isn’t even convinced of her own
denial. She can see demons on campus
amongst other things and just ignores them.
It comes as no surprise that other worldly activity is on the rise
seeing as she isn’t doing her job. She
refuses to have sex cause since she heals so quickly she thinks it will be like
the first time. Everytime. This of course brings that virgin stuff
threaded through the other book swimming through the pages of this one. And if you’re waiting for the big reveal of
who she is, it’s not here. In fact after
she gets captured by mistaken identity, her captors don’t even know who she
is. Only Girl and Gideon from the first
book, and this new restaurant guy, one of only two characters I love in this
book, seem to know.
Shane
is fighting to not be something neither she or the readers know even after two
whole books. We know what she is
supposed to do, destroy demons that upset the balance and keep malevolent
activity in check. But the last person
Gideon, she killed, and Girl has her own stuff she’s left to do which leaves
Shane doing nothing and letting the world go to shit. But we know all of this from the last
book. So here we are waiting for the
last piece of the puzzle and pretty much leaving with the same Shane after two
books. Her only redeeming quality is
that she managed to actually kill a vampire.
In the most coolest of ways. I
rather liked that bit. But still who the
hell is she? And why do I not know after
two books.
Roselyn. I honestly don’t know what to say here. She’s
still hopelessly addicted to sex an artist, a Wiccan, and dating a jealous faux
vampire Dryden. She was the same person
she had always been and my opinion of her didn’t change. Other than the fact that she’s loyal to her
friend, which is awesome, what else is there?
Lots of books have feisty voluptuous chocolate sex vixens. What makes this one so much more special? Her only real redeeming quality was having to
choose between dating a vampire and moving on with her life. Lots of chances for emotional depth there but
it didn’t quite make it.
The
most annoying thing about her though, was this past that suddenly reemerges.
Someone she used to date in this life before the life she has now has emerged
as the most inept vampire hunter I’ve ever come across. Don’t know how he’s lived so long. Well about two years I think. Two years too long. She’s arguing with Dryden about her
faithfulness in their first scene together.
And it’s about the legitimacy of her virginity. So here rears the ugly head of virginity
again, and apparently it also had to be mentioned that Dryden was also her
first, and just enough already with the virgin stuff. They are together in the here and now. Either you want to be together or you don’t
who he or she has been with before you is of little to no importance if you are
committed to that person. Besides in
book one he stalked her for about a day with another man, (who was helping her
find Shane), and then confronted him but being such a wimp did nothing, then accuses
you of sleeping with him before asking first and after your explanation doesn’t
believe the truth. Why is she still with
him? No amount of mind-blowing orgasms
should keep her with him. And especially
since this is the source of all their arguments. Fights that she always wins. She should find a less complicated man who’s
more trusting and doesn’t care in anyway about her virginal status.
Dryden,
well he finally becomes a vampire and is all ‘I don’t want to kill people’.
Sigh. He’s soft even as a predator. Jealous for no reason. And like Shane refuses to accept his fate.
The
plot seemed great. A girl kidnapped by
mistake. Roselyn must now save her with
Shane's boyfriend Elliott (no we will not find out just how Shane brought him
back from the limbo between alive and dead).
He has no more spunk than Dryden but somehow I like him. Two inept heroes on a mission to save a
friend. The exact same thing as book
one. The very obvious mission to save
Shane, who is trapped by vampires attached to a blood-draining machine. Is what saves this book. Also having Gideon trapped in her subconscious
was nothing short of brilliant. This
could be fun. The guy you thought you
killed in a dream state is now fighting you in your own head. This is the stuff any good writer drools
over. Unfortunately Shane is Shane. He’s trying to tell her she’s strong enough
to save herself. Gives speeches about if
this is her dream why is he in control.
She spent more time being afraid of his internal torment and trying to
forgive him to notice he was giving her answers. No shock there from ‘miss I wanna be a real
girl’. Breaking her down psychological
was just as easy in this book as the first, and the fact she learned nothing,
again, took away all the joy and character growth I was expecting out of this
exchange. It was infinitely better
written than in the first book but ended up leaving me annoyed as per
usual. Regardless of how well it was
written. The character didn’t get
anything out of it except a fear of sleeping to avoid having to deal with him.
The
other good plot thing was that Dryden was important. He wasn’t acting like a normal vampire or
turning to dust in sunlight. This was
handled well. The slow build up of tension
to who is he and it paid of by us being told at the exact moment we should have
been. Handled way better than the Shane
stuff which goes nowhere. Full of power
yet completely useless sums up Shane.
Ashley
Elliot’s ex. Honestly only one issue
with her. That she got her own section
in the last book. A chapter or a half I
believe. It done nothing at all to give
me more insight into her character.
She’s a vampire, she likes to torture her prey and she’s hell bent on
creating a vampire army. All of this is
enough info for this book because as the villain it’s simple, clean, and her
quest to recapture Dryden is enough to keep me interested.
Noah. Someone who is important for being Roselyn’s
ex. Is underdeveloped. And not shockingly, was the source of the you
weren’t a virgin convo argument with her and Dryden. At first I could go with it, but then when
Noah showed up all self proclaimed Vampire hunter chapters after the argument
it was just too coincidental. And he
doesn’t show up until after Dryden is a vampire, and almost kills Roselyn
because he assumes she’s a vampire. Not
a very good hunter is he. Just paranoid,
brimming with self-importance and a bit arrogant. And the clichéd all vampires are evil
type. So no depth here. And the untrusting, they are all evil types,
do the same thing in every book I’ve read.
Very predictably headstrong and unswerving in their agenda to do their
kind of justice like no other options are available. And all the ‘bad’ people seem to laugh at him
on the inside. I doubted his skills
largely on my own and his enemies doubting them didn’t help much.
There
are two back stories that I loved reading but again was like ‘who cares’ this
are not your main characters. What are
they here to do, did they do it, yes they did.
Why am I reading all this very very good back history and why oh why
can’t you do this for your main characters.
Like when Noah gets his ass handed to him by Ashley and her crew, has to
be rushed to the hospital by Roselyn, a long back story about some woman, no
idea who which is why I was oh so intrigued.
A new character, a character I already know. Oh this is getting fun. I invested a lot into this back-story, as I
did the other. In any case it turns out
she’s the doctor and all that was just for the too week to move Noah to notice
her and try to escape the hospital bed when she could hold him down with one
finger. Seriously who cares she’s a
demon. Any doctor would have done. I can say that I know more about this woman,
and a little boy, and am more emotionally attached to them because I was given
their life’s story. And I didn’t need
it. All I could think was why don’t I
know, feel or care this much about the characters who are main.
And
finally my biggest leap of joy and burn was when Noah killed Shane. And flat out told her that if she done her
damn job nothing in this entire book would’ve happened. I don’t like him but yay to getting shit
done. She lived though I knew it would
happen. And then done the stupidest
thing ever. She kissed him and
transferred a powerful entity into the body of a headstrong, teen with the body
of hard chiseled steal, and then just sorta walked away. Got ambushed by Elliot trying to go tell
Roselyn what she had done, and let him take eons to profess his love to her
when she had someone to kill. Immediately
that she left. Any real person would’ve
said now is not the time, I have to get help to kill someone and no. So naturally she never tells her that Gideon
is now in a body he would die to have had.
Just stupid on all accounts. If
she wasn’t going to lop his head of immediately she shouldn’t have done it.
Needless
to say I see where book three is going, and I’m hoping from here to the far
reaches of the universe Gideon takes over and puts the stupid self proclaimed
hunter in his place. He deserves a win
after being stuck with the annoying Shane for so long. And yes.
The end was this very quick barrage of endings and information that was offloaded
and tied up in a few obvious and this shouldn’t have happened and was only a
set up for a part three, kind of ways.
Would
I recommend this book? Even with a seven
out of ten. Unneeded plot points, and
characters that are the same as they were in the first book, unchanging,
yes. There’s always the Gideon and Shane
dialogue to look forward too. The secret
of who Dryden the vampire is and why Ashley must have him. And of course the Restaurant owner was
intriguing enough to keep me reading.
Even Ashley’s sidekick vampire was a breath of fresh air. There are a lot of good things here but
unfortunately the book kid of drags around so many issues that don’t propel the
book forward. Even with a very clearly
defined plot and direction it just doesn’t travel well. But the world still stands as great, the
clever parts of the writing are more than enjoyable, and it’s clear the author
has a very good imagination and a nice writing style. So yes it’s worth the read if only to be
entertained by something a little fun and fresh.
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