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roglows's review against another edition
5.0
this was excellent.
great action sequences, original world building, and a unique cast of characters. every character mattered,and every scene propelled the plot. and some of the twists at the end? totally surprised me! like, my jaw literally dropped.
the chemistry and tension between chrysabelle and mal was delicious. i cannot WAIT for the next in this series...
great action sequences, original world building, and a unique cast of characters. every character mattered,and every scene propelled the plot. and some of the twists at the end? totally surprised me! like, my jaw literally dropped.
the chemistry and tension between chrysabelle and mal was delicious. i cannot WAIT for the next in this series...
eszyinspired's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
thebookhaze's review against another edition
2.0
I read up to 70% of it but I struggled to keep interested at parts. I finally decided not to finish it.
jadeeby's review against another edition
4.0
Originally published at my blog Chasing Empty Pavements
First things first...are you looking at how gorgeous that cover is? O M G. I love it. I'm transfixed by it. It's why I requested it from Netgalley. The best thing about it though? The inside blew me away just as much as the outside did! Kristen Painter has now won a spot on my "to be watched" author list.
The Good: Again, I have to point out how much I love the cover, especially AFTER reading the novel, I can totally see Chrysabelle in this picture. It's been awhile since I've read about vampires...I've tried to avoid them since the whole Twilight thing exploded but I was very pleasantly surprised with the vampires in this novel as well as the world building. Good lord, the world building is amazing in this novel! There are not just vampires but all sorts of other supernatural creatures but they all seem to fit together perfectly. I love that Chrysabelle is sort of a pure but rogue creature. She still respects her upbringing but she has just enough rebellion to question and challenge those around her. Plus she is totally kick ass! I love the secondary characters! Mal, Doc, Fi and even Dominic has a special place in my heart. I loved the interaction between the characters and the plot was really well done. I applaud Painter on creating this whole different world yet using themes that are age-old. Not only are the characters written extremely well, but the plot, pacing and setting were very well done. I really liked that Painter put a glossary at the end of the novel. I was able to pretty much figure out all the creatures and vamps but it was nice to have that index to back up my suspicions. I enjoyed this novel so much, I'm SO happy two more are already out so I can go read them!
The Bad: Really the only thing that bothered me was the ending. I thought it could have been more climatic, as we wait the entire novel for the important-ness of the end and then it just sort of falls short of expectations.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one! Vampire fans, supernatural fans, romance or paranormals fans will enjoy this novel. I give it an A!
**I received this book free from the publisher through www.netgalley.com. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
First things first...are you looking at how gorgeous that cover is? O M G. I love it. I'm transfixed by it. It's why I requested it from Netgalley. The best thing about it though? The inside blew me away just as much as the outside did! Kristen Painter has now won a spot on my "to be watched" author list.
The Good: Again, I have to point out how much I love the cover, especially AFTER reading the novel, I can totally see Chrysabelle in this picture. It's been awhile since I've read about vampires...I've tried to avoid them since the whole Twilight thing exploded but I was very pleasantly surprised with the vampires in this novel as well as the world building. Good lord, the world building is amazing in this novel! There are not just vampires but all sorts of other supernatural creatures but they all seem to fit together perfectly. I love that Chrysabelle is sort of a pure but rogue creature. She still respects her upbringing but she has just enough rebellion to question and challenge those around her. Plus she is totally kick ass! I love the secondary characters! Mal, Doc, Fi and even Dominic has a special place in my heart. I loved the interaction between the characters and the plot was really well done. I applaud Painter on creating this whole different world yet using themes that are age-old. Not only are the characters written extremely well, but the plot, pacing and setting were very well done. I really liked that Painter put a glossary at the end of the novel. I was able to pretty much figure out all the creatures and vamps but it was nice to have that index to back up my suspicions. I enjoyed this novel so much, I'm SO happy two more are already out so I can go read them!
The Bad: Really the only thing that bothered me was the ending. I thought it could have been more climatic, as we wait the entire novel for the important-ness of the end and then it just sort of falls short of expectations.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one! Vampire fans, supernatural fans, romance or paranormals fans will enjoy this novel. I give it an A!
**I received this book free from the publisher through www.netgalley.com. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
jqduskrose's review against another edition
4.0
if your looking for a rich action packed vampire book, that is not your typical vampire book, this is the one.
it's been so long since I read a good vampire book, then I found this and it swept me away....
it's been so long since I read a good vampire book, then I found this and it swept me away....
linwearcamenel's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
amym84's review against another edition
5.0
I had been hearing about this book for a couple of months now. Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse) recommended the series on her blog and she made it sound very interesting, and very interesting it turned out to be.
I really liked and appreciated the world that Kristen Painter has created. There are some new twists on the vampire legends that I find interesting. Like all the noble vampire families originate from someone notorious in history (ex. Dracula, Rasputin, etc.). There were times that I'll admit that I was a little lost by some of the new terminology presented, but Painter does include a glossary at the end of the book (at least in the Kindle version) that helped clear a few things up.
Chrysabell is a great female heroine. When I first read the synopsis for this book, I figured she would be the type who's gotten in over her head and how needs other people to help get her out. In a way she is in over her head and people are there to help her, but she is anything but defenseless. She can take care of herself more than anyone else in the story can and I really appreciate that. There's no dumbing down of her character for the sake of the damsel in distress.
I thought Mal was a pretty good hero. I'm interested to learn more about him in the next books. He's really been through a lot and it seems life keeps throwing more at him. I would like for him to get a reprieve at some point.
The story itself, I thought, was pretty fresh. I will admit there were times when partial information was given to us (through memories or dreams) and then cut off without the reader knowing the rest, and that got me a little confused, but rest assured all is revealed in the end. This book really sets up the world, characters, and and overarching conflict well so I hope the second book just kind of picks up where this one left off. There will be little exposition needed.
I really cared about the secondary characters as well. Usually it's the main characters that dominate for me and everything else is just filler, but I was interested in what happened to everyone in the story, and I look forward to where their stories pick up in book 2.
This book is told in third person POV but has multiple POVs. Paiter does a good job of sectioning off which character's mind we are in at which point so it keeps it from becoming too confusing or too much work to keep up with. I like that we get to know what different characters are feeling and thinking.
Kristen Painter is doing a very popular thing right now and that is releasing books of a series in succession of each other. In this case book 2 comes out around the beginning of November and Book 3 will be out around the beginning of December (I've recently discovered that Kindle releases the book a few days after the paperback release). It's nice because now we don't have to wait too long in anticipation of what's next for our characters. Until Then!
I really liked and appreciated the world that Kristen Painter has created. There are some new twists on the vampire legends that I find interesting. Like all the noble vampire families originate from someone notorious in history (ex. Dracula, Rasputin, etc.). There were times that I'll admit that I was a little lost by some of the new terminology presented, but Painter does include a glossary at the end of the book (at least in the Kindle version) that helped clear a few things up.
Chrysabell is a great female heroine. When I first read the synopsis for this book, I figured she would be the type who's gotten in over her head and how needs other people to help get her out. In a way she is in over her head and people are there to help her, but she is anything but defenseless. She can take care of herself more than anyone else in the story can and I really appreciate that. There's no dumbing down of her character for the sake of the damsel in distress.
I thought Mal was a pretty good hero. I'm interested to learn more about him in the next books. He's really been through a lot and it seems life keeps throwing more at him. I would like for him to get a reprieve at some point.
The story itself, I thought, was pretty fresh. I will admit there were times when partial information was given to us (through memories or dreams) and then cut off without the reader knowing the rest, and that got me a little confused, but rest assured all is revealed in the end. This book really sets up the world, characters, and and overarching conflict well so I hope the second book just kind of picks up where this one left off. There will be little exposition needed.
I really cared about the secondary characters as well. Usually it's the main characters that dominate for me and everything else is just filler, but I was interested in what happened to everyone in the story, and I look forward to where their stories pick up in book 2.
This book is told in third person POV but has multiple POVs. Paiter does a good job of sectioning off which character's mind we are in at which point so it keeps it from becoming too confusing or too much work to keep up with. I like that we get to know what different characters are feeling and thinking.
Kristen Painter is doing a very popular thing right now and that is releasing books of a series in succession of each other. In this case book 2 comes out around the beginning of November and Book 3 will be out around the beginning of December (I've recently discovered that Kindle releases the book a few days after the paperback release). It's nice because now we don't have to wait too long in anticipation of what's next for our characters. Until Then!
wildfaeriecaps's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. Interesting concept and I look forward to reading the next in the series.
bookloverchelle's review against another edition
3.0
This was unfortunately a story I was a little disappointed in when I finally read it and it’s totally my fault. I had expectated coming in to this story that it would be more of a traditional romance with a Happily Ever After at the end. Kristen Painter has crafted a great new world with some amazing characters but this is more in line with an urban fantasy, not a romance like I was expecting. Since it was not what I was expecting, I felt disappointed. On the plus side, because there was such a cliff hanger at the end of this story I will be picking up the next two in this series so that I can get my HEA. I really enjoyed the characters in this story; Chrysabelle, a young woman born into a life of service, Malkolm, a tortured vampire living on the outskirts of vampire society. The secondary cast of characters added great conflict and injected some humor and light moments. Because this story will arc over the three books, I recommend picking them all up at once so you’re not left hanging at the end. There are a lot of urban fantasy books out there but I did enjoy the original ideas and the introduction to this series provided by Ms. Painter so this is one that you’ll want to try.