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This book is honestly hysterical to me. It's maybe the worst piece of published fiction I've ever read. It genuinely reads like amateur Twilight cross Harry Potter fanfiction, complete with meta commentary like 'when did I turn into a girl in a YA novel?'.
Blatant Twilight ripoff aside (girl moves from sunny big city to cold, isolated small town overrun with vampires, everyone wants to simultaneously kill her and be her, Edw- sorry I mean Jaxon comes in to save the day, otherworldly connection to someone they only just met...) this book is just plain bad. I can look past the cliche predictable plot- honestly I like a cliche plot sometimes, and I love a paranormal romance even more- but I absolutely cannot look past the writing. I think my favourite moment from the book is when, in dire peril, Bel- Grace, sorry, is in so much pain from being quite literally stabbed and thrown against a stone wall, she 'ignores the pain' to try and save Jaxon. This continued for a whole three chapters, and correct me if I'm wrong but surely after five 'I push through the pains' she should be dead. Just cold dead on the stone alter that she was meant to be a ritualistic sacrifice for.
Considering the world of Twilight ripoffs has created pieces of art like 50 Shades of Grey, I can safely say Grace's inner-monologue is even worse than Anna's inner-goddess. Somehow, miraculously, Grace's intuition always tells her exactly what's going on, at all times. Leaving absolutely nothing up to the readers, and in moments of high tension, be it sexual tension with Jaxon or Grace genuinely about to die, we're interrupted by inner-monologue such as 'the rope gives- thankyouthankthankyou...' and 'I wonder how the hell I got myself kidnapped by a dragon and a vampire in one night'.
Not only is the writing just god-awful, the characters themselves have zero discernible personality. Jaxon is... mean and broody and sexy oh but he has a hidden past! Macy is... nice! Flint is... nice but also has a secret! And our protagonist? I couldn't tell you a single thing about Grace. She's exactly the kind of self-insert fanfiction character we've all already read about and collectively decided should stay out of the published fiction world. She likes art, and music, and reading and doesn't see herself as beautiful, no! Only her brooding vampire boyfriend- and apparently every other paranormal-man in the school can see her true beauty. And big boobs.
On characters, there is no character development whatsoever. We're bombarded with this constant stream of 'Jaxon is so dangerous', 'stay away from Jaxon' etc... and yet there is nothing to show for him being as dangerous as everyone claims. Sure, he throws people against walls, but where is the terrifying, inhuman vampire I was expecting? No where to be found since apparently he doesn't suffer from lapses in self control and unlike Edward Cullen, is not battling some inner-monster just to be near the girl he loves.
Which perfectly emphasizes how nothing in this book is fleshed out. Absolutely nothing. Grace's parents are dead? Ok. She realizes she's in a school for paranormal creatures? Ok, Jaxon come suck my blood in a sexy way. She almost dies three times? Ok. It's infuriating. It's awkward. It's just plain terrible, terrible writing. And I can tell when writing this the author genuinely believed she was being funny, and prolific by sticking the book with pop-culture references and horrible one-liners. That's the part that gets me. This isn't a fanfiction written by a 15 year old (which honestly, I can't criticize, go 15 year old and write a story where everyone is in love with you because you're quirky and different) but when actually published? I can't deal with it.
This story lacks the charm that made Twilight so amazing in the first place. I get that Twilight has essentially copyrighted any vampires in fiction and getting around that can be difficult. But Jesus Christ literally having a cameo of Twilight in the book is really pushing it. And simultaneously destroys any semblance of disbelief I had suspended. So in this universe, Harry Potter exists, Twilight exists, Bram Stoker even exists, and what are we as readers meant to do with that information? Nothing, since it's never mentioned ever again. Much like everything else in the story. It gets mentioned once. And then is promptly forgotten about. Except for Grace's parents death, which is scattered about like white-people seasoning. As if to say, hey! Here's some trauma that sets her apart! And see how it effects her every day life!
Long story short, don't read this book. Unless you can get the PDF version for free and just really are in the mood to read horrible prose. I'll be completely honest and say I'll probably read the second and the third book, out of purely masochistic curiosity. But I sure as hell will not enjoy myself. This is not Twilight for the modern reader, it is not the next great paranormal romance. It's probably not even going to get a terrible Netflix adaptation. It's just bad.
Blatant Twilight ripoff aside (girl moves from sunny big city to cold, isolated small town overrun with vampires, everyone wants to simultaneously kill her and be her, Edw- sorry I mean Jaxon comes in to save the day, otherworldly connection to someone they only just met...) this book is just plain bad. I can look past the cliche predictable plot- honestly I like a cliche plot sometimes, and I love a paranormal romance even more- but I absolutely cannot look past the writing. I think my favourite moment from the book is when, in dire peril, Bel- Grace, sorry, is in so much pain from being quite literally stabbed and thrown against a stone wall, she 'ignores the pain' to try and save Jaxon. This continued for a whole three chapters, and correct me if I'm wrong but surely after five 'I push through the pains' she should be dead. Just cold dead on the stone alter that she was meant to be a ritualistic sacrifice for.
Considering the world of Twilight ripoffs has created pieces of art like 50 Shades of Grey, I can safely say Grace's inner-monologue is even worse than Anna's inner-goddess. Somehow, miraculously, Grace's intuition always tells her exactly what's going on, at all times. Leaving absolutely nothing up to the readers, and in moments of high tension, be it sexual tension with Jaxon or Grace genuinely about to die, we're interrupted by inner-monologue such as 'the rope gives- thankyouthankthankyou...' and 'I wonder how the hell I got myself kidnapped by a dragon and a vampire in one night'.
Not only is the writing just god-awful, the characters themselves have zero discernible personality. Jaxon is... mean and broody and sexy oh but he has a hidden past! Macy is... nice! Flint is... nice but also has a secret! And our protagonist? I couldn't tell you a single thing about Grace. She's exactly the kind of self-insert fanfiction character we've all already read about and collectively decided should stay out of the published fiction world. She likes art, and music, and reading and doesn't see herself as beautiful, no! Only her brooding vampire boyfriend- and apparently every other paranormal-man in the school can see her true beauty. And big boobs.
On characters, there is no character development whatsoever. We're bombarded with this constant stream of 'Jaxon is so dangerous', 'stay away from Jaxon' etc... and yet there is nothing to show for him being as dangerous as everyone claims. Sure, he throws people against walls, but where is the terrifying, inhuman vampire I was expecting? No where to be found since apparently he doesn't suffer from lapses in self control and unlike Edward Cullen, is not battling some inner-monster just to be near the girl he loves.
Which perfectly emphasizes how nothing in this book is fleshed out. Absolutely nothing. Grace's parents are dead? Ok. She realizes she's in a school for paranormal creatures? Ok, Jaxon come suck my blood in a sexy way. She almost dies three times? Ok. It's infuriating. It's awkward. It's just plain terrible, terrible writing. And I can tell when writing this the author genuinely believed she was being funny, and prolific by sticking the book with pop-culture references and horrible one-liners. That's the part that gets me. This isn't a fanfiction written by a 15 year old (which honestly, I can't criticize, go 15 year old and write a story where everyone is in love with you because you're quirky and different) but when actually published? I can't deal with it.
This story lacks the charm that made Twilight so amazing in the first place. I get that Twilight has essentially copyrighted any vampires in fiction and getting around that can be difficult. But Jesus Christ literally having a cameo of Twilight in the book is really pushing it. And simultaneously destroys any semblance of disbelief I had suspended. So in this universe, Harry Potter exists, Twilight exists, Bram Stoker even exists, and what are we as readers meant to do with that information? Nothing, since it's never mentioned ever again. Much like everything else in the story. It gets mentioned once. And then is promptly forgotten about. Except for Grace's parents death, which is scattered about like white-people seasoning. As if to say, hey! Here's some trauma that sets her apart! And see how it effects her every day life!
Long story short, don't read this book. Unless you can get the PDF version for free and just really are in the mood to read horrible prose. I'll be completely honest and say I'll probably read the second and the third book, out of purely masochistic curiosity. But I sure as hell will not enjoy myself. This is not Twilight for the modern reader, it is not the next great paranormal romance. It's probably not even going to get a terrible Netflix adaptation. It's just bad.