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A review by rainlady6
A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest
3.0
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.
There have been so many vampire books lately and like a lot of people I have become a huge fan. Unfortunately this book did not end up being that great. Not that it is bad, just not wonderful, and with all the competition out there vampire books have to be pretty great to compete.
I did not like the story line very much. The vampires in this story are more like a gang of slave traffickers than a coven of scary vampires. Their whole society is dependent on them kidnapping young beautiful people to fill their harems and provide whatever other services they need. That is just not my cup of tea. When the heroin, Sophia, is first taken she is almost raped by one of the vampires. Ok, I know that vampires are bad guys and that rape is a very real thing, but I really don’t like reading about it and I don’t think it belongs anywhere in YA books.
Another thing that bothered me is that the vampires lived on a hidden island complete with a crazy tree top village where they all lived. To me this sounds more like a fairy/elf type set up then anywhere vampires would live.
All that being said there were some good things about the book. I did like the overall writing of the book. The author did a great job with the character development and with her ability to draw you in to their stories. Derek, the leaders of the coven, is a very complex character and is not at all what you would expect for a vampire prince. He kind of goes back and forth with his humanity and for some reason Sophia is able to reach that side of him in a way no one else ever has. I also liked Sophia’s character. She is very feisty and she stands up to the vampires very courageously even when she is desperately scared. She forms a very special bond with Derek and you can feel the love develop between the two of them throughout the story. Then there is Lucas, Derek’s evil brother, and boy did the author do a great job in creating a truly believable, truly evil character. He is one twisted person with some deep seeded issues.
Really the great characters were the only redeeming quality of this book. In fact I did like the relationship between Sophia and Derek so much that I am thinking about overlooking the other stuff and reading the second book just to find out if they can make it work and steer around the mess that is Lucas. What can I say? I am a sucker for a good, believable romance story.
There have been so many vampire books lately and like a lot of people I have become a huge fan. Unfortunately this book did not end up being that great. Not that it is bad, just not wonderful, and with all the competition out there vampire books have to be pretty great to compete.
I did not like the story line very much. The vampires in this story are more like a gang of slave traffickers than a coven of scary vampires. Their whole society is dependent on them kidnapping young beautiful people to fill their harems and provide whatever other services they need. That is just not my cup of tea. When the heroin, Sophia, is first taken she is almost raped by one of the vampires. Ok, I know that vampires are bad guys and that rape is a very real thing, but I really don’t like reading about it and I don’t think it belongs anywhere in YA books.
Another thing that bothered me is that the vampires lived on a hidden island complete with a crazy tree top village where they all lived. To me this sounds more like a fairy/elf type set up then anywhere vampires would live.
All that being said there were some good things about the book. I did like the overall writing of the book. The author did a great job with the character development and with her ability to draw you in to their stories. Derek, the leaders of the coven, is a very complex character and is not at all what you would expect for a vampire prince. He kind of goes back and forth with his humanity and for some reason Sophia is able to reach that side of him in a way no one else ever has. I also liked Sophia’s character. She is very feisty and she stands up to the vampires very courageously even when she is desperately scared. She forms a very special bond with Derek and you can feel the love develop between the two of them throughout the story. Then there is Lucas, Derek’s evil brother, and boy did the author do a great job in creating a truly believable, truly evil character. He is one twisted person with some deep seeded issues.
Really the great characters were the only redeeming quality of this book. In fact I did like the relationship between Sophia and Derek so much that I am thinking about overlooking the other stuff and reading the second book just to find out if they can make it work and steer around the mess that is Lucas. What can I say? I am a sucker for a good, believable romance story.