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A review by wslockard
A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest
3.0
None of this book was meant to be funny, but it made me laugh anyway.
Good element is the main characters being kind and sweet to each other, EVEN THOUGH the kidnapping-turned-to-love trope is cringe inducing. And the writing style is actually good. Subtle and somewhat tasteful actually.
It's the events and character names that make me laugh.
I don't know why the name "Derek" makes me laugh. It's supposed to be a hunky name, I know, but it really doesn't sound much like the name of a vampire who was born 400 years ago.
"Hands off the girl! She belongs to Derek!"
The witch smiled. "Have a good day, Derek."
"I need to talk to Derek."
"Don't be this way, Derek!"
The beginning is also a little odd. It's possibly supposed to show how the main character Sofia has a troubling past, and she also has a best "friend" named Ben, who is a football player. During the middle of a game, while he has the ball, (!!???) he notices her having a panic attack on the bleachers, and climbs up to comfort her, with a message to "Stop acting like a victim," ???
So... victim shaming? At a couple different points during the plot, Sofia determines to "stop" exhibiting victim behavior, so she attempts to attach a kitchen knife to her underwear, and she asks Derek to give her self-defense lessons. Thanks, Derek!
In terms of setting, the vampire island seems like a lovely place! It's full of TREE HOUSES! I imagine it to be like that treehouse world in that old computer game Myst. Or like everything that guy builds on that Treehouse t.v. show.
However, Derek's brother is pretty awful. It's very uncool how vampire romances always have rapey elements.
Luckily the island also has a resident witch who just so happens to have majored in psychotherapy. She and Sofia get a few chat sessions with each other, during that awkward week where Derek's brother has killed some servants, and also almost killed Sofia.
To lighten things up, some "cute" moments occur while Sofia teaches Derek about modern technology, since he has been asleep for 400 years, prior to the novel's beginning.
Last item: Another name I find funny, is a spinoff trilogy from the author, titled A Shade of Kiev. The only thing I can imagine here is Chicken Kiev, that dish that involves baked chicken stuffed with butter. In real life, a shade too much of Kiev might involve some cholesterol problems.
Good element is the main characters being kind and sweet to each other, EVEN THOUGH the kidnapping-turned-to-love trope is cringe inducing. And the writing style is actually good. Subtle and somewhat tasteful actually.
It's the events and character names that make me laugh.
I don't know why the name "Derek" makes me laugh. It's supposed to be a hunky name, I know, but it really doesn't sound much like the name of a vampire who was born 400 years ago.
"Hands off the girl! She belongs to Derek!"
The witch smiled. "Have a good day, Derek."
"I need to talk to Derek."
"Don't be this way, Derek!"
The beginning is also a little odd. It's possibly supposed to show how the main character Sofia has a troubling past, and she also has a best "friend" named Ben, who is a football player. During the middle of a game, while he has the ball, (!!???) he notices her having a panic attack on the bleachers, and climbs up to comfort her, with a message to "Stop acting like a victim," ???
So... victim shaming? At a couple different points during the plot, Sofia determines to "stop" exhibiting victim behavior, so she attempts to attach a kitchen knife to her underwear, and she asks Derek to give her self-defense lessons. Thanks, Derek!
In terms of setting, the vampire island seems like a lovely place! It's full of TREE HOUSES! I imagine it to be like that treehouse world in that old computer game Myst. Or like everything that guy builds on that Treehouse t.v. show.
However, Derek's brother is pretty awful. It's very uncool how vampire romances always have rapey elements.
Luckily the island also has a resident witch who just so happens to have majored in psychotherapy. She and Sofia get a few chat sessions with each other, during that awkward week where Derek's brother has killed some servants, and also almost killed Sofia.
To lighten things up, some "cute" moments occur while Sofia teaches Derek about modern technology, since he has been asleep for 400 years, prior to the novel's beginning.
Last item: Another name I find funny, is a spinoff trilogy from the author, titled A Shade of Kiev. The only thing I can imagine here is Chicken Kiev, that dish that involves baked chicken stuffed with butter. In real life, a shade too much of Kiev might involve some cholesterol problems.