Title: A Shade of Vampire
Author: Bella Forrest
Release Date/Publisher: December 14th 2012 by Bella Forrest
Finished: February 13th 2012
Pages: 147 (79 in my PDF)-eBook-given for review
Synopsis:
On the evening of Sofia Claremont’s seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake.
A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.
She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine.
An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.
Sofia’s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince.
Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.
Will she succeed? …or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?
What I thought:
The author sent me a copy of this for an honest review, thank you! If you know me, I’m not the biggest fan of vampire books, I’m not partial to those kind of paranormal creatures, but I wanted to give this a try and help the author out!
I had some things I liked about this book, and some things I thought it was missing, but nothing that I really hated. I liked the characters such as the sweet but strong Sofia, and the powerful vampire Derek, who seems to regret what he is. He really missed his humanity, and because of a simple act by Sophia, he becomes intrigued by her. This starts a romance between the two as time goes on, which I thought was cute at how they compliment and understand each other eventually.
The first thing, is that I would have loved if it was longer and went into more detail about certain things. How Sophia adapts to the Blood Shade where she’s staying, or to show more interactions between her and Derek, so their romance spans longer than it does. I really would have loved to learn more about the vampire hunters in this, but according to the book there’s going to be a second installment so hopefully there’s more in that one. They also mention that she has a mental issue, nothing extreme, but I would have liked to see more of her dealing with that too, in case it could help others who may have it or raise awareness like I’ve seen in other books.
So in all, I enjoyed the book and the characters, but I wanted more to happen in this book, it just felt a bit short and lacking, but luckily the series does continue for those interested. If you like vampires and want a cute romance that has hints of battles to come, check this one out. I’m still not in love with vampires though.
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Excerpt:
I’d been meandering along the shore for about an hour when I suddenly sensed that I
wasn’t alone. Someone was approaching me from behind. My heart leapt. I was so sure it
was Ben, that when a stranger showed up beside me, I couldn’t hide my disappointment.
He must have noticed, because a smirk formed on his lips. “Were you expecting someone
else, love?”
I eyed him suspiciously, remembering how many times my father had told me not to talk
to strangers. I looked him over, taking in his appearance. My eyes widened. I couldn’t
find words to describe how fine a man he was. He was almost beautiful. The first thing I
took notice of was how his blue eyes were about three shades brighter than any I’d ever
seen before. It was such a stark contrast to his pale – almost white – skin and dark hair.
Standing beside me, he was easily more than half a foot taller. His height, broad shoulders
and lean build reminded me of Ben, but he had a presence that was far more imposing
than my best friend’s.
My gaze settled on his face.
I realized that he was inspecting me just as closely as I was him. His eyes on me suddenly
made me feel uncomfortably vulnerable. I gave my father’s advice a second thought, but
quickly canceled out all notions of heeding to his counsel when I reminded myself that he
stopped caring a long time ago.
I straightened to my full height and mustered all the courage I had to keep myself from
running away from this stranger.
Big mistake.
The confident smirk didn’t leave his face for even a moment.
“Like what you see?”
“A bit full of yourself, aren’t you?” I scoffed, annoyed by his audacity.
He stepped forward, closer to me, and leaned his head toward mine.
“Don’t I have the right to be?”
He knew he looked good and wasn’t about to act like he didn’t.
“Whatever,” was my oh-so-brilliant comeback.
My shoulders sagged with defeat as I took a step back, unsettled by how close he was
now. I rolled my eyes and did a one-eighty, not quite in the mood to play whatever game
this stranger was proposing.
I would soon realize that I was about to play his game whether I liked it or not.
He grabbed my arm and turned my body to face him. This motion alone made every
single internal alarm I had within me go off in a frenzy.
This man was danger and I knew it. I tried to wriggle away from his touch, but I was no
match for his strength.
“Tell me your name,” he commanded.
I was about to refuse, but was horrified to find myself blurting out my name in response.
“Sofia Claremont.”
As soon as I revealed my name, his eyes lit up with a kind of sinister approval. Then he
reached for my face and traced his thumb over my jaw line.
“Hello, Sofia Claremont. You’re one stupid girl for taking a walk alone at this time of
night. You never know what kind of evil a pretty little thing like you could happen to
come by.”
I found myself wondering exactly what kind of evil he was. But I was suddenly overcome
by the sensations that were surrounding me. My senses took in everything at once. I heard
the waves, felt the sand, smelled the ocean salt, tasted the flavor of cherry and saw the
stranger’s manic appearance as he stuck a needle to my neck. The effect was instant. I
was barely able to gasp, much less scream. I went from sensing everything to sensing
absolutely nothing.
My last conscious thought was that I may never see Ben again.
Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt. She is the author of the Spellbound Trilogy and upcoming Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter series. Nikki married Sebastien, the love of her life, while working as a teaching assistant in France. They now reside in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands, 70 miles northeast of Forks, Washington.
Heather Topham Wood’s obsession with novels began in childhood while growing up in a shore town in New Jersey. Writing since her teens, she recently returned to penning novels after a successful career as a freelance writer. In 2012, she published the first two novels in her Second Sight series: First Visions and New Revelations.
