Wednesday, February 27, 2013

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

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?

Review
I am a vampire geek! I swear, I love all kinds of vampires...sweet vampires, mean vampires, goth vampires, hot vampires....you get the picture. A Shade of Vampire just added to that list. I loved this book! I was so engaged in the story. I read all afternoon, not wanting to stop. I can't find a release day for book 2 anywhere and I need it now!!!

I love vampire love stories, but I also like vampire stories that are kind of a love story but not really. That's what this book was to me. I can see it developing into a major love story, but for book 1, there wasn't enormous amount of romance, just a little. I liked that. It allowed me to get to know the characters and what this vampire tale (because you know all vampire books are different, lol) is like and bond with the book. If I don't bond, it's over for me, so bonding with a book and the characters is a must!

Sofia's main goal in life is to survive without going insane like her mother. He next goal is to keep the relationship she has with her best friend normal....but that is impossible when she has developed feelings for him when he clearly doesn't return the feelings.

One of her problems is solved when she is kidnapped and taken to The Shade. She no longer has to worry about her feelings for Ben. Now she has to worry about going crazy like her mother. Has this really happened? Has she been kidnapped? Or is the crazy finally setting in for good?

Lucky for us, this isn't her crazy, lol. She really has been kidnapped by vampires and taken to The Shade. We would have had a very short story had she only gone crazy.

So, Sofia wakes in The Shade to find out that she is to be a slave to the prince, Derek. His brother Lucas brought her to The Shade. After meeting the prince, Sofia has no choice but to get to know him. She finds herself actually liking him, he isn't as bad as the rest of the vampires seem to be. Derek is also drawn to her for more reasons than her blood:

She showed me a humanity I longed to return to.

Sofia is forced to stay against her will, all she knows is there must be a way out.

Where there's a way in, there simply must be a way out.

After her failed attempt to escape she truly learns that Derek is not as bad as he should be. She feels safe with him.

Ultimately, it was Derek who made life at The Shade worth living.

Then she starts to develop more feelings for him. Probably more than she should....but she can't help it! He is just so safe, and so sweet and everyone else (including the horrid Lucas) is just so horrible!

"From the moment I got here, all I've wanted to do was escape and go back home, but Derek..." she leant toward me and placed a gentle kiss over my cheek "...you've begun to feel like home."

Ah! I just loved this story. Everything about it was enticing to me. It is YA, the heroine is only 17, but it is still so good! With the situation the characters are put in at the end, I can only imagine where book 2 will go. I just can't wait!


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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.
 

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