Review of A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

Title: A shade of Vampire
Author: Bella Forrest
PUB date: December 14, 2012
Number of Pages:147
         

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 

First thoughts

I haven’t read a paranormal book with a vampire in over three years. I was boycotting vampires!!! For some reason the premise of this book intrigued me, and I was ready to break my three year dry spell.  A shade of Vampire was a “test” to see if I was ready to love vampires again.

My thoughts

Ok. Let me start off my telling you I LOVED this book!!!! Be prepared for me to totally gush over my love for the characters, the world, and the author!! A shade of Vampire was brilliant. It was the perfect mix of romance, suspense, and fantasy all rolled into one.

A shade of Vampire is about a girl named Sofia Claremont, who on her seventh birthday is kidnapped, and brought into a world that is fair more dangerous then she could have ever imagined.  She is taking from everything she knows, brought to this island, and told that she is a present for the prince. Only the prince is a vampire who has been asleep for 400 years. Now she is in the middle of battle, a brother’s one sided feud, and she is trying to not became attached to Derek because she can’t possible fall in love with a vampire.

A shade of Vampire is written in dual POV’s of Sofia and Derek (vampire prince), which I didn’t find tricky at all and actually loved. With Sofia you got to see her exploring her feelings for Derek, her understanding of the life she has been dealt, and how she is able to overcome it all, and remain strong. One thing I loved about Sofia is that she was almost never helpless, she had survival instincts and she was ready to face her fears and take action.

With Derek’s POV you see his vulnerability, his attraction to Sofia, his past, his constantly struggle with being a vampire. I loved him! Some other main characters were Vivienne, Derek’s sister, and Lucas his brother. They have a big part in the story!!

A shade of Vampire introduced us to a new world, a new problem, some creepy villains, and some witches, and I must say I’m in love. The author Bella forrest has just gained a new fan.

My one problem with this book is that I wish it was longer!!!!!! I was so sad when it needed. I knew it wasn't a full length novel going in, but I didn’t expect to love it, and read it so fast, so it felt even shorter. I wanted to know more. Never have I been so sad as to finish this story and ready to jump into book two, and have it not be available. What am I to do? I need more Derek and Sofia. I need to know more about the Shadowhunters. I need more creepy vampires in my life, period!

Overall, A shade of Vampire was a great teaser, and I’m ready for more. I recommend it to all YA lovers, all paranormal lovers, and book lovers in general. I challenge you to read this book and not love it. Haha!!

Enjoy this Excerpt from A shade of Vampire

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.

You can also get an exclusive FREE “sneak preview” of the first 6 chapters by clicking here!: http://forrestbooks.com/sneakpeek.html

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Author Bio

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I've been telling stories pretty much since I could talk. Instead of having my parents read me bed-time stories, I would prefer to share with them my own made up tales. As I grew older, I developed a passion for the fantasy genre. I’m an avid reader and a hopeless Potterhead. If you sign up for personal email updates from me here: www.forrestbooks.com , you'll be the first to hear about my new releases.