A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*I read the 2015 version, I believe the original had around 150 pages and this has almost 300.

I picked this one up out of pure curiosity. I saw a friends review, I don't believe I'd ever heard of this book/series before, and like always when a friend leaves a positive review on a book I usually look it up and see what its all about. I was surprised to see this was the start of a TWENTY-FOUR book series. Seriously, twenty-four books is an insanely long series, especially when I usually never read series that are more than four books. So yeah, I was curious to see what this was about and decided to read the sample. I admit, I got sucked (haha, no pun intended) in. Now, I know some of my friends were less than impressed with this one, and maybe my experience was different since I read the updated extended version? I don't know, all I know is I thought it was an entertaining read. Sure, there were some cheesy parts, a couple plot holes, but come on...its a book about vampires! Of course there is going to be times when you have to suspend belief. Like when Sofia acclimates to her kidnapping so quickly and almost has a Stockholm Syndrome romance with Derek, or when she so easily accepts that he still feeds on other humans without the bat of an eye. I figure, its an Urban Fantasy, I don't really want to spend the entire book with her acting realistically (terrified, depressed, scared, etc) I'd rather just suspend belief and enjoy the story for what it is.

I liked Sofia's character okay (again, suspend belief on some behaviors), she's a lot like any other heroine in these type books. Derek is supposedly the most powerful vampire around, but hates being a vampire. He hates his existence so much that four hundred years ago he convinced a witch to put a spell on him making him sleep for eternity. He is awaken when his family needs him and his forced to take up the role of Prince once again. Meeting Sofia makes him think it might be time to stay awake and embrace his fate. Sure, he tries to treat Sofia well, but still shows a complete disregard to other humans. RED FLAG! A guy that treats you well, but no one else, is not someone you should be falling for, Sofia.

Anyway, its one of those books were you could overanalyze and complain about certain things, but I just thought it was a fun read. I liked the story, setting and although I don't know if I'd want to really tackle a 24 book series, I may pick up the next one when I'm in the mood for vampire trope. Oh, I do wish it wasn't ended on quite a cliffhanger, but owell.

Content PG13 Mild
Romance: Clean
Language: Mild, maybe one cuss word
Violence: Mild-moderate. Nothing overly detailed, but it does obviously deal with vampires. A couple attacks/wondering hands, brief nudity. Nothing overly detailed or graphic
Series: Book one of 24. My understanding, they build on each other and need to be read in order.

Source: Kindle Unlimited


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