I really wanted to love this book. It has everything I'm into right now: paranormal, romantic/historical storyline, a trilogy, up and coming author, etc. But I'm going to be honest...it didn't really ring my bell. Don't get me wrong, I'll still read the 2nd and 3rd book in this series - but I'm not going to sweat the release date for it (like I will be for The Twelve/Justin Cronin...spring 2012 can't come soon enough.)
Since it's best to end on a positive note, I'll start with what I didn't care for. My main beef was the helpless female character. Sure she had her moments where she'd step in and do something badass, but most of the time she was being coddled by her super strong vampire boyfriend. I need a heroine who makes things happen...this gal didn't do much. Also, this was a THICK book. I don't have a problem with that, but I do have a problem if it's a thick book and there's not that much action. I think my mom said it best when she said she felt like she was waiting for something to happen...then when it did, you felt a little jipped because it felt a little anti-climactic. With the book being almost 700 pages, it felt like I got a 200 page story once you cut out all the flowery language and repetitive storyline.
I really connected with smaller details of the book. I have never been a big history buff and picked up most of what I know from trashy romance novels or historical fiction. But the author did a good job of bringing in a historical component without being too stuffy or going on too long of a tangent (most of the time). I also really appreciated the description of wine in this book. Apparently wine is one of the few things a vampire can actually enjoy taste-wise. I'm no wine aficionado, but I appreciate a good bottle of wine and reading about it in this book definitely upped my likelihood of pouring a glass. The way that the author described each glass almost made me feel like I was tasting it while I was reading about it.
All in all, it was an okay book. Hopefully this book set the scene and introduced our main players for the next 2 books so we can really start getting into some action. And book 2 takes us to the era of Elizabeth Tudor...I can't resist a good story about the Tudors.
Rank: B / C
maybe it will be like twilight where bella scraped my nerves raw until the final book when she stepped up and did something positive and helpful.
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