A Shade of Vampire, Book 1

The perfect book hors-d’oeuvre

This book left me hungry for more of The Shade vampires. It was a small but delectable story that introduces the listener to a whole new take on the typical vampire genre. It’s the perfect sized morsel to build your craving for romance and fantasy.
The narration was outstanding and I have already downloaded book 2.

14 of 15 people found this review helpful

Hot with out details

This is a new series to me and I have to say I only purchased it because ofZachary Webber. I must admit a quarter of the way through I was hooked. Even though there is no detailed sexual escapades or down right naughtiness described I was truly invested in the characters and their motive‘s. It was hot without being obvious and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book. The narrators did a good job. I was a little put off by Sofia and how young her voice sounded but I got over it quickly and can’t imagine anyone else doing that part.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

an engaging story that has a bit of everything

Any additional comments?

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest is an engaging story that has a little bit of everything – romance, horror, adventure – and is sure to keep you reading through to the very end. It is a novella length story that sets the stage for the series and future books to come. It introduces our key players, welcomes us in to this dark world, and prepares us for adventure.

Sofia is feeling very lost when we meet her, upset that her birthday wasn’t everything she had desired. Things only get worse when she is kidnapped by a vampire. Sofia meets Derek, leader of the vampires, upon his awakening, and her life changes once more. Derek is drawn to Sofia for inexplicable reasons, claiming her as his own personal slave, which infuriates his brother Lucas. Lucas is the one who found her, and he wants to keep her for himself.

Sofia does a remarkable job of adapting to her new life, making friends in the midst of so much fear and despair. Her innocence and gentle heart tempers Derek’s blood lust. She softens him just enough to help him see that his decisions aren’t always for the best. This will then help Derek in the long run, making him a better leader. Bella Forrest ends A Shade of Vampire perfectly, preparing us for the direction that the next book is going to take, without using huge cliff hangers that can frustrate readers.

The performances by the narrators in A Shade of Vampire are top-notch. I’m not familiar with Zachary Webber, unsure that I’ve listened to anything he’s performed before. However, I have listened to many books performed by Emma Galvin and Kate Rudd, and I’ve always enjoyed their work. Pacing and characterization is fantastic, with each performer drawing out scenes when necessary to increase the suspense, speeding it up when the action increases.

I particularly love when stories written in the style Bella Forrest uses, with different chapters being different characters’ points of view carry that over into the audio version of the book, using different narrators for each character’s chapters. This acts as a great cue for me that I’m now in a different person’s head, especially since I am rarely just listening to an audio book. Audio books are my go to for entertainment when I am working on others things. I listen to audio books like most people listen to the radio.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, December 2014. All rights reserved.

18 of 21 people found this review helpful

Looks like I found the start to a GREAT SERIES!

I love Emma Galvin!! Every Book I've listened to that she has narrated I'VE LOVED!! The other narrators are very good as well!! The story is amazing so far & I'm downloading book 2 as I write this review!!
Was it worth the Credit???
YES
Will I listen to it again???
ABSOLUTELY
Will I recommend it???
OF COURSE!!

15 of 19 people found this review helpful

Unoriginal and no chemistry

I listened to this book based on the good reviews. I was very disappointed. The author has a very poor vocabulary and I felt like I was reading a novel for children instead of young adults. She uses the same words over and over in her descriptions. I felt taking a red pen to every time she used the word intoxicating. The author couldn't convey the supposed chemistry between the main characters either. It felt so cliche and unoriginal. I couldn't even feel for the character Sophia and all she was enduring. I wanted to slap her silly and tell her to get a clue and stop being such a victim. The whole idea of taking the abuse to "protect" others was so absurd in her case that I felt nothing but frustration. I wish the author had built her characters better. A little fire to fight back would have been nice. Sophia makes Bella Swan seem like a super hero compared to this girl.

31 of 41 people found this review helpful

My first audio book ever

I enjoyed being able to listen to the story. Nice even pace. Loved the book. Will be downloading the next book right after this review.

7 of 9 people found this review helpful

The female narrator almost ruined this book for me

loved it except for the female narration..it would have be perfect if not for her

17 of 23 people found this review helpful

Story line was decent. Main narrator sounded odd.

My only issue was the main narrator that played Sophia, it sounded like a crime tv narrative.

9 of 12 people found this review helpful

i struggled to finish

Narrators were fab! No problems there, as they were probably the reason i even bothered to finish. The story lacks a time line or even a sense of time. These perceptions are incredibly important to the believability of the characters and their situation. I have no idea how long this story is from beginning to end. The author has a decent dent into some good characters but is playing with fire in trying to pull a bella/edward insanely obsessive love story off. Stephanie Meyer seems able to pull of the believable love triangle well...this author is attempting a 3-men-1-woman craft that is more detaching than unifying. I will listen to one more to see if, like stephanie meyer, the writing and story and perception of time can become friends

9 of 12 people found this review helpful

Teenage Stockholm Syndrome

Everyone has their own taste in books so I will just tell you the things that bothered me about this book and maybe if you agree you will save yourself a credit. First this book is short so at the speed of light the 2 main characters fall in love with each other. ( I hate when that happens.) 2nd Derek has killed thousands of hunters,( that’s us by the way humans), he is compelled to drain us dry, how romantic…. a serial killer. 3rd Derek’s mother was drained dry, horrifically killed by a vampire but when his Dad comes home a vampire….. Derek, his sister and brother are all about…. let’s become vampires! Even though they have been killing vampires all these years, they let their Daddy turn them into the same vile evil thing that brutally killed their mother. 4th This really irks me when it comes to teenage and YA books, Derek is 400 years old but acts and looks like 17 and she IS a 17 year old girl. Hey authors how about a 400 year old female heroine and a 21 year old hero! That would be a change from the dirty old man dating the young virgin. These are females writing these books right, how disappointing. Lastly, Sofia is “special” for no reason at all. I absolutely hate that!!! She doesn’t have to be extraordinarily beautiful, smart, skilled or funny. In fact she is none of those things. Derek is instantly in love with her for absolutely no reason. I have read tons of teenage and YA books. I have 3 teenage sisters and I work with teenagers, I would never recommend this book to them even though I think it was written for their age. One of the main reasons being Derek and Sofia share a bedroom together every night and nothing happens. How laughable is that, with teenage hormones Sofia would not be a virgin the first night, so dumb.

11 of 15 people found this review helpful