Review: A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

Series: A Shade of Vampire, Book #1

Published: December 14th, 2012

Publisher: Self-published

149 pages (ebook)

Genre: Young adult paranormal

Acquired this book: From the author in exchange for an honest review

Warning: May contain spoilers

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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?

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t expecting much from A Shade of Vampire. I thought the premise sounded interesting, but between the length of the book and the fact that vampire books these days are often very similar, I didn’t have the highest of hopes. I’m pleased to say  this book was a pleasant surprise. Not only was the premise interesting, it was different from anything I’ve read, and despite how short the book was, the characters were well fleshed out.

When Sofia is kidnapped and taken to the island of a powerful vampire coven, she is intended to be part of Derek Novak’s harem when he awakes from a magically-induced 400-year slumber. Derek hates the fact that he’s a vampire, which is why he had a witch put him to sleep...only it was supposed to be forever rather than just four centuries. When he awakes in a completely different world than the one he knew, he takes an immediate interest in Sofia and wants her to be more than just his blood slave.

I liked that Sofia was tough but also compassionate. She was afraid of what would happen to her, and yet that didn’t stop her from being kind to Derek and eventually accepting her fate by trying to get to know him. The romance happened a bit quickly, but I enjoyed watching it unfold. Derek struggled to retain some of his humanity, and fought against the darker nature of the vampire, yet he still had some of the classic traits most people associate with vampires: commanding, possessive, etc. There was nice contrast between the two characters.

Forrest did a great job with the world building. Most vampire books are set in modern society, but A Shade of Vampire takes place on a secret vampire island, the Shade, where the sun never shines and vampires have their own society with rules and a hierarchy that’s similar to ours but with their own vampire politics. It was a fascinating place that was described in a way that was easy to picture.

If you enjoy books about vampires and you’re looking for a unique, fast-paced story with plenty of action and romance, I’d definitely recommend A Shade of Vampire. I was hooked from beginning to end, and read this in one day (which, despite only being 149 pages is pretty good for me since I’m a slow reader). I’m really eager to read A Shade of Blood, and find out what happens to Sofia and Derek next. 

 

Have you read A Shade of Vampire? What did you think? If you haven't read it, does it sound like something you'd be interested in? Do you like vampire books, or are you tired of them?

 

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