Author: SCD Goff
Publisher: ?
Publication date: March 20, 2012
# Of Pages: 136 PDF
How I got the copy: Received from author in exchange for an honest review.
From Goodreads.com
After her Uncle Malachy terrifies Evangeline Languish on her 16th birthday, she is abandoned at a boarding school by her parents. But when Evangeline discovers a strange young man, injured and alone, she is forced to change her mind about everything she knew. Could Malachy's stories be true? Evangeline must face her uncle once more ... can she get to him before he kills everything she loves?
I went into this book with high hopes after learning that the author lives in Ireland where the book is set and that it was about vampires. Other countries and vamps are two things I love to read about, but somehow I didn't connect with this book as much as I wanted to. Now before you decide not to read it, I want to put up a disclaimer that I think the reason I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped was because I have personal preferences that it did not fit. Your preferences may be different than mine.
First, I prefer first person narrative. I always have and I think it's because I feel more connected to the character because I am hearing their direct thoughts. LL was written in third person and switched from Eve to Malachy's pov.
Next, the setting confused me. I like to know lots of description about where the characters are. I love reading about other countries, but there wasn't much description about Ireland. I wasn't sure what time period it was. I thought there was a mention that it was 2012 and Eve wore jeans, yet she lived in a castle and spoke like she was from the past. I'm not sure if that's just a cultural difference since we don't really have castles in America, but I always connect them to the past times. There was also lots of dialogue and I usually prefer more (or a balance of dialogue and) action and description.
Finally, I prefer books that are focused on plot development where the plot is constantly twisting and turning and you're being surprised left and right. I felt this book was more character development, showing how Eve changed from a naive young girl to a selfless hero. There were no big surprises.
What kept me reading were the characters. Eve was very naive and over protected, yet I still liked her a lot. Her short relationship with Lorcan was nice to watch, but I wished there had been more between them. Malachy confused me. He was evil and then he wasn't and I couldn't tell if he was trying to help Eve or hurt her. I liked that he had layers though and wasn't so predictable. Maybe he was struggling because vampires don't have emotions really in this world and he was having emotions for the first time in awhile. I liked that the villain was a girl this time. When she's introduced in the prologue, I kind of liked her. She was rebellious. But after reading more I grew to hate her because she was cruel.
Every vampire story I've ever read talks about how vampires survive in that particular world. In this world vampires can not really live off of animal blood. If they try to go back to human blood they will not make it. I liked that the vampire's incentive to join "sets" was because if they were alone they'd be hunted by other vampires. The only way to join a set was to prove that you are strong which meant drinking human blood. This was a new take and made a lot of sense...otherwise wouldn't vampires just live off animals like in Twilight?
The ending brought the story full circle. It was definitely left with a cliffhanger that makes us readers want to know if Eve will be alright. Will I read the sequel? To be honest probably not. Again, it's really personal preference here. All the things that I mentioned I did not like were general. If any other book had those qualities I'd probably not enjoy it as much either. Therefore, I suggest you scroll down and read a quote from the book and make your own decision from there. I've never been so on the fence about a book before.
"She lay panting on the wet earth. She strained with all her might to hear the noises
around her. The wind blew in the trees, the leaves rustling belligerently, as if deliberately
masking the noises a pursuer would make. She held her breath. No, there were no footsteps.
There were no more gunshots. The cool dead darkness of the night seemed to be lifting, and
Eve realised that Dawn wasn’t far off. Water from the sopping earth was beginning to soak
through her clothes, and her thighs and chest were getting damp. She lifted herself from the
earth and stood wiping her hands on her wet woollen dress." pg 40 of 136 LL
