SubscribeIf the Lifetime Channel made a vampire movie, this is the book it would have to be based on. The book actually has the label “Romance” printed on the spine, which should have been a clue for me, had I noticed it before I was halfway through the story. Romance is not my genre of choice. But hey, I like vampires, so I gave it a shot anyway.
The first part of this book was confusing enough that I thought perhaps I had accidentally picked up a book that belonged in the middle of a series. Ashley introduces several characters almost simultaneously, and has many of them remembering a very important event that happened…. sometime before this story began. Was I supposed to already know about that part? I wasn’t sure. It didn’t help that characters in this book are sometimes referred to by their first name, and sometimes by their last name, but rarely by both. It took a while for me to piece together just what was going on, and who was involved. If you keep reading long enough to unscramble this first part, it gets easier to follow.
Edward Ramsey is a vampire hunter, who comes from a long, long, line of vampire hunters. He sort of inherited the family business. Until one day, when he is trying to kill off a very powerful vampire, things go horribly wrong. Marisa, the girl Edward is in love with, urges her husband Grigori Chiavari to save Edwards life. He does so by turning Edward Ramsey into a vampire, which he can do, because he is a vampire himself.
So, Edward has become the thing he hates the most, and he spends a lot of time depressed. He yells at Chiavari a lot, about how Chiavari should have just let him die instead. He craves blood, but at the same time, can’t drink it without feeling really guilty. He makes a half-assed suicide attempt, but then crawls out of the sun and into a basement, where he stays in the dark for a while.
Edward is very, very “emo”.
One day, Edward finds Kelly, as she throws herself off a pier. They have that whole “I want to die” thing in common. Edward takes Kelly home, and basically holds her prisoner there for a while, drinking her blood. She gets away, but then returns to Edward, because she’s in love with him. Stockholm syndrome, anyone? So, Kelly moves in with Edward, and they start a relationship. Right away, Kelly wants Edward to make her into a vampire too, so they can spend forever and ever together.
Kelly is very, very, codependent.
Then you have Marisa and her vampire husband, Grigori Chiavari. Marisa can’t quite decide if she wants to eventually become a vampire or not, mostly because it means she won’t be able to have kids. Chiavari spends part of the book super concerned that Marisa and Edward have feelings for each other, and that Edward will make a play for Marisa if given the chance. Their marriage has trust issues.
Then this super powerful vampire named Khira comes to town, (Los Angeles), and she starts by kicking out or killing off most of the vampires who “live” there. Khira is violent, narcissistic, and gets off on being the most powerful. She and Chiavari used to be lovers, and now that Chiavari is married, Khira of course wants him back again. Demands it, in fact, and threatens to do bad things to Marisa if Chiavari doesn’t agree to spend a year with Khira. Oh, and he can’t communicate with Marisa the whole time. Chiavari, being a wonderfully devoted husband, unhesitatingly goes right back to Khira, telling Marisa that he doesn’t want to, but its for her protection. Marisa is left alone, lonely, scared, and wondering just what Chiavari really feels about his former lover. Chiavari then asks Edward to “watch” Marisa in his absence. Edward, who he so recently was nervous about even talking with Marisa. Its a fresh batch of trouble cooking up, but its not quite out of the oven yet.
Through the entire book, no one ever swears. They “utter and oath”. Over and over again. There are some “sex scenes”, but they leave most things to the imagination. Its the kind of book where two characters kiss, and then later one wakes up in the other’s bed and gathers up discarded clothing. You could easily throw commercial breaks right in between!
Anyhow, towards the end, a whole bunch of characters band together and decide that Khira has to be stopped. It all happens pretty quickly, and I won’t give away here exactly what goes down. I will say that you can probably guess how it ends, just like all the movies on the Lifetime Channel.
If you kind of like vampire stories, but really, really enjoy romantic stories involving psychologically damaged characters, then this is the book for you! It was kind of a fun read, even though its not usually what I look for.
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