Title: A Shade of Vampire
Author: Bella Forrest
Series: A Shade of Vampire #2
Series: A Shade of Vampire #2
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: Audiobook
Length: 8 hours and 42 minutes
Published: November 11, 2014
Length: 8 hours and 42 minutes
Published: November 11, 2014
Source: From Audible Studios in exchange of an honest review.
Book Summary:
In A Shade Of Blood, Bella Forrest transports you deeper into a unique, enthralling and beautifully sensitive story. Prepare to be lost in its pages…When Sofia Claremont was kidnapped to a sunless island, uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet, she believed she’d forever be a captive of its dark ruler, Derek Novak.
Now, after months of surviving an endless night, the morning sun may soon rise again for Sofia. Something has possessed Derek’s heart and he offers her a gift no human slave has ever been given in the history of his cursed island: escape.
High school, prom and a chance to move on with her life now await her.
But will she be able to forget the horrors that steal her sleep away at night? … and the feelings that haunt her for that tormented prince of darkness?
*The Reader’s Review*
My rating: 3/5 stars
After listening and loving the Audiobook of A Shade of Vampire, I was very much looking forward to listening to this sequel, A Shade of Blood. It turned out to be a nice read, I enjoyed coming back to the Shade and meeting once again with Derek and Sofia, but I have to say that I was expecting more from it.
The book starts off great and right where A Shade of Vampire ended. On one side, Sofia and Ben find themselves out of the Shade, nursing traumatic wounds that possibly not even time may heal. They go back to school, try to act normally, and even start developing a romantic relationship. But back in the Shade, Derek is a complete wreck. Missing Sofia terribly, he falls back and gives in to his inner demon, showing us his true monster side for the first time.
Up until then, I thought the plot was doing great. The build-up was getting intense and it had me excited for when Sofia would finally go back to the Shade and reunite with Derek, but after she does, things slow down a lot. There are a few interesting tidbits going on, like getting to know more about the humans of the Shade and meeting new characters, but other than that, nothing much happens during the second-half.
Even so, I still like the characters and wish to find out more about them, especially Derek Novak. I find him to be an intriguing character and I hope that in the next book he opens up more and we finally come to learn exactly why he went to sleep for such a long time. Sofia is turning out to be a much more complicated character than what I thought she would be, her background is… interesting and I’m curious to see how she came to be.
On the other hand, who I find sort of annoying and I couldn’t care less for is Ben. He’s so dull and not at all likeable for my taste. I enjoyed Lucas’ character better, and that’s saying something.
Overall, A Shade of Blood was just a nice, solid sequel to the first book in the series. It’s more like the bridge that we need to cross in order to get to the good stuff that might be found in the third book. At least, the revelation in the epilogue hints on it strongly. I’m curious to see what happens next.
As for the Audiobook’s performance, I think it was well done. The narrators did a fine job portraying each of their characters and now I can’t imagine myself reading the books since I’m now used to hearing their voices and listening to the story. 😉
I am not an audiobook fan, can't get passed the voices. This one doesn't sound convincing enough to get me to listen to one. Great review though!
I thought the first one was better in terms of storyline. The audiobook is great. Pretty nice voice actors. 😉