Review: A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

Author: Bella Forrest

Publisher: Self-Published

Page Count: 147 pages, Paperback

Date Published: December 14th 2012

Find it on Goodreads: A Shade of Vampire

Source: Received for Review

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?

A Shade of Vampire was a quick, easy read that I wanted to last longer! It was a nice break from some of the heavier books I've been reading lately and I really liked the story. While there were many things I wish had  been done differently, I fell into this world quickly and was disappointed to be pulled out.

Sofia is a seventeen year old girl with a very lonely past. On the eve of her birthday, she is kidnapped by Lucas, a vampire, and taken to the Blood Shade, a tiny island occupied by vampires. There she is held captive by the elite family of Novaks, until their prince, Derek, chooses her specially to be his personal "slave". But soon she realises, that while Derek is constantly fighting to not drink her blood, he does not want to hurt her. She is safest in his quarters but there are still sinister evils following her, and Sofia must watch her back if she intends to stay alive.

I am delighted by the fact that I actually really enjoyed this book! I was pretty apprehensive about it at first, as vampire books are either a win or a lose with me, but no, I really did like it. I just wish it had been longer! I was finally starting to get lost in the world of the Blood Shade, and then *snap* the book is over!

While Sofia wasn't my favourite protagonist of all time, I did like her. She was smart and caring, but I would have like to have delved more into her background story. She seemed like she had a tough past and I would have loved to learn more. Then there was Derek. I think if we got to learn more about him, I would have adored him. Here's this vampire prince who wakes up from 400 years of sleep (That sounds nice right about now) and he's in a completely new world. He has to deal with technology and new renovations to the Blood Shade and all of a sudden his siblings are pushing five gorgeous girls on him, testing his control. While he struggles with his will-power at first, with Sofia's help, he starts to learn how to control himself once again. He cares deeply for Sofia and will do anything in his power (and he has a lot) to keep her safe.

Overall I was fairly impressed by this novel. I wish it had been longer and that the author had expanded the story further so that we could get a bit more background on the characters, as well as see some of the interactions between the characters that we only get brief glimpses of. There were some grammatical errors/typos that sort of made me cringe, but I don't deduct stars just for those unless they are excessive. I am extremely excited to read what happens next in Sofia and Derek's story, as the book left off on a nice cliffhanger! I'd recommend this to anyone needing a quick and easy read who likes vampire lore!

Thank you Bella for sending me this to review! Look for an interview with Bella Forrest, coming soon!

Happy reading!
~Kristy