There is a writing technique commonly known as ‘jumping into the action’. All this means is that one starts off with some event that happens halfway through the story. I, personally, dislike this technique, unless there is, you know, actual action. You may have deduced that this book started off by jumping into the action. But there was no action. Our main character tells us that something horrible happened on her seventeenth birthday (she doesn’t tell us what is, but I’m pretty sure any intelligent person could come up with an accurate guess based on the title). She goes on to say that one of her main goals in life was to not end up crazy like her mother, but now her only goal is too survive. Which sounds dramatic, right? But she’s just telling us this. It’s not actually happening. Suffice to say, this book and me got off on the wrong foot. Despite this, I hoped the book would improve… But then the author went and pulled out the most cliché relationship in the book. The boy-girl-best-friendship-romance. Now, this may just be me being a hypocrite, because I have also said in the past that I believe boy-girl-best-friendships are hokey unless one of them is in love with the other. Which just goes to show, you can’t please me. The MC did admit that it was cliché. So she got points for that. After those two initial mishaps, however, the book quickly improved. It was the characters of Sofia and Derek that did it for me. Sofia: is intelligent. She thinks about the situation she’s in and then considers what she can do about it and then, she acts on it. Another thing about her was that she was brave. It does take a certain kind of bravery to tell a vampire that he’s playing the victim in order to make him NOT eat you. It also takes a certain kind of bravery to knee a vampire in the balls for the same reason. Derek: Oooooh, Derek. If you ask me, he is the perfect vampire character. You see, in YA fiction today, many vampires suffer from something I like to call the Cullen Complex. That basically means that you’re a vampire, but you want to be a good man, so you’re all chivalrous ad you don’t eat people. But vampires are supposed to eat people, you know? And if you’re a vampire and you DON’T suffer from the Cullen Complex, then you’re basically bad-boy extreme or soulless and evil. The thing about Derek, you see, is that his case of the Cullen Complex was very mild. He did eat people, which I enjoyed. But he wasn’t evil so we could empathize with him, and he wasn’t a bad-boy. Derek Novak is the BEST vampire character I have ever read. But, now, what would a book be without conflict? And there was conflict aplenty. There was war going on between the Vampires and the ‘Shadow-Hunters’. And apparently the Shade is the last safe place for vampires that the Shadow hunters haven’t found. And there is a reason for that, which is always good because sometimes authors don’t give you reasons for things like that, and that makes us readers wonder why that place survived and the rest of them didn’t. And there was Lucas. Lucas is Derek’s (younger?) brother, and he’s the one who kidnapped Sofia off a beach and brought her to the Shade. Remember what I said about some vampires being soulless and evil? I meant Lucas. And now I have to talk about a third character, Ben. Ben: We actually did not see much of him. In the beginning, Sofia was talking about him and about how she was in love with him, but we didn’t actually see him or meet him until towards the end. When he showed up, I promptly said: “Ohh, shit.” In between the points’ where Sofia was talking about him and we actually met him, his character had changed. We never got to meet the Ben that Sofia knew, and I’m okay with that. I like the Ben that we met. He showed up and he just had this hatred for all vampires, and sine at this point Sofia and Derek were a definite thing, there was DRAMA. And then the book ended, like, five pages later. I can not wait for the next installment! This is for people who've read the book and want to share theories: (view spoiler)[Here’s my prediction for what happens next (or how everything will be in the end): Sofia ends up becoming a Vampire so she and Derek can be together for the rest of their days. And Ben ends up becoming a hunter, and thus, drama evolves. (hide spoiler)]

Book #128 Read in 2016 A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest This is the first in a paranormal series. When I started reading it, I thought it was going to be a 50 Shades-like book with vampires but it turned out to be a good read. Sofia is kidnapped and taken to an island of vampires and gifted to Derek, the vampire Prince. Derek is drawn to Sofia and not just as a meal and the two form a bond. But will their love have a chance to deepen? I borrowed this book from the public library.

I read this book a while ago and completely forgot about it. I think that for itself is why I rated it 3 stars. In this series, it's the same thing in every book, and since there are more than 20 books I feel you shouldn't waste that much time on it. Overall all it was okay but defiantly not the best vampire or supernatural book I have read.

2.5 stars Sofia is spending a vacation with her family in Cancun. During the night, she went to the beach and was abducted by a vampire. Thrust into this new world where she has to be a slave to the Prince, she has to learn how to survive. This is a guilty pleasure book. Yes, the plot is pretty bad. Yes, Stockholm syndrome insta-love is in the house. Don't expect anything too special. But, if you're in the mood for a YA romance vampire book less than 300 pages, this is your guy.

This strikes me very much as being a guilty pleasure read. What I mean by that is it is very cliche and does not have much substance to it. The characters were very two-dimensional, and the world-building was lacking. It felt unfinished. I also would have appreciated a world like this to be a lot more dark with more gruesome scenes, but instead it focused more on the romance aspect of it, therefore neglecting the other parts that were supposed to make it supernatural. Maybe I'll continue onto book two. Just maybe...

Must read! This vampire book is a twist and turning adventure. The different point of views open the book to a whole new level. You know what's in his heart and his past. You know her love and her determination. She reads you in and he blows you away! This kick start to Sofia and Derek's adventure is one to behold

This book was recommended to me by my friend Melissa and as she was pressing me to read it, I did. It was awesome. A Shade of Vampire is about Sofia, who is kidnapped during a midnight stroll at the beach. When she wakes up, she finds herself at the Shade, an island where the sun never shines, and vampires rule. Sofia is selected to join the Harem of Derek Novak, a vampire prince, and thus becomes his personal slave. She realizes that despite wanting to go home, it would be wisest for her to stay close to Derek, as it is by far the safest place on the island. But even there Sofia is not safe, for there are far more dangerous people on the island than the unpredictable Derek Novak... I liked this book, a lot. My favourite character was definetly Derek, because, well, who doesn't like the badboy with a weak spot? I liked the way in which the characters were decribed, they seemed real and all had their little and/or big flaws. I also really liked how (view spoiler)[Sofia was torn between her love for Derek and her desire to leave the island (hide spoiler)]. I didn't like Ben, he was a jerk. The story wasn't extremely predictable, fortunately, although I did predict some things before they happened. For example, I kinda predicted that (view spoiler)[Ben would end up in the Shade (hide spoiler)], but that didn't make the story less gripping. Actually, I kept turning the pages, untill I finally reached the end and couldn't continue. My favourite parts of the book, were the chapters told from Dereks point of view. I liked exploring his thoughts and feelings. Also, I really liked his thoughts about Lucas, (view spoiler)[how he was torn between wanting to protect Sofia and loyalty to his family (hide spoiler)]. This book made me laugh at certain times, and feel incredibly sad the other. Sometimes it got me extremely frustrated, in a good way. I didn't really like Sofia, although I didn't dislike her either. One moment I wanted to throw a rock at her, but the next, I didn't. It was kind of frustrating. The thing is, I really disliked the decisions that she made, and occasionally I caught myself thinking that she must be the most stupid girl ever. But then I realized that a huge amount of those thoughts were based on the fact that I was aggressively shipping Derek and Sofia. When Sofia (view spoiler)[tried to escape (hide spoiler)] I thought she was an idiot, but now I realize that I would have done the same, were I to find myself in her situation. I really hope we'll learn more about Vivienne and Corrine in the next book, they seem like two interesting characters, about who we don't know a lot, yet... To end this review, I want to say that the amount of feelings I had about this book suprised me. I wasn't so sure about whether I would like it, or not, because of some negative reviews, but now I realize I was totally wrong for assuming such a thing. A Shade of Vampire is a great read for YA readers and people who like vampires, but want to see them in a different setting than the typical small town in the middle of nowhere. I only wished it was a bit longer, but that might just be my obsessive reader speaking.

Honestly, I'm not too sure why I downloaded this book. Most likely it was because it was a dollar, and why not for a dollar. Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely despise vampire stories, especially after the whole Twilight and Vampire Diaries bullshit that was a thing (still a thing?). Vampires used to intrigue me, but then they became cheesy and overrated and just not... frightening. I'm at the point where even Dracula seems like a cuddly teddy bear at this point. But I digress. This books wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. No, it's not the greatest thing in the world, but it's decent enough. I don't really regret the dollar I spent on it, but I wouldn't have spent any more on it. So, saying that, I probably won't be finishing the series. (Honestly though, I'm not too sure how much story there is for these two, but nine novels seems to be a bit excessive. And I honestly didn't grow attached to them too much to continue going. Sorry, Bella, but you tried.) I feel like there was a lot of potential for this book, but it fell flat with what it could have been. There are just a few too many things that are left untold or unexplained, which might be a good marketing thing for picking up the subsequent novels, but more annoying for me than anything else. There's a so called prophecy that gets mentioned once I think, before it fades into the background so you can read about Sophia and Derek falling into a Stockholm Syndrome type love and a "love at first sight" bullshit. And with an odd triangle with the brother and her (former?) best friend/love interest. I don't even know... Another twenty or so pages could have added to the ending to set up the next book, not just a 500 word epilogue that still makes no sense at all. The author wasn't that bad of a writer. Her pacing for it was rather well, and characters were decent, but there were still things missing out or never really introduced when they properly should have been (i.e., the prophecy, is it even that?). The story just mainly focuses on Derek and Sophia and everything else seems to fade away into the background until she needed to end the story. I still don't know much about the vampires involvement with the world, or about the other covens that seems to be begging for help but are only mentioned like twice. The Shade was written decently, but I'm still missing out on so much that could have been added and I feel like I missed out on a story that could have been a whole lot better.

I loved this dark and different vampire story and I will be getting the 2nd book a shade of blood as soon as possible

Disclaimer: I bought this book! Support your authors! Book Series: A Shade of Vampire #1 Rating: 3/5 Diversity: n/a Publication Date: December 17, 2012 Genre: YA Fantasy Recommended Age: 15+ (blood, gore, violence, vampires, biting) Publisher: Self Pages: 296 Amazon Link Synopsis: 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? Review: Overall, I thought this was a good book. It was definitely written for fans of Twilight and it oozes all sorts of vampire goodness! We got a kidnapped teen and she’s special somehow to this hot vampire dude. We’ve got mystery and intrigue in the Shade and we got a love triangle! The writing was pretty good and the plot was interesting. However, I do feel that the character development was sorely lacking in this book and I feel that this book was just a tad bit too predictable to me. Verdict: If you want vampires, this is your series!

Quick and engaging read. Story line was basic. No huge plot twists however, it held my attention from beginning to end.

You can read the review on my blog: http://totally-bookalicious.blogspot....

Good but not comparable to other series I've now read the first seven books in this series and I will start by saying that I think it is a mistake to compare it to a series like Twilight or Harry Potter as it is compared to on Facebook. I found myself irritated while reading these books because I kept waiting to get the same feeling for these that I did with Twilight and Harry Potter. That being said, this is a good series of books. I really like the characters of Sofia, Derek and a few others. The villains are easy to dislike. Some of them are outright evil and others have a blurry good/evil disposition. It becomes absolute in their choices. Sofia, a human, begins as a weak character and grows into her self-confidence as the first book, and the series, progresses. She initially lacks self-confidence because of her absent biological parents. She believes her mother to be insane and her father to be unwilling to love her. Ben, a human, is the object of her affection and her best friend. Ben is selfish and his actions are his undoing where Sofia is concerned. She has always loved him and he has always pushed her to the side. He has always been superficially kind to her and genuinely loves her but he knows how she feels and thinks she will always be there waiting for him. Derek is a vampire that has been in an enchanted sleep for 4 centuries. He suffers from the darkness that inhabits him and has been unable and unwilling to control himself. The Shade is a safe place for the vampires to live in darkness. It is under a spell to always be cloaked in darkness and to keep outsiders from finding its location. It has its own supply of humans, the naturals, that were born there. Other humans are brought there and once you end up at The Shade you can never leave. I really enjoyed this first book in the series. It was different from other vampire based books that I’ve read. There are numerous points of view which makes it a little hard to follow and repetitive at times. That is the one thing that I find a bit bothersome in this series. You are always bouncing from person to person. There is clear definition between the switches but I just didn’t care to hear some of the viewpoints of some characters

...What the fuck?? This book literally god by in the blink of an eye and I don't get how so much emotion is supposed to be felt in a book that feels so rushed. Like, the couple barely seemed to know each other before being so in love they were willing to make life changing decisions. Derek and Sofia's characters were completely irrational to the story line, none of their motives made sense. Worse yet, development that should have been played out and taken lots of time was done in short summaries. It literally took a paragraph of overview to Sofia's feelings on Derek and the Shade to get to where it should have taken them probably multiple books, if not at least the whole of this one. Overall I wasn't overly pleased, I may read more books just to see what happens(there are 28 books in this series. WTF!) But it's not something I feel like 'll spend much money or time on.