vendredi 1 février 2013

A Shade of Vampire ( book1) by Bella Forrest

Hello to all,

                We never know where the pearls are hidden before we found them. I saw a giveaway a little time ago about the first book of a new young author Bella Forrest and i was really happy to see it was open to international. I checked the summary and i found it intriguing. After a few echanges with Bella, she offered me a copy of her book to review and i'm really honored because for me this is a wonderful and promising debut.

 I won't make you wait more so here is my opinion on A Shade of Vampire first book of a series whose is still unknow to this day.

Publisher: Bella Forrest
Publication: 2012
ISBN:  1481280767
Genre: paranormal romance, Ya, Fantasy
Violence: strong

Language: normal
sex: mild
Public: 16+
Source: received in exchange for an honest review


Short description from goodreads :

 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?


My opinion:
         Surprising excellent debut. A first book is always an exploit because it’s harder that it seems to write a story and even more to manage to publish it…now the author can always improve too so the first book is rarely the best. Bella Forrest did surprise me because of the quality of her writing and story, I could see all the work she put in it and the result is bluffing. This first book is really excellent and such a promising start for a series.

Sofia is a teenager; at seventeen she is afraid of the future but still want to face it. She also begins to have conflicted emotions towards her best friends and that makes her jealous while at the same time she doubts her seductive power, thinking herself too common, a normal teenager in a way.  She has been hurt by the fact her mother has been sent to an asylum and ending the same way is terrifying for her. We don’t know a lot about her father, only that she feels abandoned and I would like to learn more about her past.  Ben, best friend, is also the only stable element in her life.  When she is abducted, she is of course afraid -even more because of the one who abducted her- but at the same time she is able to analyse the situation, to see the pro and cons of her situation and I admired that. She is able of showing a lot of empathy.

Derek is a vampire, the prince of his coven on who rest all their hopes. However before that he is a young man of eighteen that was changed against his will. Before that he was a hunter and he still doesn’t accept the situation well. A prophesy told the vampires he was going to save them and he tried to save his family but  deep down he hate what he is. To avoid hurting someone and act on his hunger, he convinced a witch to help him by putting him into a eternal sleep….for Cora, the witch, a reprieve he could get but not an eternal one so after 400 years he wakes up to find himself in a new world, bigger and with things he like even less than before. Then his sister offers him young girls, all seventeen, for his “harem”. He knows he can’t let them free but he don’t want to hurt them either…. Until one caught his interest because even afraid she still thinks about others.  Sofia becomes his link to humanity and he decided to make her is personal slave, a status giving her a little protection.
I really enjoyed seeing him try to adjust and to come to be really deeply attached to Sofia. He has a big heart and went against his wishes to try to protect his family and he suffered from it, still do and he has so much on his shoulders; I was moved by his personality. Sofia is really good for him however he will have to make some choices if he wants a world where they are both protected.

 The story is quite short, less than 200 pages, but it condenses a lot. The author chooses to write it mostly from Sofia point of view but we get a few chapters from Derek and it’s really good for the story. I appreciated that it’s wasn’t one point of view after the other for each chapter, no we get the point of view of the right character when his point of view is the more appropriate. The romance is slowly building not instant and I love that. Sofia has to trust Derek and he need to learn to trust her but also himself. The intrigue is also present and some mysteries because we don’t know exactly what is expecting of Derek, There are some twists that kept me focused on the book. Some secondary characters like Ben and Corinne are interesting to watch and I would love to get the point of view about some events.

The Setting is always well thought and the descriptions quite vivid , I really appreciated to imagine the building thanks to the descriptions well written and not too long.

It’s really a good story and I can only say that I want more of it! I’m curious of what will happen, how Derek will manage to keep Sofia safe etc. Really if you want a short, enjoyable, great paranormal romance debut, this book is for you won’t regret it! (And if you look on the author website you have a chance to win it too)

Disclaimer: Source: a copy in exchange for an honest review, no other compensation was received.All opinions are my own.

Score:  4,5/5

Interested? You can buy this book on   amazon or on  Bookdepository

 And if you want to know more about A Shade of Vampire, the series or the author you can find Bella online:



Challenges:




Do you like to discover new authors? Read their debut? 
How do you think you would react if abducted like Sofia? Would you be ready to do anything to survive?

2 commentaires:

  1. I do like to discover new authors. :-) This book sounds like it is right up my alley. You and I have similiar tastes in books so if you liked it then I bet I will too! I added it to my TBR list.

    I would probably feel defeated if I was captured. Maybe I'd have a small pity party. I hope I never find out!

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    1. i think you would enjoy this quick reads yes^^
      I also hope to never find out because i'm not sure i would do good... panick attack and hysteric are more likely^^

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