A Shade of Vampire, Book 1

Can't get past the narration

I almost didn't finish. The girl narrating the main character is abismal, just terrible. Good thing its a short book. I will have to see who narrates the rest of the series before I invest any more time.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

The perfect book hors-d’oeuvre

This book left me hungry for more of The Shade vampires. It was a small but delectable story that introduces the listener to a whole new take on the typical vampire genre. It’s the perfect sized morsel to build your craving for romance and fantasy.
The narration was outstanding and I have already downloaded book 2.

16 of 18 people found this review helpful

an engaging story that has a bit of everything

Any additional comments?

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest is an engaging story that has a little bit of everything – romance, horror, adventure – and is sure to keep you reading through to the very end. It is a novella length story that sets the stage for the series and future books to come. It introduces our key players, welcomes us in to this dark world, and prepares us for adventure.

Sofia is feeling very lost when we meet her, upset that her birthday wasn’t everything she had desired. Things only get worse when she is kidnapped by a vampire. Sofia meets Derek, leader of the vampires, upon his awakening, and her life changes once more. Derek is drawn to Sofia for inexplicable reasons, claiming her as his own personal slave, which infuriates his brother Lucas. Lucas is the one who found her, and he wants to keep her for himself.

Sofia does a remarkable job of adapting to her new life, making friends in the midst of so much fear and despair. Her innocence and gentle heart tempers Derek’s blood lust. She softens him just enough to help him see that his decisions aren’t always for the best. This will then help Derek in the long run, making him a better leader. Bella Forrest ends A Shade of Vampire perfectly, preparing us for the direction that the next book is going to take, without using huge cliff hangers that can frustrate readers.

The performances by the narrators in A Shade of Vampire are top-notch. I’m not familiar with Zachary Webber, unsure that I’ve listened to anything he’s performed before. However, I have listened to many books performed by Emma Galvin and Kate Rudd, and I’ve always enjoyed their work. Pacing and characterization is fantastic, with each performer drawing out scenes when necessary to increase the suspense, speeding it up when the action increases.

I particularly love when stories written in the style Bella Forrest uses, with different chapters being different characters’ points of view carry that over into the audio version of the book, using different narrators for each character’s chapters. This acts as a great cue for me that I’m now in a different person’s head, especially since I am rarely just listening to an audio book. Audio books are my go to for entertainment when I am working on others things. I listen to audio books like most people listen to the radio.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, December 2014. All rights reserved.

20 of 24 people found this review helpful

Unoriginal and no chemistry

I listened to this book based on the good reviews. I was very disappointed. The author has a very poor vocabulary and I felt like I was reading a novel for children instead of young adults. She uses the same words over and over in her descriptions. I felt taking a red pen to every time she used the word intoxicating. The author couldn't convey the supposed chemistry between the main characters either. It felt so cliche and unoriginal. I couldn't even feel for the character Sophia and all she was enduring. I wanted to slap her silly and tell her to get a clue and stop being such a victim. The whole idea of taking the abuse to "protect" others was so absurd in her case that I felt nothing but frustration. I wish the author had built her characters better. A little fire to fight back would have been nice. Sophia makes Bella Swan seem like a super hero compared to this girl.

41 of 51 people found this review helpful

Narration was grating, couldn't get passed it

Emma Galvin's narration was like nails grating on a chalkboard. I tried to get passed it three times. I made it a little passed 2 hours and couldn't go further. All of the positive reviews made me continue to go back in hopes I could focus on the story, but it didn't work. I'm kind of sad about it....

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Got through three pages.

I cannot say anything about the story, never got that far. Defiently listen to a sample before buying; I will have to Kindle this one. The narration was so painful to listen to I put this down after 3 pages. I looked for the same book maybe different narrator, but no luck. I'm not sure if it was Emma Galvin or Kate Rudd, but if I see these names again, I will surly listen to a sample before buying.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Story line was decent. Main narrator sounded odd.

My only issue was the main narrator that played Sophia, it sounded like a crime tv narrative.

11 of 14 people found this review helpful

The female narrator almost ruined this book for me

loved it except for the female narration..it would have be perfect if not for her

20 of 26 people found this review helpful

i struggled to finish

Narrators were fab! No problems there, as they were probably the reason i even bothered to finish. The story lacks a time line or even a sense of time. These perceptions are incredibly important to the believability of the characters and their situation. I have no idea how long this story is from beginning to end. The author has a decent dent into some good characters but is playing with fire in trying to pull a bella/edward insanely obsessive love story off. Stephanie Meyer seems able to pull of the believable love triangle well...this author is attempting a 3-men-1-woman craft that is more detaching than unifying. I will listen to one more to see if, like stephanie meyer, the writing and story and perception of time can become friends

10 of 13 people found this review helpful

Truly Zero Stars. Immature Love-Triangle

Any additional comments?

The entire book is more about teenagers fighting for attention then anything to do with vampires. Whoever said this is like "Fifty Shades" is entirely wrong. This is pretty PG. That is not why I gave it a low rank. My review is harsh because the story doesn't go anywhere, while the author tries to make everything sound more dramatic than it is.

7 of 9 people found this review helpful