Review: A Castle of Sand by Bella Forrest

A Castle of Sand
A Shade of Vampire #3

Author: Bella Forrest

Publication Date: June 26, 2013

Thank You Bella Forrest for the review copy!

Genre: Paranormal

---

Synopsis:

What Sofia has with Derek feels like a sandcastle; temporary and something that the waves of life and time will soon ruin...

Since the return of Gregor Novak, the island has turned several shades darker. His hatred toward Sofia and thirst for fresh blood lead to a brutal war igniting between father and son.

Meanwhile, the hunters are gaining formidable strength and resources by the day; they know that the safety of The Shade hangs entirely on its ability to remain hidden from them.

And a sinister secret lies in wait for Sofia within the bowls of an Egyptian desert ... a secret that threatens to crush her sandcastle much sooner than she could have expected.

My Thoughts: I love the Shade of Vampire series.  I think it is different and I really like how the vampires are portrayed in it - like real vampires, not some idealistic envisonment of them.  Every time that a new Shade of Vampire is being released I get super excited.  I love the world that Bella Forrest has created with the vampires and hunters and the more I read about it the more I fall in love with it.

In this novel, we start out where the last one ended - much like the previous one.  I love that I can just pick up these novels and know exactly what is going on and not even miss a beat.  The story floods back to me the moment I start the book.

I love, love, love Sofia Claremont in this book.  She really does come into her own more than either of the previous books.  She seems to find where she belongs and what she needs to do.  Her and Derek's relationship really does become a partnership, vastly evolving from the first book. Sofia stands by her beliefs and doesn't let anyone deter her - even Derek himself.

Derek is just as awesome as ever.  I totally love him.  Just as much as Sofia comes into her own in this one, so does Derek.  Despite being hundreds of years old, he really hasn't been able to grow into the person that he needs to be in order to fill the destiny set out for him.  I feel like he has come a lot closer in this novel.  In many ways, he may have grown into himself more than Sofia.

I am really looking forward to the next installment in this series.  Although this one had tragedy and triumph, I feel like the next one may indeed be the best one of the whole series (which is saying a lot if you have read my reviews on the other two as well).  I really applaud Bella Forrest for creating such a unique and awesome world for me to escape to.  I am definitely staying tuned for the next one!

Review: A Shade of Blood by Bella Forrest

A Shade of Blood
A Shade of Vampire #2

Author: Bella Forrest

Publication Date: April 8, 2013

Thank you to Bella Forrest for the ARC

Genre: Fantasy

---

Synopsis:

Having been delighted by the Christmas best-selling debut, A Shade Of Vampire, readers are begging for more. 

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?

My Thoughts: A Shade of Blood picks up EXACTLY where the last book left off - with Sofia and Ben escaping the Shade with the help of Derek. It is like you didn't even miss a step, the moment I picked up A Shade of Blood I was immersed into the world of the Shade once more.

In this novel, Sofia and Ben finally escape the clutches of the vampires who were holding them captive on the island kingdom known as the Shade. However, when they return to their old life they find that they are changed. They are not the same carefree people they had once been and because of that they seem to drift apart for a while. Ben is hell-bent on getting revenge and destroying the people who ruined his life. Sofia can't stop thinking about the prince of the island, Derek.

The relationship between Sofia and Ben in this novel develops a lot and, at one point, became extremely awkward to read. I believe that was the intention behind it and it leaves the reader kind of with the same sense as Sofia. It was mostly just uncomfortable for me.

However, as the novel progresses I did start to get into it a bit more. Sofia has certainly seemed to grow more of a backbone now that she is no longer a slave to the Shade - or as much of a backbone as one can expect from Sofia Claremont in such a short amount of time. I am glad that she decides to make her own decisions and set out her limits clearly. Though, there are times that I seriously question her decisions or judgments  there are also times that I cheer her on completely.

I thought that this novel would be a lot more action-packed than it was, especially considering what happened in the last book. This one just seemed a lot like filler to make it to the third novel (which I still have complete intentions to read). I believe that a lot of the back story that was touched on in this novel will come into play during the next book, but the story just seemed to lull. There was some character development, of course, which was pretty excellent but I just wanted to see MORE. I think perhaps that one of the issues was that I loved the first book and just didn't want this one to end without some major happenstance? Either way, I loved getting in touch with the characters again and can’t wait to pick up the third one.

Review: A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

A Shade of Vampire

Author: Bella Forrest

Publication Date: December 14, 2012

Genre: Fantasy

Thank you to Bella Forrest for the review copy!!

---

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?

My Thoughts: This is a short novel but definitely one vampire lovers should pick up.  Sadly, I think I may never had read it had it not received a request to review it - which would have been my loss.  I really loved how this book took the vampire lore back to how it is supposed to me.  There were no glittering vampires, no magical daylight rings.  There were just vampires who couldn't stand in the sunlight and were blood thirsty and could be killed with a wooden stake through the heart.

Sofia Claremont's only wish is not to go crazy.  Which sounds weird, but after seeing her mother slowly go insane and thinking she may have the same disorder makes her fear for the worst.  One night, after getting into a fight with her bestie Ben (who she happens to have more-than-bestie feelings for) she is abducted from the beach where she was taking a walk only to wake up in the Blood Shade.  The Blood Shade where vampires are real, humans are chained and slaved and her only hope of survival is their newly-awakened prince.

This was a short novel, so things tended to go a little quick but I liked it.  The fast-paced flow made sense to the story and didn't have you stopping to think that is was unrealistic at all (well, other than the vampires but who doesn't love a little vampire now and then?).  Though, when there is no sun in the sky I guess it would get rather hard to tell days from nights so the days kind of blurred for the main characters in my eyes and I am not quite certain how long they had been together.  Regardless of that, it seemed perfectly fitting with the story.

I also loved the characters, pretty much all of them.  I thought a couple could have been more developed but when I found out that this was only the first one in a series I was a bit more forgiving on that factor.  I felt like I knew the main characters well enough which was great and I fully expect the others to be fleshed out more in the upcoming book(s) and I look forward to it.

Sofia and Derek felt like opposites of each other, but it also felt like they completed each other as well - like they were two halves to one whole.  What she lacked he had and vice versa and they seemed to feed off of each other and adapt and become more than what they were.  Derek's transformation because of Sofia is more apparent since he struggles a lot more but Sofia's changes are evident as well.

This book was a short, sweet and quick read but once I stopped I couldn't put it down.  I loved how it took me back to the vampires of old.  I can't wait to pick up the next book in this series when it is released.