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ReviewingWonderland

Reviewing Wonderland

"I'm Mad. You're Mad. We're all Mad here." ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland We love to share our love of Young Adult and New Adult books with the world.

A Shade Of Vampire

A Shade of Vampire (A Shade Of Vampire, #1) - Bella Forrest What an amazing debut title for this series! I want more!When I accepted this book from a Read It Review It post on Goodreads, I was not expecting much. The book is only around 150 pages long, so I was all set for a teaser novel to get the reader introduced to the characters and maybe spark a little interest in the rest of the series. What I got was a full-fledged, heart-pumping, made my jaw drop novel packed into a smaller package. The length of the book makes it a quick read, but this is not one to skim over. There is so much juicy goodness between these pages, you won't want to miss a moment.Main Characters:Sofia Claremont - I absolutely love Sofia. She has been pining after her best friend for as long as she can remember, but never had the self-confidence to tell him her feelings. Her personal insecurities, however, are hidden behind the calm, confident persona that she portrays to those around her. Throughout the book, we are able to see her internal struggles and fears, making her believable and real.Derek Novak - After coming home to find his mother killed by a vampire, he spent 4 years of his life hunting the creatures that took his innocence away. At eighteen, when his now vampire father changed him and his siblings, he was forced to become the very thing that he hunted . His life became a series of conflicted emotions, a struggle between what he believed and what he had become. When his sisters vision named him as the Prince of the vampires, slated to save his kind from their enemies, he wanted no part.There are two POV's depicted in this book - Sofia and Derek. I was so excited to see Derek's POV! It allowed us to get inside his head and made him so much more loveable. The switching views were extremely well done. Instead of replaying each scene from the other view, or only having another viewpoint when they were apart, the viewpoints changed as each character entered a various scene. It allowed us to see each characters reaction to the situation and built the story line quickly."I found myself intrigued by Derek - even more so than I was before. He was a paradox, a walking contradiction. How he could perform such a violent act with no hesitation in one moment and be as gentle as he was with me right afterwards, was something that left me completely unnerved." - SofiaOk, I know I already talked about Sofia, but I just fell in love with this character. Talk about kick-butt protagonists! Sofia is able to take everything dealt to her and push it right back out. She was kidnapped by a stranger and made to be a slave of a vampire prince in the midst of a vampire sanctuary where humans are no more than pets, play things, for their masters. She also had to deal with her unbidden feelings for her own master. Through all of this, she was able to remain calm and confident, even though her conscience was screaming at her to run away."Somehow, deep inside, I knew...I knew that I could never harm her in that way, simply because I would never be able to forgive myself for it. I may not have enough self-control to keep myself from feeding on others, but with Sofia, I couldn't afford to lose control. She had become my one remaining link to humanity and it was clear to me that her ruin would be my ruin." - DerekDerek Novak melted my heart. You can tell that he was one of the "good guys" before being turned into a vampire. He was a mere eighteen years old when he was turned and some part of his remaining humanity still holds dear the values he had. But that part of him wars with the monster that he has become. Not just a monster, but the Prince of monsters. He has lived with the power of his position for so long that it has become something he learned to accept and use. When Derek Novak speaks, people and vampires alike listened - and obeyed. But when Sofia enters his life, she challenges him, makes him remember his humanity and reminds him that he has the control over his choices.I could not put this book down. It was fast-paced, gripping, and romantic in a strange butterflies-in-your-stomach way. I cannot wait to get the next book in the series - which comes out in April 2013. If you would like to sign-up to receive updates on this series from the author, you can sign up for updates at www.forrestbooks.com.