Book Review: A Castle of Sand (A Shade of Vampire #3) by Bella Forrest

July 12, 2013July 12, 2013Leave a comment

Book Description (from Goodreads):

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.

Book Review:

“What we have is a sandcastle, temporary, but beautiful and we can only treasure and enjoy it for as long as nature allow us”.

The first third of the book has a slow pace but it provides a good insight about the relationship between Sofia and Derek and also about the life in The Shade (these characters start to see and face the real challenges for their relationship), as you advance in the book the action begins (and is really good).

In this book, apart from the protagonists Sofia and Derek, there are some good secondary characters that enrich the world that the author created for this Series (and I have to admit that I liked more Ben in this book that in the previous).

I think the title of the book is perfect (I liked the references to sandcastles and how they fit into the story), also I love how the author use the multiple POVs in her writing (I believe that’s what makes me feel more connected to the characters).

Overall, I enjoyed this book (it started a little slow, but as I kept reading I loved that it had some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming), I liked the action, the suspense, the intensity and by the end I was so immersed in the story (as it happened when I read the two prior books in the Series) that I didn’t wanted it to finish.

Would I recommend it? Yes, specially to people who enjoys paranormal romance.
Am I going to read the next book? Definitely, as usual the author left me anxiously waiting for the next book

Book Review: The Guardians by Jennifer Raygoza

May 26, 2013Leave a comment

Book Description (from Goodreads):

The Guardians is a compelling tale focused on love, pain and sacrifice. The battle of good versus evil. The question is who will win.

Gianna Botticelli is the daughter to a Los Angeles Mafia boss. Although content working for her father, she mentally struggles with her mother’s death—and life choices after her passing. But everything she knows will change when she meets the sexy, mysterious Caleb.

Who is he? What is he? How does he know things? Gianna finds herself struggling with her feelings for him—and the sacrifices she will have to make as Caleb introduces her to a world unknown. Will she have to sacrifice herself to save everyone and everything?

Sexy and entertaining, this book is for mature vampire lovers. I challenge you not to fall in love with Gianna and Caleb.

WARNING: This book contains violence, adult language, and passionate love scenes.

Book Review:

This book follows to Gianna who works for the “family business” with her father (a Mafia’s boss) and her brother.

I have to say that I found interesting that the protagonist of the story was a strong, determined and independent woman (not the typical “damsel in distress”) and she really knew how to deal with the men who work for her father.

There was some characters that I really loved, one of them was Caleb (with that air of mystery) and the other one was Maddie (she was sweet and nice).

As the book progresses we see that this is not just a paranormal romance story, there are some twists, there’s a war between good and evil and Gianna has a rol in it.

The story has some good elements in it: romance, action, an underground world, also the fact that the vampires are portrayed in an interesting way (I won’t give any spoilers here).

This book is around 115 pages long (I finished reading it in one day) and I would have loved it to be a bit longer (that way I could had learned more about some characters). I’m not sure if this book is part of a Series, if so, probably some of the answers to my questions are in the next book.

Overall this is a quick and entertaining read that I think will appeal to fans of paranormal romance.

Book Review: A Shade of Blood (A Shade of Vampire 2) by Bella Forrest

April 8, 2013January 17, 20181 Comment

Book Description from Goodreads:

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?

Book review:

Another amazing book by Bella Forrest, A Shade of Vampire is by far one of my favorite paranormal books and after reading A Shade of Blood I reconfirm that she’s a great writer and one of my favorite authors.

This book is dark, captivating and intense, it was impossible for me to put it down, even when that meant for me to stay awake almost all night.
The story is still as good as in the first book, and thanks to the fact that places and scenes are well described and detailed, it’s fairly easy to be transported to the world that the author created, that mysterious and intriguing place called “The Shade” where exist all these vampires governed by Derek Novak.
The characters are well developed and for me it was really easy relate to them, you can feel their pain, frustration, love, their struggle and I think this is why I’m so captivated by Bella Forrest’s books.
One thing I really enjoyed was the multiple POV’s that we find in this book, to be able to switch between Sofia, Derek, Ben and Lucas really helped me understand these better characters (their feelings and what was behind their actions).
In this second book we learn more about Derek’s past, “The Shade” and also we get to know Ben better (Sofia’s best friend who after this book became more interesting to me than in the first book).
This book in a manner explores the subject of how people deal with their pain and how after a life changing event it seems fairly impossible forget and leave everything behind, also it shows that even when there’s love, relationships are not always easy and sometimes you have to fight for what you want.

The end of this book left me wanting to read the next in this series (can’t wait for the release) and I definitely recommend it to YA, Romance, Fantasy and Paranormal fans, but to understand and really enjoy this book you should read first “A Shade of Vampire” also by Bella Forrest.