Hey, there Beauties,

It has been a while since I reviewed a book. I have been having the moments with books that I start one, forget about it, start a new one, and then when finally I go back to the first book I started I forget to review it. Maybe I need to get back to what I was doing before by reading a book a month. I have other writing projects so I can see how that works out. Anyway. I just finished a book yesterday that I wanted to finish, and didn’t want it to be like the other books I started and never finished.

“The Vult”

By: Katelyn Young

*** (3 1/2 stars)

First and foremost I am a reader that likes to read books that are mainly represented in real life time with real life problems. There is nothing wrong with expressing the supernatural in books. It is just that I feel like it is harder to express it, because especially if the author wants the supernatural to be seen in a different way than what people know already about the topic you have to have the lore to back it up.
So by saying this I had to put myself in a different comfort zone in order to read about a book of modern day vampires. It isn't a normal kind of book I would normally read, but I decided to give it a chance.

Before I really get into the reasonings why I do and don't like this book I want to discuss the structure of it first. I might have mentioned in previous reviews how I feel about books when it comes to be words on paper. I love it when a book is a big enough font where I don't spend a whole hour on one page. This book's font size was just the right size for me. So I was happy with that while reading. I felt like an accomplished reader by reading the book a lot faster than I spend on most books! So Kudos for that! 

Another thing I look for is that if it is an easy read, where I know what is happening. This book also had that! I love how she wrote it made it very clear to what was happening or going on. She had a precise language in the book for the reader to know who was who and what was going on. Though I did feel at times that I was stuck in a scene a little longer than what I wanted, but it wasn't a huge issue. She made that up to me with each chapter. Not only were the chapters short enough, but when it bounced from one chapter to another (between characters), she was rather precise in showing each main character's point of view of the given scene. That was really a nice touch!  

I think this book is a pretty good read. I gave it an okay rating of 3 1/2 stars, because I liked what the author was trying to convey in terms of friendship. I don't know if she was going for this or not, but I picked up the fact of humans being friends with vampires isn't a bad thing. Especially with this time era where there is a lot of prejudice or racism going on it is nice to have a book based on the fact that there is a human girl and vampire boy being best of friends on an emotional level. Even though there was that friendship factor that had me interested there were other things that could have been better in it as well. I have to say though that it gave me enough of a hook to keep finishing. When a book can hook you in to read it is a very good sign in my opinion. 

The main characters of this book was Amber and Deklan. They were the perspectives that we see between chapters. We are also introduced to Zion and Scarlett which are Amber's closest friends, and then Jasmine, Ashanti, Sai, and Wade which were members of "The Vult," (The inclusive group of vampires that were turned by Jasmine.) We got a pretty good view of who Zion and Scarlett are in terms of their personality. Zion has this genius eye in Science that loves our main character Amber without the love reciprocated. Scarlett is this fashionable, and kind of selfish friend that is going to school to be a nurse. In terms of the members of "The Vult" we know Deklan pretty well in terms of that he a vampire that cares about other people, and want them well. He was haunted by his past from when he was a human with his girlfriend dying, and him unable to do anything. Since he is a vampire he doesn't want to repeat the past, and from that saves Amber from ending her life. What we understand from Jasmine is that she is a powerful, beautiful, and manipulative vampire that intimidates the other members of "The Vult." The other members are explained in the book, but not too much in detail. Where I feel the other members of "The Vult" are just random bodies. So it is a shame I don't know too much of them.  

Anyway, in terms of the lore of vampirism in this book is rather rocky for me. With the lore that is interesting and explained a bit is how fast a vampire can heal itself, and of course the enhanced speed when running, enhanced hearing, and super strength. I thought that was interesting was that when they would feed on humans the venom that they give off is able to cover up the bite marks they leave, and also leaves the victim forgetting the fact that a vampire even fed on them. It was a nice touch, but the other things that we know about vampires like how to keep vampires at bay were garlic, crosses, holy water, etc weren't a factor in this case. Even sunlight doesn't kill them... it just pains them. All these things were brought up in the book like a joke. It really wasn't explained to the reader as to why. It was just said that it was a Myth. I still have those questions to, "Why?" 
With that it introduces my other thoughts about that. What I know about vampires is that they are immortal beings that are against the laws of nature of being the living dead. The vampires were expressed in the book like they were humans that sucks people's blood. They were too modernistic for me. It almost was trying to make you forget that they were superficial beings. They wanted to be seen like humans by caring or feeling remorse. Vampires are initially demons. They have no soul. They are evil creatures. Demons don't know love or understand it. Demons don't know remorse or understand it. They know how to inflict pain, and love the feeling of making someone suffer. So it was hard for me to understand the lore or like the lore that was introduced. If there was an explanation about why these vampires were different due to a difficult situation or had a deal with another supernatural creature I would be more prone to understand it, and tolerate it a bit better. It's just that was a huge issue for me while I was reading. It wasn't believable for me in terms of vampirism. 
 

I kind of mentioned it prior about the friendship concept in this book. Even though the 2 main characters come from a different background of "living" they are able to find a connection. I have to say that is rather refreshing to see that 2 people can be friends without any romance. You often don't see that in books today. Mostly in books it is the same storyline.... guy meets girl.....guy and girl bond......guy and girl fall in love.... guy and girl hide relationship.. relationship is found out and both support sides tells them to not be with each other.... and so on and so forth. Although... even though it wasn't expressed clearly there is a definite romantic bond that started if you ask me... How it was described on how they looked at each other is enough proof for me to know they are interested in some regard. I know they are fascinated in each other's personality and understanding for sure.

I do have to say that I did like the concept of honesty portrayed in the book. Normally in situations like these there are a lot of lies, that are major that it makes a difference. In this book the lies given weren't all that major. I am still contemplating that the amount of honesty shown is too much to make it not so believable. 

A disappointment of this book is that the major drama doesn't happen until the very end of the book. She did a little bit of the lead up with the random crosses be thrown at the feet of the "The Vult." The lead up could have been better. Deklan could have had flashbacks of a sort or just something. Just saying, "We don't want to repeat what happened with Tania," isn't good enough for me, personally. I pretty much forgot that sentence said until I had to backtrack when the time came with Amber's kidnapping.

Then after the recovering of Amber and her "change" was a lot to take in at those final pages. I felt like the ending was too much of a rush. Then not only did Amber had to change, but she had to make a forever and ever more decision on the rest of her life, and once she made the choice it just ends at that. WAIT! WHAT!?? Believe me I am a huge fan of cliffhangers (I kind of did that with my own written work), but this one didn't make sense it terms of the direction it was going. So... which leads to another question... Will there be a sequel? It is open-ended where there could be.

That's all for now!
Peace Out!
Sandra M. Dorazil