Review: A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

A Shade of Vampire
by Bella Forrest
Kindle Edition, 147 pages
Published December 14th 2012
Amazon | GoodReads
My Rating: ❤❤❤❤ ❥

On the evening of Sofia Claremont's 17th 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?

“…Within the span of twenty four hours, I’d gone from high school senior and certified wallflower to captive of the prince of the largest and most powerful coven of our time…”

On Sofia’s 17^th birthday, she along with four other teenage girls were kidnapped, and whisked away to a secret hidden world of perpetual darkness.  Their purpose was nothing more than to act as human slaves and pawns in a political battle between paranormal beings. 

….And then someone falls in LOVE!

Shortly after the author contacted me to review this, I went to Amazon and noticed that it was a promotional freebie.  I didn't know what to expect, but what motivated me was the length.  Once I started I didn't stop and ended up reading this in a few hours. It was a short read sprinkled with horror, action, and romance. 

While this was a dark tale, the characters really added an element of that fairytale ambiance:

• Ben- the “could be” knight in shining armor
• Lucas- the villain
• Vivienne-the twin and doting sister
• Derek-the sleeping beauty and golden child
• Corrine-the witch
• Sofia, Gwen, Ashley, Paige, and Rosa- the distressed damsels

The setting was suiting.  The point of view switches between two characters (one human, one not human), so it’s interesting to view the events from multiple eyes.  The romance was gradual and somewhat believable.  Yet I found myself battling internally on the issue of Stockholm syndrome.  I never fully believed the possibility before and would shy away from the topic in the past.  Yet this story had me saying “hey, it could happen”.

Favorite Quote: “I know an excuse when I hear one. Don’t you dare deceive yourself into believing you’re the victim.”