"A Blood Seduction: A Vamp City Novel" by Pamela Palmer

A Blood Seduction by Pamela Palmer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow! That about sums up my impression of this first of the book series Vamp City, "A Blood Seduction: A Vamp City Novel" by Pamela Palmer! Overall, this was an awesome story. Yes, there were parts in this story that dragged and were slow. And, yes, there were parts where I felt there was a lot of violence and perhaps, a bit too graphic. But I believe the author did a great job of impressing on the reader of just how vile these creatures really are.

This author brings our understanding of Vampires to a whole new level. Here, vampires live in Vamp City, a dark version of Washington D.C. Magic made this city what it is, an 1870’s carbon copy of Washington D.C. without sunlight; perfect for the vampires who reside inside it. But the magic is dying and sunlight is breaking through! The city needs to be restored if vampires are to continue living in Vamp City.
Quinn Lennox lives in current Washington D.C. with her brother Zack. Quinn works in a lab for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Lately, Quinn has been seeing visions that she can only label as Shimmers. These Shimmers have done strange things to her as she passes through them. They seem to change the colors of her clothing and the interior of her car. She can no longer take public transit because, how would she explain these changes? Sometimes, Quinn can see through the Shimmers, into what seems to be another time or perhaps another world.

Disappearances are reported daily of individuals who have never returned home. They have just vanished. This includes Zack’s friend, Lily. As Quinn and Zack look for Lily, they stumble upon another Shimmer near their apartment that only Quinn can see. They are pulled through this Shimmer into this other world.

Vamp City, also named V.C., is a dark place, and not just because there is no sunlight. In this city, a great sorcerer cast a magic spell to create this city where vampires could live without the threat of sunlight. The magic also locked in the vampires from getting out into the real world, which is a good thing, because the horrors that Quinn Lennox experiences after being sucked into this world through a shimmer of light would make everyone thankful that these vampires weren’t in our world. Palmer’s vampires feed not just from blood, but also from emotions.

V.C. is old and decrepit. Vampires rule over slave humans. Slaves feed all the vampires’ needs; blood, sex, pain, fear, anything a vampire needs or wants to sustain them, and then their memories are wiped and it’s done to them again. Vampires are mean sadistic creatures. They live off of a person’s fear or pain and will inflict whatever is necessary to bring the emotion that best feeds their needs.

Arturo, a vampire who feeds from the fear of his slaves, saves Quinn from her captors as she enters the vampire city. But Arturo’s intent is only to feed from her fear and her blood. After feeding from her blood, he realizes that Quinn is not your normal human. She has sorcerer blood in her veins. Because of this, he feels Quinn may be their savior. She may be able to renew the magic that hides Vamp City.

I’m intrigued with this series and can’t understand why I waited so long to finish reading this book. It is a very dark, grim story where vampires truly are frightening. But the story has a beautiful love story in it. Through this love, we begin to see compassion from some of these frightening vampires.

The book ends with you knowing that you have to read the next book. Many questions go unanswered as our heroine is sent back into her own world. You get a sense that Quinn & Zack are not done in Vamp City. Somehow, you just know they have may have a vendetta. At the very least, they still have to rescue Lily!

I highly recommend this book! If you love vampires and all that’s paranormal, you will LOVE this book! The world and characters in this book are very well developed. The story is very believable!

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"Divergent" by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don’t normally read dystopian novels. Some can be rather depressing and usually by the third book, I’m disappointed. I hope that this is not the case with this series. Time will tell… However, in this series, the first book, Divergent (Divergent Series) was riveting! I could NOT put the book down! In the final chapters, I found myself waking at 3 am only to finish the book! I had to know more! It is a fast paced story with a strong female character, very similar to Hunger Games. The story sucked me in and I found it difficult to pull myself out. The storyline stuck with me every time I had to put the book down to do my daily routine! I found myself inspired by Tris who was raised in Abnegation, a selfless society, but could never fit into that faction…not entirely. She has more to her nature than being selfless.

In this story, there are five factions, the Abnegation who put others before their own needs, the Dauntless who are brave and fearless, the Erudite who are scholarly, Amity who are peaceful and live in harmony, and the Candor who are honest. Each 16 year old must choose a faction they will devote their life to and to help them accomplish this, they are put through a simulation aptitude test. Where most possess the aptitude traits of one faction, Beatrice (Tris) possesses the aptitude for at least 3 factions. They call this inconclusive result, “Divergent.” This makes her a dangerous person for which she doesn’t understand and is unable to get answers to shed light on what it all means. But keeping this information to herself means keeping herself from getting killed.

I found the writing style different but refreshing. It is written in first person, narrated by Tris in present time. She’s not telling the story in past tense, as if it happened and now I’m telling about it… but in present tense, as if I’m telling it as I’m doing it. The author, Veronica Roth, develops the characters & world are very well. Watching Tris work through all her fears and life decisions was fascinating and inspiring. I can't wait to dive into the next book in this series! Get your copy of Divergent (Divergent Series) NOW!

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"The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins

This book was a detour from most that I read. It is an incredible story of bravery, cunning, and survival of the fittest.

The setting in this story is what I would consider post apocalyptic times. The nation known as Panem, was built upon the ruins of North America. A fat, greedy government in the Capitol controls twelve outlying districts with harsh and cruel conditions. These districts are forced by the government to send one boy and one girl in their teens to participate in the annual Hunger Games. These children fight to the death on live television with hopes to supply food and other rudimentary items for their families needs. Only one person can win these Hunger Games each year.

Rather than tell you the whole story, trying to paint a picture in your mind of what the story is about, I suggest you read it on your own. For me, the story left me feeling as if there was no hope of survival. Teens entered into the games knowing that it was kill-or-be-killed. There was no choice, to be in the games or not. Reading what the main character was faced with, made me route for her survival. I found myself questioning the same things she questioned.

I did like this story, but as I read the book, I felt like the situation was grim and hopeless. It became difficult for me to want to continue reading because I felt that somehow this main character was going to lose, even if she won the games. My hope was that there would be a real love story between the two tributes. However, I was continually left confused. Did Peeta really love Katniss? I have no idea. For all I could tell, it was all a ruse.

As I said in the beginning of this review, this is not my normal genre for reading. However, I wanted to do my best to write a non-biased review. The book was written well. It was easy to read, and for the most part, easy to understand. The author did a decent job of painting this story in my mind. By the end of the book, I did want to jump to the next book, “Catching Fire.” That to me means it was well worth the read!