Elaine White's Life in Books

This one was hard for me. I was in the mood for a great vampire story, so I read this after waiting months to have time for it and I'm a little disappointed.

It started off so well. All of the medical stuff was spot on and realistic. Everything Cora felt and thought and experienced, was true to what a cancer patient goes through. I know, because I was her once and it was terrifyingly real to read everything I'd once thought in her words.

I enjoyed it so much that I highlighted a bunch of quotes, that showed off how great this was, planning to use them in my glowing 5 star review.

Cora is smart enough to second guess her luck, to let someone know where she's going, for how long and how to get in touch with the person she's leaving with, if she doesn't return. Until halfway through this - novella? short story? - she's a really smart girl and the story has great potential.

Then we meet Mr Thorne and things start getting a little weird. Suddenly Cora's free will seems to break - not fade - and she'll do anything for this guy she doesn't know, just because he touched her wrist. I've read my fair share of vampire romances, but this one didn't work for me, because there was no seduction. It was just automatic - the moment she met him, she'd do whatever he wanted and he knew it. He kept resisting the pull, but Cora didn't, until they both got what they wanted, in the end.

By the time I finished the book, I loved it. It was a 5 star and I even looked up book 2 on my Kindle, but couldn't buy it because of my internet connection. I woke up this morning and it was a 4 star, still good, but the little niggles began creeping in. In the time it took me to get dressed, downstairs, have breakfast and see to the dog, it dropped to a 3.5. There are too many issues:

* No seduction - which is a must
* Great potential that was let down, the minute the 'vampire' entered the story
* Illogical 'romance' that makes no sense
* stopped really abruptly
* is part of a 'serial', crossing over two series. That means I have to buy and read all the books of both series in order, to get the story straight. I'm not willing to do that.

This was a free book and I didn't download the others, until I'd got an idea of the author's style and the story. If this was a trilogy or just a sample of a solo novel, then I'd spring for the rest and take my chances. But knowing there are sooo many books in this 'series', I just don't have the time or the patience for it. Sorry.