Review: Review: Technically Dead by Tia Fielding
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 24, 2013
Title: Technically DeadAuthor: Tia FieldingCover Artist: Shobana AppavuPublisher: Dreamspinner PressReviewer: MonikaGenre: ParanormalType: RomancePairing: GayLength: NovelHeat Rating: ♨♨♨♨Rating: ★★★☆☆Blurb:When Brandon Roland's parents kicked him out for being gay, he turned to prostitution to get by--something that almost cost him his life when he was attacked by strangers. Bran was saved by a vampire named Heath, and during their year together, Bran's life was good--but then Heath sent him packing for reasons unknown.That was twelve years ago, and Bran's come a long way since then. He has an education, a job as a social worker at a vampire/human youth shelter, friends, and a tattoo he adds to annually to commemorate another year without the love of his life.The trouble with being a very old vampire is that the older you are, the less you feel. Heath is over nine hundred--he was sure he'd never experience emotion again, but he never counted on Bran. When Heath accidentally stumbles back into Bran's life, it changes more than either man thought possible--and then history literally catches up with them and turns their lives inside out.Review:The beginning of this book really disappointed me it was unorganized, confusing and just plain didn't make sense. The story didn't start moving until about 35% into the book and for me that's way too far normally I've pretty much lost interest by then but I stuck it out hoping things would get better and they do, for a while, then it loses me again near the end.Tia Fielding's character Bran, who is the main focus of this book, was wonderfully written I got a real sense of who he was and that had me connect with him fairly soon in. He was the only reason I continued to read it, I wanted to know about his life with the Elder Vampire Heath and what caused there split.Unfortunately she didn't do as well with her other characters. Bran's friends Ric, Kris, Tony and Adam are important people in Bran's life but I felt like I never got to know them therefore I didn't really care about them. Also the relationship he has with Ric, Kris and Tony really threw me and honestly I don't know why the story went there, for added sex scenes perhaps, one ménage scene with Ric and Kris and his on-off sex with Tony was just that sex. I had no heart racing or awwe moments, there was no feeling of love between these guys and it's my understanding they do love each other, I wish that came through with the writing.There are some good things in this story, places where the story flowed and moves along smoothly.  Bran and Heath reunite and following that part of the story was a joy to read. Then there's a storyline that brought some almost page turning excitement until the conclusion which was frustrating and in my opinion totally out of character. The epilogue where everything should be all wrapped up left a lot of loose ends. There is an HEA for Bran and Heath but unless there are plans for a sequel I feel cheated.I was torn as to the number of stars to give it, I didn't love the book but I didn't hate it. So I broke it down like this and gave it an average.3.5 stars for Bran and Heath and their Vampire/ Human relationship3 stars for the good parts that grabbed me in the middle1 .75 stars for the confusing and up and down storyline.This story had potential, it just needed the rough edges to be smoothed out a bit.I will definitely look at reading something else from this author.