Review: Vampires Rule
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 9, 2011
Title: Vampires RuleAuthor: K.C. BlakeISBN: 9181458059Published by: K.C. Blake April 2011Format: E-bookThey don't call him Jackpot for nothing...To me, Jack is like a cat. He has got way more than one life. As a teenager he is attacked by a blood thirsty werewolf and is saved by a vampire. Fast forward ten years and he has finally come to accept his fate as a vamp (although he isn't truly happy), and he has made friends who have become family.But then one night everything changes.He is attacked by another werewolf. Except something strange happens...he doesn't die...even though he probably should have. Instead he's turned mortal once more.Enthralled by his new chance at life, Jack wants nothing but to be normal. To have the life he wished for as a vampire. But with Jackpot normal isn't in the cards. He meets Silver, a hunter who is as strong as she is beautiful, and she tells him that he has a destiny to fulfill. If that wasn't enough for one guy to hear she also tells him that everything paranormal wants him dead.So what's a used-to-be vampire, now a fragile human, supposed to do to protect himself? Hide behind the girl he loves? Nope. (That would just be wimpy) He gets new powers. That's right and they are pretty surprising.So, now, Jack not only has to figure out how to live in a body that isn't exactly familiar, but he has to do it while figuring out his destiny and staying alive.K.C. Blake has a good thing going here. The characters in this book were all likable and the plot is very interesting. I really liked the mix of characters all thrown together in one plot. And all those characters made sense; they had a place in the story. There were werewolves (yes, my personal fave), vampires, hunters, wraiths, and even some mention of a faerie named Lovely.I think the character that I enjoyed most in this book was Jack. I thought that his character was a clever twist on the same old vampire story. This is the first book that I have read that a vampire turns mortal once again. He was vulnerable, yet strong and young but very old. My favorite parts of the book were when Jack described the world the way he saw it through his own eyes. I mean, really, when else does a person get to hear what life is like as a vampire and then as a mortal? Then he begins to develop powers...powers that when combined together have the makings for one bad boy.I also really like Jersey (yup, you guessed it...the werewolf). I liked the juxtaposition in this character. He was ruthless, yet he was a gentleman. He would rip off your head, but quote Robert Frost while doing it. And he liked to wear red sneakers. He had a magnetic personality that drew a person in and invited them to stay. Just scratching the surface of Jersey, I could tell that there was a lot of emotion and depth to be had.Silver was the hunter (with a pretty awesome name!), and a very strong character. She could be dying inside but she would never show that to the world. In some ways, that made her more vulnerable than the rest to me. This was a girl who had been groomed her entire life to fulfill a destiny, she was taught that she had a responsibility and a duty to those around her. At the same time her parents tried to protect her - which only made it harder to do what she was destined to do. She didn't have time to be a girl and have feelings of her own. But she did. Quietly, internally...and when she met Jack her feeling became too strong to contain.I must say that the one thing that this book lacked was time. The book is 216 pages and to me it could have been longer. I would have loved the time to really get to know the characters - and for the plot to have developed even further. If I was able to pick up all of the above from the story then imagine how much more the reader could have connected to the story with even further characterization. I would loved to have seen more development between Jack and his brother and more development of Jack himself. I was so interested in his transitions and how he must feel in his body and I think that getting into that more would make him an even better character. I felt the same about Jersey, who was centuries old and seen so much throughout his life. It would have been fabulous backstory on him to know how he got to be the way he is today.K.C. Blake is a very good writer who weaves a story well. I would recommend picking up a copy of this book for a quick, entertaining summer read. Keep in mind that Werewolves Rule, the second book in this series, will be along soon. Which means there is more to the story and that makes this reviewer one happy girl.Review is written by Cambria Hebert