Review: Fun and entertaining vampire book
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 15, 2012
Maxie Gwenoch is finally beginning to feel like her years of working her way up in the entertainment news industry are paying off. The high salary and incredible perks offered by SNAP made signing the contract easy. But when she joins the SNAP team, there are a few things that seem a little off, least of which is the company ringtone that sounds like blood being pumped through a heart. The real trouble starts when Maxie learns the secret of who really runs SNAP and why she was hired. She starts to wonder exactly what she signed away when she joined SNAP. Was her life worth the jets and Paris shopping trips?Vampire books are one of those types of books that, for the most part, people either can't get enough of, or would never even think of reading. I'm somewhere in the middle. I've read some good vampire books, and I've read some really crappy ones. Vampires alone won't entice me to read a book. Usually it will turn me off because I've read more bad vampire books than good. Often, the bad ones are a poor attempt at copying a more successful book, hoping the theme alone will get them some decent sales. I didn't know which I would get when I started reading SNAP: The World Unfolds.What I look for in a good story, vampires or no vampires, is a good story line, strong writing, and memorable characters. So, let's see how SNAP measured up.First, the characters. It's not surprising that the main love interest, Jean-Louis, is gorgeous. Who ever makes ugly vampires? But I found him to be a fun character even if his looks were a little stereotypical. He had a complex background that made him memorable, and his responses to Maxie and the events in the book made him stand out. Maxie was a little harder for me to get into at times. When it came to work, she took control and handled herself like a pro, for the most part. When it came to Jean-Louis, it was like reading an emotional roller coaster. I felt like she slipped into teenager mode every time she thought she'd been slighted. It was an odd combination that I did feel fit a lot of the time. I'm okay with a woman breaking down and feeling like she's going to lose it, but not all the time. I would have liked to have seen Maxie be a little stronger in the relationship aspect of the book.The writing left me with no complaints. I thought Drier had a strong voice and clean writing. She stayed consistent with each of her characters, kept a good pacing through the entire book, and developed the idea of her book very nicely.Now, on to the story line. Not being a huge vampire fan, a did enjoy the vampire aspect of SNAP. I thought Drier did a great job making this into a more historical story by pulling in European history to explain the rise of the vampires how the feud developed. I thought turning the vampires into Hollywood starlets throughout the centuries was a really fun idea. The "House of Night" books used that idea a little, but I liked the way Drier used the vampires discovering the entertainment business as a way to make money and be a part of the human world safely. The only issue I had with the story line was that when I reached the end of the book I didn't feel like the story ended. Now, I know this is a series, but each book in a series should have an end to the story within that book. The unfinished overall story pulls readers to the second book, usually. In SNAP I felt like I still hadn't reached a conclusive ending for the book as much as I would have liked. It did make me want to read the second book, but I still would have liked a more concrete finish to this book.Overall, I did enjoy SNAP: The World Unfolds. The romance between Maxie and Jean-Louis was compelling. There were some sexual scenes, but nothing graphic. The overlying story and characters were entertaining and made you care about what happened to them. It was a fun read.