Review: A GraveTells Review: A Good Story With an Interesting Twist
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 26, 2012
Joaquin never expected to fall for a mortal, but that's exactly what happens when Ariana comes into his life. As a vampire, he knows falling in love with a human would bring nothing but pain, but Ariana sneaks past his defenses nevertheless. After spending three amazing months together, Joaquin knows he could never give Ariana up. Problem is, he has no clue how to break the truth about who he really is to her. Unfortunately, someone else takes it upon themselves to warn Ariana before Joaquin gets the chance to explain. After receiving several emails, all with the same cryptic message "Joaquin is not who you think he is," Ariana decides to confront Joaquin. The last thing she expects to hear is that he's a vampire. Sure, she acknowledges he has some strange habits, but vampires don't exist, right?When she finally realizes Joaquin is telling the truth, Ariana needs some time to come to terms with the information. That's when she meets Charon, the woman responsible for sending the emails and who is also a vampire. Charon wants Joaquin dead more than anything, and she realizes Ariana could be her best chance at making that happen. Charon pretends to be the good guy, saying her mission is to rid the world of vampires in order to save humanity. She trains Ariana to be a vampire hunter, hoping that when the time comes, Ariana will be able to destroy Joaquin. When Ariana and Joaquin meet again, will love prove to be more powerful than revenge?Vampire Betrayed was a quick read, and for the most part, I liked it. It wasn't boring and it had an interesting plot- I liked how the heroine became one of the bad guys without even realizing it. It was a cool twist in the story and made the book more entertaining. However, what I didn't like was how easily swayed by Charon Ariana was. It didn't take much for Ariana to believe Charon's lies, and yeah, Charon is a strong illusionist, but still. Ariana spent 3 months with Joaquin, and I wish she hadn't turned against him so quickly. I did like how she went from ordinary human to badass, though. I love when a heroine can kick ass and take care of herself!I really liked Joaquin's best friend, Devlin. He provided some comic relief to the book, and I found him to be an intriguing character. I really hated Charon for feeding Ariana all those lies about Joaquin and I wanted her to die a painful death. Which is a good thing, because you're not supposed to like the villian, so I thought Rachel did a great job of creating a devious, manipulative bad guy- or girl, in this case.Vampire Betrayed is the first book I've read by Rachel Carrington and the third book in this series, but I never felt lost or like I didn't understand the world-building. So even if you haven't read the previous books in this series, you can still read this one as a stand-alone. Vampire Betrayed is a good read with a fast-paced plot.One of my favorite quotes from the book:His best friend of over one hundred and seventy plus years, Devlin looked over at him for a long moment before replying. "Maybe what happened between the two of you affected her in a way neither one of us can understand. I mean, let's face it, pal. Finding out your lover is a vampire isn't exactly `hey Mom, my boyfriend wears fifteen earrings' kind of stuff."Even though I initially didn't like the heroine, I grew to like her during the second half of the book and found Vampire Betrayed to be a sweet and romantic story.Original review written for and posted on GraveTells.com