Review: Totally Unbelievable
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 12 14, 2012
The description of this book was intriguing and I had high hopes. The premise is genius, really, a mortal woman dying of cancer and her vampire boyfriend powerless to save her. Unfortunately that's where the good stuff ends.This is classified as a paranormal romance. The paranormal portion is accurate, but the romance? Not so much. Any die-hard romance fan (regardless of the sub-genre) will tell you that half the fun of reading a romance is to see how the characters met, how they felt about each other from the beginning, and to see how they overcome obstacles thrown in their paths to eventually be together. We didn't get any of that in this book. The characters were already together when it started. That was very disappointing.The beauty of writing a paranormal romance is that the author can create an entirely new world and implement rules for those that inhabit this world. Many PR authors have varying "rules" in regards to vampires. However, there seem to be two hard, consistent rules that should never be violated: (1) Vampires drink blood, and (2) A vampire bite, under the right circumstances, can change a human into an immortal. I've never read a book in which these two basic rules were violated.Until now.(**~SPOILERS AHEAD~**)In this book, the author wants us to believe that blood is optional. Uh...okay. Why? If you're making this new rule, you'd better give the reader a good reason. Well, we were given a reason, but it was weak. The reason: because vamipires need etheric to survive--which they can get from blood or food. Um, (scratching my head), what the heck is etheric? The author never bothers to give us a description. I had to stop and Google it, which completely took me out of the story.The author also tells us that vampirism is genetic. Really? Since when? Are all vampires in London simply genetic mutations? Are there any of the good 'ole biting, blood-sucking vampires in this world? Unless I missed it, there is no real explanation of how this genetic mutation of vampirism happend. There's no history given. No backstory. Nothing. We're simply told that's how it is and we're supposed to take it as true. Sorry, didn't happen.But, the unbelievability of this story doesn't stop there. Oh, no. We're then informed that Aiden, the vampire boyfriend, can't turn Lil into an immortal to save her from cancer because "that's not how it works." Okay, so how does it work? (I'm still waiting for an answer to that, btw, because we don't get it in this book.)Anyway, Aiden calls in a favor from a were-being. Theo, who was never technically classified as a werewolf, is a medical specialist who has different blood samples that when injected into a human can turn them into a were-animal. This is Aiden's answer to save Lil's life. Inventive? Sure. I actually liked the solution as it caused a bit more conflict for the hero/heroine to conquer. Too bad it went from inventive to so far fetched I was rolling my eyes in a matter of pages. See, the blood won't turn Lil into a werewolf per se. Nope. She has a choice. Choices are good, right? She can choose to become a werewolf, were-snake, or were-seal. (Yes, I know. My jaw is hung open in shock too.)A were-seal? Seriously? I had trouble finishing it after that, but I did. I had to. I had to know how it was going to end: immortal vampire boyfriend and once human now were-seal live happily ever after. I'm still having trouble believing it.Even though I knew this was a short story I was left feeling as though it was just an excerpt or teaser of something longer. The plot and subject matter was just too involved to be written as a short piece. There were so many unresolved questions and possible conflicts that were never addressed. I was left wanting more....but not really.I gave this book two stars because (1) it was well written with almost no grammitcal errors, and (2) because I had to give the author credit for thinking outside the box. She took the normal stereotypes about vampires and werewolves and turned them upside down. That's a hard thing to do. And it would've been great had she taken the time to fully explore and explain the things she wanted the readers to believe. Contrary to popular belief, an author can't just put something in writing and expect the reader to believe it. We need some level of believability--even when dealing with mythical creatures.Overall it was a quick read. If you're willing to throw out every thing you know about vampires and suspend all disbelief, then this is a good choice for you.