Review: Different from other vampire stories I've read, but really good
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 11, 2014
Rating: 3.5It's not often that a novella of around eighteen thousand words can fit in everything from character introduction, plot, resolution and leave the reader with a sense of satisfaction. Gabriel did, or at least it was pretty damn close. Since I have never read a plot with character traits like this, this story felt fresh, and I enjoyed every second. As mentioned in the blurb, Calista is a gelder.geld verb \ˈgeld\: to remove the testicles of (a male animal and especially a horse or bull).transitive verb1:  castrateCalista's form of gelding isn't the Lorena Bobbitt kind. Hers is an ancient power, and only a chosen few can wield it, but there are consequences. If she came across as a bit emotionless, only focused on her mission and her pleasure, that was a byproduct of using her gift as often as she did. There was very little back story on her, but it didn't hinder me from seeing her as someone who was lonely and easily frustrated, but she developed nicely withing the short time. Gabriel started off as an enigma, but as the story developed, there was more to him than met the eye. Of the two protagonists, he was the most well developed with an intriguing history that wasn't divulged until the end. I won't spoil it by saying more.The sex scenes were hot (note: oral, anal), and the author hit the mark in not making this short story all about sex. My only issue was the flip-flopping between British English and American English.Note: You can read the prequel to Gabriel titled BEFORE HIM for free. You can get it from Totally Bound. It contains the same characters as Gabriel and has a length of 4430 words. At the time of posting this review, I had not read the prequel.I've read one other free, super short story by this author, TRITON, which I liked a lot. I would read more of her books.FD: Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.