Review: Ward of the vampire, 3.5 stars, short glimpse of a novel or series?
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 2, 2013
I'm one of the few ones to rate this lower as 3.5 stars.  This is my first book by this author.  Told in first person, it is a fairly short story (50 pages) of a posh birthday party for the brother of the boss of our main character, Lina, and the events leading up to & the end of the party.  It is basically setting up series or book to follow.  Obviously the boss & said brother are vampires and there is a history there. I won't go into what is already described.  The premise was good but there was lack of description of what the lead female, Lina, looked like. There was vague references to her as being curvy  but nothing about her height, color of her skin, hair or eyes.  I had a hard time capturing the essence of who Lina was except by what she told us in her inner dialogue which didn't help me "get" her at all. These small details help in a short story so the imagination can take it from there. It took away the immersion into the story for me. The interior of the homes were described better than she was!  As for the male lead, I didn't get a real sense of who he was because of what happened but I was intrigued just the same.  If I had those details, I would have enjoyed this more but it felt kind of lacking (perhaps this would be updated by the time it's read by others).The story itself was fine but left with the story unfinished. It isn't a cliff hanger - rather more like the end of a chapter or the first act of a play.  It did catch my attention though and I'm likely to check out the next one if it's not overly expensive like some shorts or series can be.  This one was free so I do not want to be overly critical because of that and it is not finished. I can't fairly rate something without the whole story. There was one "love" scene, not overly done, and there is a slight mystery hinted at.  Kallysten is a good writer but in this story somethings need to be added to add depth & bonding with the heroine.  That alone would raise my rating higher to a 4 star.  I'd recommend if you don't mind waiting for the next ones.  I don't like to wait & would rather have the entire story at one time.  I did like it though.