Review: This isn't your regular vamp tale - 5 out of 5 stars
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2013
I hadsome hesitancy when I began to write this review because I wasn’t sure how Iwould convey my enjoyment of this story without being repetitive. AsChristineWenrick’s debut novel, this wasan exceptionaleffort that paid off well. This isn’t your typical vampire retelling;it does in fact have an interesting angle on vampires and their coven.  TheCharmed tells the story of Olivia Ann Greyson, a musically gifted graduatestudent and Caleb Wolfe, young vampire.Caleb and the Walker Coven save and rescue Olivia after her train hasbeen ambushed bya mad pack of vampires. During the skirmish, Olivia and her best friend Sarah suffer severe bodilydamage.  AfterCaleb rescue, things start happening really fast for Olivia primarily about theexistence of vampires. Even though he’s a vampire, Olivia and she’s not – thesetwo find themselves very attracted to each other.Add to that, Olivia’s disheartenedto learn that Caleb fights it, really hard. Although Olivia feels a lot forCaleb she knows that her past relationships have not gone well and she’s reallyconcerned that whatever sheand Caleb develop could go south and fast. Despitethe odds, during their time together, they begin to fall in love. Through asequence of events Olivia discovers that she’s not able to stay in theprotected worldthat Caleb offers and decides the only thing that she can do isleave. When she gets home, she meets her new protectors – The Brethren. Theyshare with Olivia what her true ‘gift’ is. Holy cripes these dudes,especiallythat Alec, are hardcore. Me Like!  I reallyliked Olivia. She was full of insecurities, as would any girl her age raised ina sheltered environment. I thought the way her story was told was well done andI really connected with her and felt her highs andlows.  Caleb onthe other hand is a dimpled hottie, and has that strong silent-type, wholesome,thing going on. He had the whole non-verbal communication down to a tee -that’s really hard to do when it’s not a visualformat but oh my does he knowhow to use those eyes. Umm-hmm-mmm. Sorry about that ya’ll I’m good now. Eventhough Caleb has some internal conflicts that dictate how he chooses to live hislife, it’s neitherover the top nor unbelievable for the world that he livesin. And of course, by now you must know that I’m on Team Wolfe - all the way.  Some ofthe other characters, especially Sarah and her family’s true relationship withand to Olivia, are something I hope to see more of. Jax and Gemma are the othermembers of the Walker Coven and bring morethan enough drama of their own. Jax,you gentle giant, are you gonna man-up and bust a move on that girl? The otherBrethren - Gordon, Lucas and Phin – can’t wait for more of you guys.  The sex between Caleb and Olivia was well done (off the chain as some might say) – it wasn’tgratuitous but it wasn’t tame either and I thought it worked well for them. Ireally and totally enjoyed this story and I absolutely can’t wait for the nextbookin the trilogy. Well doneWenrick!  HappyReading Folks!  Rating: AReview also posted at www.redhotbook dot com