Review: A Gem
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 22, 2014
As stated in the title, Shattered Days, by C. L. Quinn, is the 7th book in a series.  I definitely would recommend reading the first 6 before venturing into this book, because if you don't, you will miss a great deal.This series is a very complex world of vampires, who remain hidden from humans.  As with the human world, there is good and bad, tragedies and joys.  The author is to be given 5 stars for a complex world building that is fresh and fascinating.In this particular book, vampire Tamesine, leaves the security of her friends and ventures out into the human world to "find herself".  Tamesine had undergone some real tragedies in her life, and for a long period of time was actually insane and homicidal.  Fragile and desperate to regain some normalcy, Tamesine takes a mundane job as a waitress.  To her surprise, the routine of her days and her boss, Frank, actually provide Tamesine with some breathing room, and she is slowly getting it back together.  It's in this restaurant that Tamesine meets Marc, a human veteran with a severe case of PTSD.  The two wounded souls connect on a spiritual level and one helps to heal the other.  Unfortunately for Tamesine, a society that hates vampires and wants to experiment on them is after her.I definitely would recommend reading this series.  Unlike a lot of the new Kindle authors out there, CLQuinn is a real find.  All of her books are actually books - deep world building, complex plots, great writing and although each book links to the other, satisfying reads.  A lot of the new authors out there are writing short, cutesy novellas that really are just a tad above fan fiction.  CLQuinn writes books.  I definitely feel i get my money's worth when I purchase her.  I would have given Shattered Days five stars except iI found the story to be a little lacking in some spots.  Some spoilers coming up  -------  How many damn research facilities and doctors does this guy have?  You would have me believe that some guy has this HUGE infrastructure of research and medical facilities all over the world, and no one knows about them?  That there are researches, security, guards, etc, and they don't talk?  As the story went along, and Tamesine is moved from place to place, the story became entirely too contrived.  The author also missed a golden opportunity to bring the story back to believable when they captured Lamont.  He should have died, and Claude should have taken over his entire operation.  Claude was a lot smarter than Lamont, and had few of his weaknesses.  The whole thing could have been taken to the next level.  However, despite the fact that a group of the most powerful people on earth had Lamont in their hands time and time again, he still lives.  Between no resolution of Lamont and the endless facilities, the story weakened.  Other than that, I found the story to be very good and I read it all day, and I would highly recommend starting with book 1 of "The Firsts", and treating yourself to a long series of enjoyable paranormal fiction.