Review: I am torn between 3 1/2 and 4 stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 17, 2013
I hate when I read a book that leaves me torn with how I feel about it.  I want to love it or hate it, not be simply ... unsure.This was described to me as a dark fantasy with a little romance.  Um ... strike that ... reverse it.  There is quite a lot more romance than dark fantasy.  Not as much as regular romance books, but ... eh.Though the beginning reminds me of a twisted Twilight (a series I was not fond of from the get-go - you can hate me for that, but it's the truth), I like 1) the hatred between Victor (and his people) and Christian (and his people) - and the way it is described in the story 2) the "cliff-hanger" that it ends with.  Once you get into the "Underworld" (and closer to the war), the book gets much better.  In fact, I am looking forward to reading the next book - partly because I got into the story and want to see what happens, partly because there are questions left unanswered which I need answered.I felt that the book had several flaws.  In explaining these flaws, I may possibly give a little away - not enough to ruin the story by any means, but I just wanted to warn you. :)1)And my big issue - was the lack of proofreader/editor.  I love "Indie" books, but it upsets me to see that so many of the authors choose to save a few bucks by not having someone go over it and make sure that everything is ok with it.  There were so many sentences where words were actually left out or they were in the wrong order or there were extra words stuck in.  This is very jarring and takes away from the smoothness that the story has in other places.  There are also many words misspelled, the wrong word is used (pray instead of prayer) and punctuation that are either missing or not used properly.2)At first I did not like the idea of different POVS, especially different POVs in one chapter, but I liked that it didn't flip back and forth, that you were told who's POV you were looking through so that there was no confusion.  I got used to it a few chapters in, but a lot of them came out like you're reading a journal entry (if her hands are tied to her bed and she has a gag in her mouth, how is this possible?) and towards the end it was only Anna's POV, no one else's, when you really wanted to know what other people were thinking - these were major events happening.3)I liked the ending, but at the same time I felt irritated, like when you watch the season finale and have to wait for the next season to find out what happened.  (I think that's why I make usually make sure that I have the whole series before I even attempt to read the first one.)  We were just getting into the war and then bing bang boom - end of book.  Transition should have been smoother.4)She gets over Victor's betrayal awfully fast - like in two or three pages.5)Victor is the King of the Vampires and leading his people into a war, but comes across very weak and moody/emotional.  I see more crying from the men in this book than I see from the 3 and 4 year old boys in my classroom.  I mean, it's ok for men to cry and all, but it's not very manly when it seems to be all the time.6)I still haven't figured out what is so special about her.  Everyone loves her - the "good" guy, the "bad" guy, the "good" guy's best friend.  Is it because she's human?  Because she's beautiful?  I bet if she were born ugly, the whole story would have been different.7) I hate to admit that I was confused by something, but there were things that happened, but then did they really happen.  Here's an example: The proposal.  It happened, we all witnessed it in the story, but she remembers it vividly and he has no idea what she's talking about.  They go on as if it's all hunky-dory without ever discussing what happened.  We see Christian's POV on it, but they never come back to discuss it anymore.Despite these flaws, I would say that you should at least give it a try - but be warned that you will have to read the second book if you are anything like me and need the closure of a story ended.By the way, I was given a free copy of this book and promised, in return, that I would leave a review.  I did not, however, promise a good or bad review - just a review after completing the book.  Please do not hold the fact that I did receive a free copy against my review as I have been completely honest in my opinion.  :)