The Amarant

PARANORMAL:  Crimson is a unique teenager with an obsession with a popular vampire novel series featuring old and mysterious vampire Nicholae Albaric.  Only a handful of mortals, including Crimson, know the truth: Nicholae is not a fictional character.  After she conspires to meet Nicholae, she learns that her draw to him is not one-sided, but a unique feature in her genetic makeup might make it impossible for the two to be together, as now the entire vampire world either wants to claim her as their own or see her dead.

The premise for this story is interesting and certain characters are realistic and a lot of fun. Right from the get go there is a lot of backstory ‘telling’ rather than showing, making the reader feel something was missed from a prequel even though there isn’t one.  The first half is severely lacking in plot development and instead is filled with detailed scenes of every-day life occurrences, such as getting on a bus, going to the mall, doing homework, and so on.  The second half of the story is where the plot finally kicks in but there isn’t much to substantiate the ultimate bonding relationship and familiarity that Crimson and Nicholae share.  Combine this with grammar issues, misuse of words and plot holes and the reader is forced out of their willing suspension of disbelief, more often than not.  With a novel containing such fun characters, better tech and content editing could have made this story a really great read.

 MB Rose