Vampire Vacation by C.J. EllissonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
It was on a whim that I decided to pick up this book, and the fact that it was on sale at the time. Oh, lets not forget it's got vampires in it, too. I was thrown off guard a bit when I started reading it as it is written in the first person present tense. There are a lot of books written in first person, but all the ones I've read are written in past tense. This was different and it took about a chapter to get my brain into gear.
Writing in the present tense can be difficult, but C.J. Ellisson does a great job of it. The story was tight and interesting, though there are some issues that weren't well edited. Let me explain; her story is about a vampire who runs a resort in Alaska for other vampires. Pretty neat, right? I thought so at first, but then questions started arising about what happens in the summer months when the sun doesn't set. C.J. Ellisson makes mention that her protagonist has been living in 20 years of darkness because of being in Alaska. I had to let this issue go and move on. There were other little discontinuities in the story too.
C.J. Ellisson's protagonist, Dria, is an interesting character I would have liked the author explore more of. The sex scenes were numerous and many of them had me scratching my head with the thought of "how could two people be in that position in that space and then suddenly be doing that?"
The who-dunnit plot I felt was solved way too quickly. I was expecting a surprise, but there wasn't one. Things kept happening to the overly many characters (which sometimes made it difficult to remember who's who)which weren't plot related.
Overall, it was fun read if you choose to suspend your disbelief. Her ideas of vampire society are interesting and I'd love to see that explored further, but there are rough spots there too, but not so rough they can't be smoothed over with further books in the series.
If you love raunchy, sexy vampires and werewolves, then you'll enjoy this.
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Had no idea you read and reviewed my book, Karen, thanks. Wish you had mentioned it sooner -- it came up on a google alert, imagine my surprise.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your time and effort in the review. Wishing you the best in your own sales!