Review: Vamped Up

I'll be honest. When I started reading, I was already annoyed because I couldn't find a decent summary description on this book anywhere. I don't like spoilers, but I do want at least a general idea of what I am about to read.  I'm off-topic already, but it had to be said. Now, let me give you the basics.

We first met Eve and Ruan back in Intervamption and it was clear even then that they were on the path to get their own story. Unfortunately, this book really kind of skips over all of the falling in love parts. We've had a time jump of a few weeks since the last book and our couple is already involved in a serious relationship as this story begins. Ruan is a vampire and Eve is a human, which is causing some problems. Ruan wants to take her blood, but he knows he doesn't have the control to stop feeding once he starts. He's been having dreams about killing Eve and it's scaring him to death. His fears are driving a wedge between them, which is made worse by the fact that he won't tell her what's going on inside him.

Meanwhile, Savage is back and he still wants to take over as the leader of the vampires. His latest plan to accomplish that is to learn how to harness and control the powerful dark spirits that dwell within the Elders of the race. It's not as easy as he first hoped and eventually his nefarious plan brings him to Eve, who turns out to be much more than a mundane human.

It took me a really long time to get into this book. Perhaps, this is because so much of the love connection between Ruan and Eve happened off page. Maybe because I was frustrated by Ruan's unwillingness to communicate. I don't know.  The characters fell flat and I couldn't connect to their relationship. I just wasn't feeling the book at all, until about halfway-in... when we started to see the set-up for side character Dante's story. It wasn't a great sign that I was more interested in what happened to him than what was going on with our main couple.

Eventually, Eve and Ruan's story does get more interesting, as we begin to learn about their hidden pasts. But it took too long to get there. I felt like this book had potential that it just didn't reach. I liked the last book better and hopefully Dante's story will reel me back in to this series. He seems like a pretty tortured hero --and I'm such a sucker for those.  3 stars.

*ARC Provided by NetGalley

Click to purchase: Amazon

Vamped Up

by Kristen Miller

Release Date: December 7, 2011

Publisher: Avon