BotW { 04 }

What an interesting week it's been! I've been doing a lot of read along with my online friends so I got a good amount of books done last week, I think. I'm happy that I came across a book that I for sure knew would be a good candidate for my Book of the Week pick.

I've had this book for a while - ever since it came out. It seems like a lot of people had it, but I never really came across any hype about it. I think a lot of people did what I did - putting it aside for another more popular book because the premise wasn't all that. A vampire queen going to high school? Seems like a shallow/immature/too teen-ish read for me.

Uh...

I absolutely love this book! And I'm so glad my friends made me do the read along with them, LOL. There's so much more to it than just vampires, humans & their "forbidden" love.

My pick for Book of the Week { 04 } is... not a contemporary romance for once:


Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel
Genre: Paranormal romance, YA
Series: Vampire Queen { 01 }
Amazon.

"Throughout all my histories, I found no one I loved more than you...no one."

Those were some of Rhode's last words to me. The last time he would pronounce his love. The last time I would see his face.

It was the first time in 592 years I could take a breath. Lie in the sun. Taste.

Rhode sacrificed himself so I, Lenah Beaudonte, could be human again. So I could stop the blood lust.

I never expected to fall in love with someone else that wasn't Rhode.


But Justin was...daring. Exciting. More beautiful than I could dream.


I never expected to be sixteen again...then again, I never expected my past to come back and haunt me...

I initially picked this up because it was new, it was a vampire book, it had romance, etc. When it came down to cracking it open (or rather since it's an e-book, picking it on the Kindle) and reading it.... ehh it didn't sound so interesting compared to the other books I had. In my defense, it was a different synopsis that I came across than from the one I posted above! The one posted above sounds good, doesn't it? The other synopsis I came across, well, I just didn't think there would be that much depth to it; just another shallow YA/vampire read.

But it wasn't. Uh, to the contrary, it actually had an amazing depth to it. It was well written and well thought out because it brought out the empathy in me while Lenah was experiencing sympathy for the first time. *Sighs* It was awesomesauce. That is all.

{ Characters } The female protagonist is centuries old and she did come across that way. Certainly she still had that "young age" feel to her, but at the same time, she seemed a world older than her peers in school. She wasn't silly, idiotic, or this light, carefree, giddy character. She's known death and pain. For centuries, that's all she was. It was what defined her. So she comes across as this very somber and dark girl and I loved it. I love the darkness; I love the grittiness, the reality of high school age promiscuity, just everything.

She's a very needy character. She always needs someone there to love her, make her feel unconditionally wanted, etc. But you go through her thought process and you see why she is that way. It seems as if she's eternally stuck in a 16 year old girl's mind frame of always wanting a boy to take care of her. She does come from that century where it's a man's duty to take care of his wife. She knows what she wants and she knows how to pick her men for the characteristics they have that she in fact is looking for.

Her coven was hand-picked by her. They became one of the strongest covens ever - unbeatable. She is smart. She is also beautiful because this handsome male vampire, Rhode, picks her out of all the centuries he's lived, to fall in love with. I love Rhode. Justin & Vicken are two other characters who have been or becomes enamored with her. She's a great character to love. Her thoughts, her being, who she was and who she becomes is all in line with being a teen girl who's also centuries old. It all fits.

{ Plot } She's in this tough spot where she loses the love of her life, but finally gains what she wishes for most. Her love sacrifices himself to ensure her happiness, but the concept of sacrifice is foreign to them because vampires are such selfish creatures. For him to do that... speaks of their love. She really does try to move on and regain that sense of living that she lost, but it's hard to. When she finally comes close to finally letting go of the past and to start living, her livelihood and new mortal friends are threatened by her past. Her coven finds out she is missing and since she is their creator and a part of their coven, they search for her in their need for her. Well, that's where things get hectic. All the sacrifices, death, hurt, heartache in this story... ah, so good!

{ Overall } Throughout this whole book, she grows as a character and she does it so well (or rather, Maizel wrote it so well!) I love it, did I mention that? I gave it 4.5 stars. I've read the second book in the series already - Stolen Nights. I also rated that 4.5 stars. I can't wait for the third book. It's going to take forever... ugh.

I'm just glad there was deaths in the book (how can you have a dark vampire book with no deaths?) and the vampire aspect in this series does have a real dark side. I know there are good and bad vampire versions written out there, but this just has this real side to it such as... they're just beings. Neither good or evil, but beings who kill because that's a part of who they are and what they do. I love the world building or rather seeing how Lenah was a vampire queen through her eyes. How she and Rhode did all these things in the past. It was emotional at times without having that frustrating angst to it...

It's such a good series so I definitely recommend checking it out!

Here are the other books I've read & rated during the week: July 15 - July 21 2012.
Captive Fantasy by Ann Mayburn - 3/5
Skin Truth by Em Petrova - 3/5
The Quickie by Kitty Fine - 2/5
Legally Hot by Lora Leigh - 3/5
Not the Marrying Kind by Nicola Marsh - 4/5
In the Shadow of Vesuvius by Liz Carmichael - 3/5
Insignia by S.J. Kincaid - 3.5/5
Seraphina by Racehl Hartman - 3.5/5
A Need so Beautiful by Suzanne Young - 3.5/5
Last Summer by Rebecca A. Rogers - 2.5/5
Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel - 4.5/5

Until next week :0)