ARC Review of As Twilight Falls

As Twilight Falls By: Amanda Ashley
Photographing ghost towns across the American West, Kadie Andrews takes a wrong turn and ends up in Morgan Creek—a spot that isn’t on the map. It’s a quaint little place, but there’s something off about its complacent residents. And when twilight falls, it takes on a truly sinister air… Unable to run or to find any way out, Kadie finds herself a prisoner, hunted for her blood. Still more disturbing, her spirit and beauty have captured the attention of the town’s leader—the mysterious Rylan Saintcrow. When he looks into her eyes, she can see his hunger. When he takes her in his arms, she can feel his power. When he presses his lips against hers, she can taste his need. Saintcrow may be the most powerful creature she’s ever imagined, but Kadie knows in her heart that he is also a man. A man who needs a woman. To want him, desire him, crave him. To be his willing prisoner—for all eternity…
First of all, big thank you to ARCycling for providing the ARC of this book! Before I say anything, I want to tell you I kind of went into this book expecting to dislike it. I love supernatural stories, but I've never gotten into vampire books. I don't know exactly what it is (though I'm pretty sure it's the whole drinking-your-blood thing...gross), but I don't think there's ever been a book about vampires that I've really liked. I read this book knowing it would mean going out of my comfort zone. The majority of this book is told from the POV of Kadie, a 24 year old photographer. She spends the night in Morgan Creek after getting lost, and discovers the next day she's incapable of leaving the town due to an invisible wall blocking the only way out. Personally, I think she handled this very well. I mean, an invisible wall? Being locked in a town? I think I'd freak out. Especially after finding out the few inhabitants of the town are used as blood bags for a coven of vampires. The rest of the book is about Kadie's relationship with the townspeople, but mostly with Rylan Saintcrow, a master vampire and the one in charge of the town. Sadly, I don't think I really liked any of the characters besides Micah, and he wasn't even introduced until the last few chapters. Rylan was a bit boring for a 900 year old vampire. I was hoping for a bit of a bad boy, but he never actually followed through on any of his threats because of his love for Kadie. Before you actually met him, the ladies of the town make him out to be a monster. I was kind of hoping for a strong Alpha male like Barrons from the Fever series. He was actually just really whipped. Kadie frustrated me because of how quickly she forgot she was a human, with a family. A family that included a terminally ill sister. Being locked in Morgan Creek meant she was kept away from her when she was dying. How do you think about anything besides that? How do you fall for the person keeping you away from her?  The reason the vampires kept people locked in the town is because of the vampire hunters. They don't want word getting out about where they are, and this way they didn't have to put themselves in danger when they needed to feed. On multiple occasions Rylan injured/killed hunters, made them forget who they were, and Kadie helped him every time. Is this romantic, because Kadie couldn't stand seeing him hurt? Maybe. But all I could think about was, these people are risking their lives to save humans. I mean, some of these vampires KILL for fun. What the heck, Kadie? This screamed "Stockholm syndrome", to me. Two Stars

Unbroken

Unbroken By: Melody Grace
"Mom always told me there are two kinds of love in this world: the steady breeze, and the hurricane. Emerson Ray was my hurricane...." Juliet McKenzie was an innocent eighteen-year old when she spent the summer in Cedar Cove—and fell head over heels in love with Emerson. Complicated, intense Emerson, the local bad boy. His blue eyes hid dark secrets, and just one touch could set Juliet ablaze. Their love was demanding and all-consuming, but when summer ended, tragedy tore them apart. Juliet swore she’d never go back, and she’s kept that promise… Until now. Four years later, Juliet’s done her best to rebuild the wreckage of her shattered life. She’s got a great boyfriend, and a steady job planned after she graduates. Returning to Cedar Cove to pack up her family’s beach house to prepare it for sale, Juliet is determined that nothing will stand in the way of her future. But one look from Emerson, and all her old desire comes flooding back. He let her go once, but this time, he’s not giving up without a fight. And Emerson fights dirty. A heartbreaking history. An unstoppable passion. Torn between her past and future, Juliet struggles to separate love from desire. But will they find a way to overcome their tragic secrets—together? And after so much damage has been done, can a love remain unbroken?
I heard really great things about this book, and started reading it immediately after seeing it on Goodreads. In fact, I put another book on hold because I was so excited about it. I'm kind of disappointed. I think this book could have been pretty great, if only there was more about Emerson and Juliet actually falling in love. I hate when I read a book and it's all, "Years ago they were in love but a misunderstanding drove them apar, but believe me: They were epic. Toooootally in love. Take my word for it." I don't want to take the authors word for it. I want to read about the couple first meeting (which was in the book, via flashback). I want to experience them falling in love (not in the book). I want to root for the couple, then feel heartbroken when they break up. And I want to stay up hours after I should have gone to bed, reading and waiting for them to finally realize they should be together. I just didn't care about Juliet and Emerson, though. Yeah, Emerson was painted as a total hottie. But if Juliet ended up with him or her boyfriend, I probably would have cared the exact same amount. Which, sadly, wasn't much. I hear Melody Grace is releasing another book, Untouched, which will be the prequel to Unbroken. That will be Juliet and Emerson falling in love. But why make it two books? Why not one great one, instead of two decent ones? Maybe when Untouched comes out, I'll read Unbroken again right after it. Until then, two stars.

First Grave on the Right

First Grave on the Right By: Darynda Jones
A smashing, award-winning debut novel that introduces Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely
I did not like this book. It was a pretty big let down, because I thought it seemed really interesting. I was a big fan of The Mediator series by Meg Cabot and I kind of thought this was going to be an adult version. Nope. Charley is a private investigator, but I'm pretty sure she should have her license taken away. She's constantly getting herself almost killed, and she only hasn't died so far because of other people protecting her. Another thing I couldn't stand about this book was her humor. I like to laugh and found her style of humor to be similar to Lorelei's on Gilmore Girls. Similiar, but not the same. I just thought Charley was pushing it the majority of the time. The third thing that I didn't like about this book was the two different story lines that just didn't seem to weave together very well. They just weren't balanced. I felt like I was reading a completely different book when I got to the last few chapters. As much as this book drove me crazy, I'm one of those people that can't start a book and not finish it. Since this book is the first in a series, I had to read the rest of the series as well. I will say the series gets much better, and I'm glad I continued reading them. So if you don't mind reading the first book to get to the good stuff, I recommend this series. Two Stars.