Melanie Dare is a teenage girl. Drugs and abuse by her parents change all that. She is raped and murdered and finds herself awake in a new decade. Melanie becomes Melabeth the vampire, and she is thrust into events outside of her control. Meeting a small circle of friends - not all who can be trusted - she finds herself obsessed with revenge against her killers… but along the way finds love. Her battle for revenge has terrible, unintended consequences, and she will question, who, and what she is. Can her love survive her need for revenge? This is the first part of a three part series about forgiveness.
ISIS' REVIEW:
I would like to thank The Cover Contessa and E.B. Hood for granting me the opportunity to read e-book in exchange for an honest review. Though I received this e-book for free that in no way influenced my review. I would actually rate this book 3.5 stars, but the creativity and emotional challenges bump it up to 4 stars (though the typos almost kept it at 3 stars - typos take many readers out of the carefully crafted world the writer has worked so hard to give the readers, and that is never a good thing).
An action-packed entry into what looks to be a sizzling series, <em>Melabeth The Vampire</em> is a gripping tale of greed, depression, depravity, loss, love, and learning the art of forgiveness. Fifteen-year-old Melanie Elizabeth Dare has led a strange life. Born into a small hippy family, Melanie never had what anyone would call a traditional upbringing. She never attended school due to her parents nomadic ways, picking up and moving to follow a band, or because the stars were aligned just right, etc. Then came the drugs, and Melanie lost her mother to an overdose. Instead if that acting as a wake up call for her father he just sank deeper and deeper into the life of an addict. But he knew if Melanie were seen outside during the day it would cause trouble for him, trouble he didn't need as a drug dealer. Too bad he made the rookie mistake of using his own product. A mistake Melanie paid for with her life.
Next thing she knows is waking up in a grave, dead, but not dead. As she escapes the grave she slowly begins to remember what had happened. Only the end result wasn't quite what anyone expected. Instead of rising in five to seven days, she rose 15 years later. So she left the living world in 1975, only to awaken to a radically changed world of 1990. All she desires is to take revenge on those who hurt and killed her.
As she begins her journey she meets Carrie, a ghost. Carrie had been raped and killed as well, but was thrilled to finally have so done who could see and hear her. The two travel farther, then end up catching a bus. On the bus Melabeth, the name Melanie gave herself for her life as a vampire, meets David. Though she is attracted to him what she experienced was only a month ago in her mind, not fifteen years ago. David also has secrets, most of which he doesn't even know yet.
Carrie stays with David, who has been sent to live with his Mom out of the blue. But Melabeth can't stay there, and when she learns there are other vampires in town she opts to meet them to learn how to be a vampire. Things are strained with the White family at first, but Melabeth soon becomes a member of the family. As she develops her unusual powers, she also develops individual relationships with each member of the White family, as well as continuing her relationship with David, Carrie, and eventually becoming close friends with David's younger sister Lizzie.
Michael White, David, And Lizzie all help Melabeth plan her revenge upon the men who murdered her. They learn that one of the leaders, a powerful sorcerer, masquerades as a high school teacher. The problem is that Lizzie and her family believe in an organization known only as The Order. The Order consists almost entirely of other powerful supernaturals who police their community. But in reality they use their power to fix things to their liking. So when Lizzie tells her parents that they have evidence of what Devon did to Melabeth, her father calls Devon directly, unwittingly setting off a chain reaction that will destroy lives at an atrocious rate.
Throughout this book the action, emotion, and character development are well balanced. As the arc of the story flows, so to does Melabeth's emotional maturity - to a point. By the end of book one Melabeth is teetering on the edge of a blade, one small nudge and she could fall into endless darkness, or she could redeem herself and her love. But will she survive her thirst for vengeance long enough to have the chance? Maybe we'll learn which way she falls in the second book in this trilogy.
I was born on the West Coast, in Loma Linda, California, in 1975, and raised in Beaumont, CA – where some of my book takes place. I grew up with two brothers and one adopted sister. My parents were strong Christians and wonderful parents. They never fought, drank, or cursed; I had to visit my friend’s houses to see that. I was an Eagle Scout and loved to go camping with my family. We spent a lot of time off roading through the desert on ATC and dune buggies. I picked up my love of target shooting from Boy Scout camps. I still love to shoot, and, instead of riding the desert on my ATC, now I ride the waves on my wave runner.I got married when I was 18, had two boys – Tyler in 1993, and Cory in 1996 – as a young father, I worked at Pizza Hut, until 1997; the same year my first wife and I were divorced.
I had the opportunity to help start a satellite plant in North Carolina for a micro connectors company, so I moved across the country to Salisbury. A year later I was offered a chance to become a tool and die apprentice, and worked as a tool and die maker for nearly nine years.
During these transitions I met the love of my life, Betsy, who is a school teacher. We were married 2003. We welcomed a baby girl, Sonja in 2007. I was unexpectedly laid off while my wife was pregnant. I then began working at a plastic company as a CNC programmer. Once again, after another lay-off in 2009, I decided to be a stay-at-home dad, and also started a computer repair business from home.
Another reason I didn’t return to work when I was laid off in 2009, was to help my parents with my brother, Nick, who was dying of a brain tumor. Nick was my baby brother, three years younger, and my best friend. It was always Nick’s dream to become a writer. I came up with a book idea for my brother to write years ago, but he became too sick, and the story was never written.
There have been a lot of changes in my life in the past five years – jobs, the loss of my brother, the birth of my daughter, and watching my sons grow up so, here I am trying to live out my brother’s dream, and it is to Nick whom I dedicate my first book. I do not consider myself to be a writer. I am, and always will be, a story teller. I have always made up stories in my head, and this is my first one that I wish to share with the world.
I am new to writing, but so far I love it and it has captured my attention completely. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
I sort of know what you mean about typos. Though even the big six has errors in they're novels, the more of them makes reading difficult. That's why my editor, beta readers, and I try really hard to comb through the novels I publish.
ReplyDeleteAt least the plot was still enjoyable, and it sounds like a great cliffhanger ending. :)