Venom & Vanilla (The Venom Trilogy #1)
Summary:
Successful Seattle baker Alena Budrene doesn’t want to die. But when she’s infected with a lethal virus spread by supernatural beings, her only chance for recovery is to make a deal with the devil—or in this case, a warlock.
Though he saves her life, it looks nothing like the life she once knew—and neither does she. Alena is a new breed of “Supe” no one has ever seen before. Even the supernatural police don’t know what she is. Now exiled to the northern side of the Wall, which marks the divide between humans and Supes, Alena is thrust into a dark and magical new world.
But just as she begins to adjust to all things supernatural, she realizes that her transformation is the least of her worries—and it was no accident. She was chosen…to be killed by a Greek hero trying to make a name for himself once more.
Alena was brought up to be subservient, preferring creating to fighting, and vanilla and honey to blood. But that was then. Now, to survive, she must stand up for herself—and this time she’s got fangs. But will she be ready to use them? (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Please note: I received a free copy of this book courtesy of kindle firsts and I voluntarily chose to write a review
Review:
This was a quick fun read that started out very slow for me, but built up quickly. Initially Alena comes off as a fundamentalist and listen to the resistance (particularly when you know the inevitable result) was a bit dull. Once Alena does transform, she becomes much more intriguing and I appreciated her development from unsure subservient female to coming into her own skin towards the end. Actually, it felt like sometimes she was overcompensating, but I’d rather that than the shrinking flower at the beginning.
I think I would have had this book at 4 stars if I felt that I had gotten to know the characters a little better, but at the end everyone was still pretty vague. We got some insight to Alena, but that’s about it. The other characters are only passing through at a superficial level and we never really get to understand anything about them. This was a fun one for a free read, but I’m not sure if I’d continue the series or not.
Warning: Contains repeated violence.
Rating: 3 stars!
Who should read it? Folks looking for a light distraction without heavy thinking required.
Want to read the whole series?
Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)
Hisses and Honey (The Venom Trilogy #3)