Although a slight improvement from Liberty Stafford's previous novel, Half Blood, the sequel Full Blood is still lacking---for me at least. The promise is there, but it just never seemed to come through all the way.

The beginning of the novel peaked my interest a bit, what with the sudden twist in the story and addition of characters. Sadly, this interest didn't last too long before the writing style and characters turned my slight interest into daydreaming instead of paying attention to the words on the page. Never a good thing, when reading a book-- the book should have your entire concentration, without much effort on your part (if any!). But with both novels in this YA series, I've found my mind wondering to other things...

The characters, while they had their moments, mostly felt too shallow for me-- not their personality so much as their lack of development. After two books, I still have no real image of any of the main characters in my mind, and honestly, at times I didn't care what happened to them next. There was nothing about them that made me want to continue the story, nothing to connect me to them. Even the conversations seemed a bit forced, artificial at times.

Although, for the most part, the writing was pretty well executed, I still had my problems with this element as well. Personally, I prefer when an author shows the reader what's going on, with good, captivating descriptions, instead of simply telling us, in forward, blatant words. For me, Stafford seemed to do more of the second option, and because of this not only was I lost during a few scenes, but the writing was dry, not lush and full of flowing descriptions.

I'm not saying that this book didn't have its moments, it did, but they were few and far between, though the ending picked up considerably. I guess I'm use to a slightly different kind of YA vampire novel, more of a (true) romantic story instead of the darker, yet lighter as far as story/character complexity, story that Stafford has provided. I'm not saying her work is bad, but I'm being honest-- it's not really my kind of book.

3 Stars! Perhaps this book will be a hit for others, but for me I was only left with disappointment, in the storyline and characters. There wasn't a lot that stood out for me, as far as originality goes, and what had the potential to be original, never quite made it. A quick, light read, but not one I would pick up again. Perhaps future books by this author will catch my interest, but for now, I'm setting her aside.

Thanks to Night Owl Romance (http://www.nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/), where I received this e-book for free in exchange for reviewing the book. (Free book does not equal biased review, however!) This review is the property of NOR. ( )

Vampire novels flood the bookshelves, with new ones coming out almost weekly. So what does Half Blood have to offer that the others out there don't have? For one, the main character, and dhampir, is a guy. Honestly, other than that, the novel has very little unique features.

It's your average “good versus evil” vampire story, with a “coming of age and all the hardships it brings” subplot. Not a horrible book, just not anything new. On top of that, the writing was about average as well, and the characters were a bit dry.

Although it's suppose to be a teen paranormal romance, the whole book seemed more like a Dark Gothic, though admittedly aimed more towards the younger readers than anyone else. I guess I was expecting more from the characters, and the story in general, then what I got in the end.

Don't think that I hated the book-- I didn't. I simply didn't love it either. A quick, short read, but one that's a bit forgettable in the end.

3 Stars! Although having Daniel as the main character provided a bit of a change for this genre, it wasn't enough to raise the book above all the other vampire books out there. It wasn't a waste of time, by any means, but unfortunately it wasn't a vampire book I'd recommend readily to everyone. I'm hoping that the sequel, Full Blood will bring more to the table than Half Blood did.

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Thanks to the publisher (via NOR, http://www.nightowlreviews.com) for the free e-book copy of Half Blood in exchange for the review.
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