And now a word from our intern

Fourth of July weekend—the perfect time to settle down, hit the beach, and curl up with a good book. There are usually four things that I like to do when I get to the beach—find the shade, recline, douse myself in sun block, and read. I’m an avid reader of short story collections. For me they’re perfect, I can sit down in small increments of time and get through an entire story without feeling like I’ve left off somewhere in the middle. But, the problem is, it’s always nicer to have a novel, a complete story where you can connect with the characters and see them develop over time.  Being a student, many of the novels I read have been assigned, and while they are interesting (for the most part), they take a lot of focus and concentration to get through—sometimes decoding sentences can takes the fun and relaxation out of reading.

Recently, I was reminded of how exciting and interesting page turners can be, reviving that desire to get the next book in a series, or read more books by the same author.  I have been reading Stephanie Laurens’ DEVIL’S BRIDE (my first historical romance!), and wanted to take a little break from the historical, so I picked up Jeaniene Frost’s FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON. From the first few pages, Frost’s novel intrigued me.

When Denise loses her husband and then cousin to the powers of another world, she is forced to seek the help of Spade, a centuries-old vampire who lusts after Denise but at the same time feels compelled to keep his distance while helping her. Denise and Spade seem to have a mutual attraction that they are (at this point) attempting to resist, but I feel as though these emotions will eventually come to a head. This is a story where mortal and immortal worlds collide with creatures taking their forms in humans as well as animals. The storyline is creative and well imagined with a strong balance of reality and fiction.

What I like so far about this novel is that the characters seem very relatable and not too distant from the real world, but at the same time there is the paranormal element that adds to the excitement of the story. Spoiler alert**specifically there is a scene in the beginning of the story where Denise goes to answer her door to a young child—as a reader I sensed that the child was suspicious, and it turned out that the creature that attacked Denise was taking the form of a young helpless child—I thought that was a wonderfully written scene. The author builds suspense, and then creates a twist that the reader half expects but is still surprised by.

As I sat at the beach I couldn’t keep from turning the pages—I found that the setting of the DEVIL’S BRIDE was harder for me to get into at first, I was more engrossed in Frost’s novel from the beginning. Pretty cool considering I don’t watch True Blood, have never read Twilight, and am not quite sure if vampires really exist!  Who knows, after this weekend I may start setting my sights in different directions the next time I hit the bookstore!