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PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES
Pretty When She Dies Series #1
by Rhiannon Frater
Publisher: Self-Published (Nov. 2008)
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Adult
Format: eBook (226 pages)
Source: Free book from blog tour host for honest review
Purchase: Amazon Print | Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Amaliya wakes under the forest floor, disoriented, famished and confused. She digs out of the shallow grave and realizes she is hungry…
… in a new, horrific, unimaginable way…
Sating her great hunger, she discovers that she is now a vampire, the bloodthirsty creature of legend. She has no choice but to flee from her old life and travels across Texas. Her new hunger spurs her to leave a wake of death and blood behind her as she struggles with her new nature.
All the while, her creator is watching. He is ancient, he is powerful, and what’s worse is that he’s a necromancer. He has the power to force the dead to do his bidding. Amaliya realizes she is but a pawn in a twisted game, and her only hope for survival is to seek out one of her own kind.
But if Amaliya finds another vampire, will it mean her salvation… or her death?
At A Glance
Bookgasm!!!
The Good
You know when you are eating a calorie free hot fudge brownie sundae while getting your feet massaged by a bare-chested Chris Hemsworth and you realize you are NOT dreaming? Yeah, that’s what this book is like for me.
Oh, the love I have for this book. It makes me feel tingly all over. I actually have the other two books of the series, but I am holding off a bit on starting them because I want to stretch out the happy happy joys joys I feel for this series. Sure, I’ve only read Pretty When She Dies, but did you guys ever get that feeling where you just KNOW that you are going to love the rest of a series? I have that feeling now. I actually had to force myself to put this book down just so I could prolong the experience. Every time I devour a book I love too fast, I get so sad that it ended so quickly. I wasn’t going to do that with Pretty When She Dies. I had to spread the fun throughout the day, savoring the tummy butterflies I got every time I picked it up again.
Amaliya was AH. MAZ. ZING. She is one of my new favorite characters. She is not your typical heroines. She’s dark in every sense of the word. She has dyed black hair, tattoos, piercings (*cough* nipple piercings *cough*), she likes hardcore metal music, and she likes the bad boys (she’s looking for her Led Zeppelin prince charming). But when she is brutally turned into a vampire, left in a grave to dig herself out, and abandoned by her creator to figure out what being a vampire means, we see her vulnerable side. I think she did pretty good at taking care of herself. She turns out to be a badass vampire, even if she is feeling her way through it blind when it comes to her new undead state. Eventually, she comes to embrace her new lifestyle. But before all that, she comes up with a plan to find another vampire that can help her learn what it means to be a vampire. And she finds Cian.
Cian has a dark past but has come to live a life close to being a human. He is the Master of Austin and likes his quiet life as the only vampire in the city. Amaliya messes up his “perfect” existence with her presence, especially since he is so attracted to her. Because Cian has a fiancé, a human fiancé. But Cian feels responsible to help Amaliya learn the vampiric ways. He knows her creator is evil and she needs all the training she can get to help keep herself alive from the creator’s sick games. Cian is hot, and only gets sexier as the book goes on. I loved that he just couldn’t resist Amaliya because she brought out an interesting side of his character. He’s a good guy, but he needed to embrace his vampire side so bad. Once the human stick up his but was removed, Cian became a force to be reckoned with.
The side characters were pretty awesome as well. Despise most of Amaliya’s family being major asshats, her grandma is there for her no matter what. Her grandma was pretty badass herself, and had me cracking up. Samantha, Cian’s fiancé, went through an interesting character arc. She was sweet, then crazy jealous, then mean, then fierce, then nice again. It was fun watching her go through the motions. Roberto. Oh, Roberto. Yeah, I will leave him as a surprise for you all.
Pretty When She Dies is a gritty, dark, and hilarious vampire book that will leave you giddy. The dialogue was done right and had those hints of humor that I love. The characters were all complex and interesting. The story was fascinating and refreshing. I liked the addition of zombies and how The Summoner (Amaliya’s creator) could control them. It was creepy as hell. The action was intense and could get pretty gruesome which worked for this book. I am going to keep my eye on Frater’s books for now on because she is a great writer.
The Bad
The beginning is a bit slow, but it picks up pretty fast after that.
The Snuggly
I LOVED Amaliya and Cian. Their lust for each other was so hot. They tried so hard to stay away from each other. Amaliya didn’t want to screw up Cian’s life more than she already had, and Cian was trying to stick with his bubbly, blond fiancé who made him feel human. But once Amaliya entered his world, he couldn’t help but relish being a vampire once again. I loved how they seemed so opposite at first, but it becomes obvious how similar they really are. It’s like they grew into the perfect couple.
Oh yeah, be ready for some Bow Chicka Bow Wow. We get awesome sexual tension and great sex scenes.
Final Thoughts
No doubt about it, I will be continuing this series. I hope it will make my favorite series list. Frater knows how to spin a gritty but humorous tale with characters you come to care about. Be on the look out for my reviews of the rest of the series in August because I have a feeling I can’t wait too long before I devour the rest of the books. Very highly recommended.
“It’s weird,” she whispered. “You know, being so powerful and yet being so vulnerable.”
“It’s the irony of being a vampire. Being immortal and being terrified of death.”
“I knew you were special when I took you. You were so pretty when you died. Exquisite in death. More lovely than you had been in life.””
“At first he thought her unremarkable, but she was one of those people who slowly emerged from the shadows the more you learned about them. The dimmest of all the lights had grown to blind him and he had to take her.”
“You have a boyfriend and didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t think you’d be okay with me having sex,” she answered.
“Oh, God! I don’t want to hear it, Grandmama!” He covered his ears with his hands and stood staring at her in disbelief.
“I told you. You’re such a wussy,” she said with a sad shake of her head.
Author Bio
Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of the As the World Dies trilogy (The First Days, Fighting to Survive, Siege,) and the author of three other books: the vampire novels Pretty When She Dies and The Tale of the Vampire Bride and the young-adult zombie novel The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters. Inspired to independently produce her work from the urging of her fans, she published The First Days in late 2008 and quickly gathered a cult following. She won the Dead Letter Award back-to-back for both The First Days and Fighting to Survive, the former of which the Harrisburg Book Examiner called ‘one of the best zombie books of the decade.’ Rhiannon is currently represented by Hannah Gordon of the Foundry + Literary Media agency. You may contact her by sending an email to rhiannonfrater@gmail.com. Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter
Summary of Pretty When She Kills (Book 2)
Amaliya Vezorak never believed in happy endings…
To make matters worse, Samantha, Cian’s ex-fiancée, is seeing ghosts, the untested vampire hunters of Austin are running scared as a supernatural war looms, a mysterious man is hunting Amaliya with the help of her one time lover, Pete, and Rachoń, the Summoner’s favorite progeny, appears to be out for revenge.
Summary of Pretty When She Destroys (Book 3)
Amaliya Vezorak always believed she was destined to live a failed life in obscurity until she was brutally murdered by an ancient vampire named The Summoner and reborn as a powerful vampire necromancer. Now it is up to her to save the world…
Deborah Shepherd
Thank you for inviting me to your page and awesome giveaway!
Jennifer Bielman
Good luck!
KtTurner
Thank you for the giveaway. I haven’t heard of this series before, but it sounds fantastic. Thank you for a great review. 🙂
Jennifer Bielman
Oh believe me, it is. Thanks for stopping by.
Brandi Kosiner
OMG you had me at bookgasm then I read calorie free brownie sundae while getting a massage. Need to check this out
Jennifer Bielman
LOL. Happy to get your attention. That was what I was hoping for because people NEED to try this book.
Sarah Elizabeth
I’m kinda scared to read this, I have a feeling it might be a bit too scary for me! Glad you enjoyed it though!
Jennifer Bielman
It could be a little scary. But the rest of the story was worth being scared.
Jaclyn Canada
A Ren and Stimpy reference 😉 I love seeing the excitement for this one. I had to add it to my to-read list because you just ooze joy. So happy you loved this one so much – it sounds fantastic. Excellent review 😀 Jaclyn @ JC’s Book Haven.
Jennifer Bielman
LOL, I was wondering if anyone got the Ren and Stimpy reference. Whenever I am scared or sad, I always sing Happy Happy Joy Joy and it makes me feel better. I really hope you read this one.
Elisa
This series has been on my radar to track down, but I didn’t realize it was so dark and good! Can’t wait to check it out now.
Great review – thanks for the fun giveaways too, gotta go enter them 🙂
Jennifer Bielman
It is pretty dark but the humor really mixes it up. I hope you love these ones.
Erika
I’ve seen this one around and thought it looked like a fun, dark read. I hope to read the series soon!
Jennifer Bielman
It was. Hope you get a chance to read it.
Ashley Robertson
Her book Last Bastian of the Living was one of the BEST zombie books I’ve ever read. PWSD is already on my TBR…Looking forward to reading it 🙂
Jennifer Bielman
I actually signed up for a blog tour for her zombie books. I have heard wonderful things.
Ashley Robertson
It’ll be a super fast read for you (I’m betting) 🙂 It was hard for me to put it down. I actually even wrote a review about it on Amazon and Good Reads…and I rarely have time write those anymore.
Jennifer Bielman
So excited. I love zombie books.
Denise Z
Oh Boy! I can’t wait for the hot fudge and massage LOL Thank you for sharing with us. I picked up Pretty When She Dies and am really looking forward to getting it read.
Jennifer Bielman
EEE, I so hope you love it as much as me.
JenM
I’ve been a bit burnt out on vamps, but I’ve heard Rhiannon’s books are awesome. I should give this series a try.
Jennifer Bielman
I know what you mean. It happens. But I don’t think this vamp book will burn you out in the least.
bn100
Nice review about the character