Review: ReVamped by Ada Adams

Title: ReVamped
Author: Ada Adams
Series: Angel Creek #1
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult
Release Date: 02/19/12
Reviewed by: Sara
Summary:

A simple mission turned deadly.

Nineteen-year-old vampire Dawn has led a sheltered life within the confines of her father’s presidential headquarters. Upon being sent on a mission to revamp four goofy misfits into guardians of a peaceful little town of Angel Creek, Dawn believes that all her dreams have finally come true. What starts off as a simple task, turns into something unexpected, changing Dawn’s life forever and leading the action-loving, thrill-seeking vampire teen on a path of mystery, danger and intrigue.

When a human girl is kidnapped by a group of rogue vamps, Dawn discovers that there is more going on in Angel Creek than meets the eye. And it all connects to Ethan, the cute newcomer who seems too perfect to be true, Sebastian, the mysterious vampire with a turbulent past, and even Dawn herself. Dawn must not only succeed in revamping the troubled recruits, but must also prevent the vampire race from being overtaken by a malevolent villain who has a strange and obsessive fascination with her. As threat escalates, romance blooms, and ghosts from her past begin to surface, Dawn is sure of only one thing: her life will never be the same.

Plot: 3.5 Stars
The vampires in this novel were a nice spin on the myth. There was just enough creativity to make them stand out against many other vampires, without them seeming too far-fetched. I also liked a lot of little details about the world the author created. There were some parts of this novel that read a bit more adult Urban Fantasy than Paranormal Young Adult (mostly the drug that gives the user vampire powers), but considering Dawn was a bit older than your average YA main character it worked. This novel had a few twists and turns I was expecting, but also a few that caught me off-guard.

Pace: 2.5 Stars
It took me a little to get into this novel. There were some punctuation inconsistancies (mostly the lack of quotations when a character spoke multiple paragraphs of dialogue) that I had to get used to while reading. Plus, the first half of the novel unfolded very slowly. It wasn't until I was around sixty percent through the novel that the action really started to grab me. One thing that really slowed this novel down was the dialogue. I'm all for characters explaining things in the place of paragraphs of descriptions, but the dialogue was often very wordy and sometimes ended up sounding more like a lecture than a casual conversation.

Characters: 2.5 Stars
I didn't really connect with the characters in this novel, because I feel like I didn't get to know them that well. I didn't get a lot of anyone's past, and therefore didn't always understand their motivations one hundred percent. I learned the most about Dawn, the main character, but some of the information was shared really late in the novel. I would have understood her and her choices a little better had some details been shared earlier. Ethan's character seemed to be there just to move the plot along at some points. Sebastian was a very intriguing character, but was a little too mysterious. The four recruits were a very odd mix of characters, but I liked them together and wish I could've learned more about them.

Cover: 3.5 Stars
This cover is very striking. I like the position of the cover model. You only get to see half of her face, but her expression grabs your attention. The purple is very bright and saturated, but still balanced. I like the cracked glass in the background. It fills the empty space without drawing the eye from the cover model. My favorite part of the cover is the font. The backwards letters are very interesting and unique, and the embellishments to the font are perfect. The necklace is an interesting addition, but its position is a little strange. It's sitting too high on her neck and off to the side.

Overall: 3 Stars

Disclosure: I received a copy of this novel for review from the author.