To Kill A Vampire by J. Sage

To Kill A VampireTo Kill A Vampire is the first book in Julianna Sage’s new Captive Souls series.  If you are looking for your typical Vampire story, then To Kill A Vampire might not be the right book for you.  However, if you are looking for a very interesting take on vampires, then you’re definitely looking in the right place.

Angelica Gentillini’s mundane existence is thrown into chaos the night the darkly alluring Erik Kestler abducts her from a Chicago nightclub, claiming he has come to save her life. In a horrific future where humans are near extinction-bred only for food and other unimaginable torment-Vlad, leader of the vampire race, has ordered her execution before she can write her novel, To Kill A Vampire-a book containing secrets to slay the immortal monsters. Can Erik and his handful of underground vampire resistance succeed in keeping Angelica alive? To save her from the rapidly converging evil legion, Erik plunges her into a nightmare life on the run. During their frantic escape, Angelica sustains a life-threatening vampire wound. Unable to bear losing his great love, Erik transforms her. Struggling to accept her new existence while encountering relentless pursuit, she must face the deadliest secret of all-the surest way to kill a vampire is to break his heart.

From the start it was obvious that Julianna Sage’s To Kill A Vampire was extremely different from any other vampire book that I’d ever read.  The only thing traditional about Sage’s vampires is that they can’t walk in the sun, they drink blood and have the ability to heal quickly (though they do have their weak points, which allowed them to be killed, like a typical vampire).  Other than that, that is where the similarities end.  I don’t really want to get into specifics, because it’ll take away from the enjoyment of discovery, when reading the book, but let’s just say that the differences are significant and fascinating.  It was nice to see a really different perspective.

The basis of the book is about Angelica Gentillini, a lawyer with a dark secret from her past and an extremely important future.  In fact her future is so important that droves of vampires are traveling back in time to kill her.  This is where Erik Kestler comes in; he was supposed to learn all he could about Angelica so he could help kill her, but he fell in love with her instead.  With Erik and a small group of rebel vampire’s, Angelica is forced to go on the run, trusting them to stop the evil Vlad and his minions from finding her and killing her.

I have to admit that there were so many things that I loved about this book, but one that I did not.  The story was interesting and definitely kept me captivated, but my biggest complaint is all of the gratuitous sex.  Trust me, I am by no means a prude, but it throws a good story off when sex is thrown in for the sake of sex.  I mean right of the start Angelica is sitting in a car, with a vampire that she doesn’t know, heading to a hideout because her life is at risk and she starts thinking about sex with him.  I’m sorry, but if my life were in danger, that’d be the last thing on my mind.  Not to mention all of the random sex that is thrown in.  At one point Erik and Angelica are driving to safety and they stop to have sex in the backseat of the car.  There also seemed like there was a point where the progression of the story stopped and the only focus was on sex and a little character development.  While the scenes were definitely steamy and well written, I thought there was too much focus on the sexual element in the story and not enough on the actual story.

Despite my few complaints, I thought the main storyline was very entertaining and unique.  There was some definitely twists and turns that I did not see coming, which is always a plus! I would definitely recommend To Kill A Vampire by Julianna Sage and am looking forward to seeing what the 2nd book in Sage’s Captive Soul series is all about.

Also reviewed by: Tricia’s review on Literary Escapism

—– SPOILER WARNING —- SPOILER WARNING —- SPOILER WARNING —-

Another thing that bothered my with this story was the very end. If Angelica changed Erik back to a vampire in the nursing home, wouldn’t he stay his current age?  The idea of her having sex with someone that looks like a grandpa kind of skeeved me out.  LOL There was a line that talked about restoring Erik with the powers of his youth, but it didn’t really address the appearance.  Maybe they’ll say something about it in the 2nd book.  LOL  I’m curious if anyone else who read the book felt this way too.  If so, please share in the comments, but remember to mark them as spoilers.

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