Customer Reviews

Dead Perfect

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The story started out well. It was interesting, a little different, and my initial thoughts were of settling in for a nice long good read. The characters intrigued me. However, by the middle of the book, my feelings changed. It felt too long and drawn out. I was tired of waiting for Ronan to tell Shannah he was a vampire. I was also tired of waiting for them to get together. I lost interest and wanted it to be over.

Story brief: Shannah is dying of a blood disease. She is intrigued with Ronan's habits at night and follows him for several months. She believes he might be a vampire. She works up the nerve to go to his home to ask him to change her to a vampire since she is dying. In her heart, she really doesn't want to be changed, which he knows through his mind reading ability. He takes her in and has her drink a little of his blood, which temporarily halts her disease. He has to continue doing this periodically to keep her healthy. After each time, he removes her memory of drinking his blood. Ronan writes romance novels under the name Eva Black. His agent wants him to do book signings and interviews. He hires Shannah to pretend to be Eva Black and do the signings and interviews for him. She agrees. They fall in love with each other, but have no sex because he fears he might accidentally kill her. A subplot involves a vampire hunter and a reporter who believe Ronan is a vampire and follow him. One wants to kill him, the other wants an interview.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
Some readers might be attracted to the story because the couple does not have sex until after they marry. They want her white wedding gown to have special meaning. The end-of-the-book sex scenes are tame and vague, possibly appropriate for young adults.

Story length: 340 pages. Sexual language: almost none. Number of sex scenes: 3. Length of sex scenes: ½, 1 and 2 pages. Setting: current day various cities U.S. Copyright: 2008. Genre: paranormal romance.

To start with I love Amanda Ashley her books are usually excellent and entertaining but this one leaves alot to be desired, the story was so minatnous that you would keep thinking you already read the page but when you look it is a different page, it goes on like this for 3/4 of the book then it finally moves foreward to a very boreing ending. I was really disappointed in this and wonder why she even bothered with it. If your looking to continue with this series you can safely pass this one and not waste your money and hopefully the next one will be back to her oldself and give us our moneys worth.

The book was a below average effort with the same formulaic plot we have become bombarded with in this genre. Hunk vampire meets damsel in distress, realizes his life has become a barren existence, saves girl by turning her, girl eventually forgives and they live happily ever after. Ho hum...been there, read that...again and again and again.

All in all, this needed a better editor and continuity checker. One big problem with this book is that the first few chapters are all about her following him and learning all of his routines...right down to having what amounts to a homeless camp (chair, coolers, blanket) set up in the woods across the street from his house...and yet once they meet the book moves forward completely ignoring that she knows anything about his routine. Additionally, he knows she is following him and never "reads" her...just lets her keep following him night after night. His routine was to go the movies each week...when he takes her it is written like a new thing for him with all the crowds that bother him. There is more that is ignored too. Also, the whole plane crash thing is silly and written with no regard to the lasting effects being the sole survivors would have on a person...and the media attention it would generate.

I don't think Amanda Ashley is going to be on my "Must Read" list anymore.

***SOME SPOILERS!!!***
Another reviewer titled her review of "Dead Perfect" as "Amanda Ashley At Her Worst", but I believe this latest tepid offering is "Amanda Ashley At Her Usual". I adore paranormal romances, so much so that my sweetheart has willingly agreed to sprout hair under the full moon or bite my neck if it'd get me to stop adding to my already extensive collection of books. I've read most of AA's work, usually because I've gone through everything else paranormal out there, and it's always the same thing. Moody, brooding male with fangs meets goodie-two-shoes self-righteous female...and for some reason the uber-sexy vamp always falls for the uptight heroine. The one decent twist (and the only reason I went for 2 stars instead of 1) is the lead female (Shannah) dealing with a "mysterious" blood disorder which is terminal. Other than that, this book is very predictable. I believe that if I read another paranormal romance that involves the male character saving the female from death's door by "turning" her, which is promptly followed up by said female "freaking out" afterwards, I'll honestly "freak out" myself. Hell, if I were dying and a dark, brooding, seriously sexy vamp guy saved my life because he loved me and couldn't live without me, I'd say "THANK YOU"! So, if there are any hot furry and/or fanged guys out there who'd risk a visit to suburban Detroit (which is scary in itself)...I may not be dying just yet, but believe me, I'd definitely say "Thanks"! :)

I love paranormals and have been reading them for years, but I've become soured on them recently because every one I pick up is full of soft porn, characters with attitude and rude behaviors and graphic, foul language. The elegance of writing seems to have disappeared. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I picked this book up. I'd read a short story by Ms Ashley in a paranormal anthology and liked her style there so I took a chance on a full length novel.

I was pleasantly surprised. This book is generally sweet, even the 'vampire hunter' isn't all that bad. I've read the gamat from urban fantasy to Dark Hunter books and while many of them are enjoyable, sometimes I just want a vintage romance-one that is plain and simply about two people falling in love. this is one of those. There's really no big challenge or danger for the two of them and I liked that.

Both characters are likeable and while there were a few mistakes the author made (Ronan's supposed to be streetsmart, brave and mean and yet both Shannah and the hunter are able to breach his house by avoiding the locked gate and climbing over the fence. If he survive this long by 'being smart', wouldn't he have at least put in a security system??). Over all though, Ronan is strong and caring, Shannah is likeable and attempting to be strong even though she's facing death.

Plot-wise, well, again this is plain and simply a girl meets vampire and falls in love. If you're wanting a deep and angst filled story-this isn't it. If you want something to curl up with in front of a fire with a cup of chocolate and a couple of free hours-this is it.

Also, be aware that this book is pretty clean-of langugage, violence and sex. The author does something refreshing in my opinion, and makes a point of having both characters wait until they're married before making love. It's pretty rare to find that nowadays when most authors have their characters jump into bed within the first hour and then start thinking about love. It felt more meaningful to me for the two characters that they waiting and wanted it to be special. (Lynn Kurland writes time travel/ghost stories and has a similar motto. Her characters wait for marriage and for me, it just heightens the intimacy and shows the talent of the writer if they can heighten that tension without actually giving details.). to those reviewers complaining because there aren't any graphic love scenes...well, try using your imagination. I like it better that way.

The book is not perfect, by any stretch and there are a few inconsistencies here and there, I kept wanting to hit Ronan and Shannah when it never occured to either of them to DO something about the security around the house when they new the hunter was after them, and the writing style can be a little too sweet sometimes (again think vintage romances from the 80's).

And finally, though it's really a little thing...I love to eat so when I read that even the smell of food makes vampires sick, it palled things a bit for me. No more See's chocolate? Too sad.

So...overall the book was worth my time and will be yours too as long as you know what kind of book your opening. A nice vampire romance between two likeable people.

(As to the reviewer who complained that AA's books were 'all the same', that may be true...but it's also true of almost every author out there who writes more than one book. S. Kenyon, C Feehan, P Briggs, even L Kurland all have the same characters in the same situations. Expect it, enjoy it in authors you like and move on).

Dead Perfect is right there at the top along with Amanda's other novels. She brings her characters to life to the point where I laugh, cry and love with them. It's a hard to put down read. I am looking forward to her coming novels. For all you vampire lovers, this is a must read.

I read three quarters of the book and then had to stop. The book is very slow and took me the entire time reading it to become interested. It is a decent story, but there is no depth to the book. I thought the dialogue was awful and Shannon was naive and dumb. Not quite sure how the book ended, but could not take any more of this book. Not sure if I will read this author again. Don't waste your time.

This is actually the first book I have read by Amanda Ashley... I have recently fallen in love with paranormal romance and was instantly drawn to the plot as described on the back of this book.

I read this book in exactly eight hours (with a few breaks) and was fairly entertained throughout. Although I found the story a bit predictable, and the characters a little shallow, it was entertaining and made me want to see how it turned out. The story moved along at a good pace and, although the I completely foresaw where Ashley was taking the story, I was happy to follow her trail.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who has a limited amount of time to read... I mean, really, there are much grander books out there if you really want to budget your time wisely. However, if time is on your side and you quite literally just want a brain numbing bit of fun, pick this one up!

I love this genre but this book was obvious, hollow, and contradicting. The dialog was stilted and elementary. The main female character and her mother are both portrayed as brainless. I was bored to tears!

I've read all of Amanda Ashley's vampire books and just love them. The characters are always well developed, the romances are very sweet, and the endings are usually unpredictable.