Customer Reviews

Everafter

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really wanted to love this book. I enjoy vampire books of all types and love reading lesbian vampire stories. This one just didn't live up to the reviews here. SPOILERS AHEAD

I thought the author did a good job of describing the feelings and experiences of being a vampire and shapeshifter.

I didn't like the story because it felt rushed and I never cared about the characters. The girl was attacked and then becomes a vampire and her girlfriend finds out about it and about the existence of werewolves/shapeshifters all in a day and is totally okay with it immediately. Not only that but she is IMMEDIATELY okay with the idea of her girlfriend feeding on her blood and even hints that she would like her girlfriend to bite her next time and is turned on by it. What? Come on... No matter how much you love someone you don't find out they are a vampire and then get excited about being bitten by them within mere hours of finding out. There was no questioning by the girlfriend. The emotions and reactions didn't seem real. I know it's a vampire story but the emotions and reactions still need to feel reasonable to the reader to get into the story. Not only was she immediately accepting of the situation and her girlfriend needing her blood but within a short time the girlfriend decides to become a were/shapeshifter with little knowledge of what that means for her.

Another thing that really bugged me was the whole 'feed off your one true love' story plot whereas on a very rare occasion (almost never according to the book) that a vamp finds a one true love and a perfect match they can feed off of that person and that person alone and thus put off the full transformation into vampirism. This seemed silly to me and the story line that if the vampire fed off of another person just once that the whole plan of feeding off that perfect match wouldn't work anymore.

The girlfriend turned shapeshifter is also exceptional which seemed implausible and just too perfect. She is of course sired by a royal line of panther and is able to quickly overcome her new animal inside her and keep from changing while her vampire girlfriend fed off of her. All these coincidences of these two women being exceptional and perfect for each other was just too much for me. I am all for a 'soul mate' book but I felt this was just a bit too far for me to enjoy it.

I had a hard time getting through this book because I never got to a point where I even cared if these two people made it through this story together.

Ever since The Hunger and perhaps before, lesbians and vampires have gone together like PB & J. Nell Stark, who has two solid previous novels in the romance genre, has joined with Trinity Tam in creating a kind of paranormal romantic suspense novel. Stark is a fine writer and always creates smart, likable characters. Trinity Tam has also created a smart character in Alexa (Stark writes Valentine and Tam writes Alexa). Though her prose style can be a bit reaching at times, it does not detract from this exciting and romantic novel. And it's the first in a series, so there is more to come. This reader will anticipate it.

I had read an interview on AfterEllen with Nell Stark and Trinity Tam about this book a few weeks back and decided I had to read it.

Now, the Paranormal Romance category has been saturated, if not sopping wet (and not in a good way) for the last few years, if not getting beaten like a dead horse. Since the success of the first few Anita Blake books (and the rest headed straight to the darkest depths of hell, where they belong. Yes, LKH needs to step away from the computer for a while and pick up a thesaurus. And learn exactly what Dom/Sub is). With that said, I had wasted lots of money buying into the genre with a few good books and authors that want me to keep reading.

Trinity and Nell put together a good book. I won't go into specifics or one of those summary reviews because I SUCK at summarising books and movies. I was apprehensive on reading it because my experience in reading lesbian stories comes from bad Xena fan fiction and those who wrote it continuing on to write other things which makes you prick your ears and cock your head like a dog trying to figure out that C-O-O-K-I-E means COOKIE! Too ridiculous and WTF?

everafter isn't the great american novel or a classic Anne Rice, but it beats the hell out of Laurell K. Hamilton's recent (and I mean the last several books) waste of paper and ink.

I'm gonna try and summarise a little now, bear with me.

Valentine and Alexa are lovers. Gasp! OMG! Yes, both Val and Alexa are, bear I say it, WOMEN. But don't let that keep you from reading. The sex scenes last about a paragraph and are good (unlike the chapter long WTF? PWP? gang bangs in LKH novels). The sex is tastefully written and sincere. No one's hanging from the rafters and no campfire scenes (sorry, Xena FF flashback), nor are there any bathroom scenes (once again, sorry, Xena FF writers trying to branch out flashback). If you're hetero, you'll live.

In a nutshell, Val gets attacked and turned into a vampire. In Nell and Trinity's world, vampires are the by-product of a parasite. Val can live to keep her soul and not turn total vamp if she exclusively feeds off her soulmate/love of her life, Alexa. Val wants no part of it for fear that she hurt her beloved, but Alexa basically, says, "Hell yeah! I'll do it!" So we get to witness Val's struggle to keep her humanity and her fears of harming Alexa while she learns to control her "thirst".

The second part of the book is from Alexa's POV. Damn, I forgot to mention that the first half is from Valentine's POV. Oh, well, I just did and I hope you catch on quick. Anyhoo, yes, Alexa. The constant draining from Val is affecting her health and she isn't going to live forever, like Val. So Alexa does some creative Googling and comes up with a solution. Become a shapeshifter so she can heal and also live forever. Of course, Val isn't too happy about that, but they work it out and Alexa gets herself infected with a rare vintage of panther virus.

Basically, the story is about these two lovers coming to terms and living with their "monsters" and overcoming them to continue their love. Their determination to be with each other is the main plot of this book. There is a sub-plot of Val seeking out the vampire who attacked her, but it surfaces in waves. Not a huge plot point, but I guess it was a diversion from the Alexa/Valentine relationship to break things up a bit. Personally, I could care less about Val's maker, that's how engrossed I was in the everyday goings on and struggles between the two characters.

If you're looking for extreme excitement and thrills, this ain't the one for you, but if you want a look into the lives of two women, who love each other til no end with the elements of fur and fangs thrown in, then this is the book for you.

As the title of this post said, it was too short. It also could have been fleshed out a bit more with lengthier slices of life, but the books stands on its own and I'm waiting for the next.

You don't have to be a Buffy or Twilight fan to enjoy this book. The politics, the science, the romance (not to mention the full-sensory prose) all make it a really smart book--and a page turner as well. It's money well spent. I look forward to the rest of the series!

Well written, great story, you wont be able to put it down. From the very first page you are pulled in to the story and you wont be let go until the end. I read it in one sitting and cant wait until the next book. This book is worth every penny....

This is probably the best recent treatment of vampire/lycanthrope fiction that I have come accross. I look forwards to more in this series.

I can't wait to read the next book! I have been waiting for lesbian vampires!!!!! Smile

If you put awesome and sauce together you get awesomesauce and that is exactly what this book is. I loved it. I can't say that enough. The characters of Valentine and Alexa resonated well with me and I absolutely absorbed the story in less than a day. I was compelled to read this book and am loving the writing style of these two wonderful authors. There is a real story here that seemed well planned and had me truly wondering what certain characters' agendas are (Helen is very interesting!) and what is going to happen to Val and Alexa in the grand scheme of things. I felt that this book was plotted wonderfully and you truly get a glimpse of the very loving and devoted relationship between the two main characters.

The story is told in 1st person first from Val's point of view and then in the 2nd half from Alexa's. I wasn't sure how I would feel about this at first because I was quite attached to Val, but honestly I thought it was a great transition. Both women have distinctive personalities and the writing flowed very well from one part of the story to the other. The sex in the story is more PG13, but that doesn't make it less sexy. Some of the things these two say to each other are definitely heat inducing.

Another thing that I liked is that there are some very cool guys in here. Make no mistake this is definitely a lesbian novel, but sometimes I feel like all men tend to be jerks in these books and that just isn't true. It makes the world feel more "real" to me.

I've only recently bothered reading paranormal romances as until now I thought I would hate the genre. Twilight was forced on me by a friend a few years ago and I've been making fun of it ever since. I just thought it was ridiculous and figured the entire genre (gay and straight) would be riddled with similarly ridiculous novels. Luckily I took a chance and discovered I was wrong. Maybe lesbians just do it better *wink*wink*.

I've already finished the 2nd and am moving on to the 3rd. They can't finish the 4th fast enough. I hope for many more collaborations in the future.

I've had a hard time finding vampire/shifter lesbian books and I found this. Wasn't too sure how it was going to be. Fell in love with this series in the first few pages. I cannot wait for the 2nd to come out! And if anyone knows of more please comment on this

This book is really hard to review. On the one hand it is a really good book when it comes down to describing the typical things of the genre, like what does a vampire feel when sucking on someone or what a were feels when changing. Honestly, the authors do a good job there. Nice descriptions, involvement of all senses. I liked that.
The problems I had with this book? For one, it didn't touch me. There was no point when I felt any sympathy with either of the two heroines.
And then there's the other thing: I had a problem with the point of view. The first half of the book is written from Valentine's/the vampire's point of view, the second half of the book is written from Alexa's/the were's point of view.
There are not too many books written in first person point of view that got me. But just last week I finished one that touched me so deeply that it had me in tears for the last twenty or so pages. This didn't happen at any point with 'Everafter'.
Still, for those who are looking for a good vampire/were story and don't mind first person point of view. Go ahead. The storyline isn't that surprising. But there aren't so many lesfic vampire/were stories out there.
Overall, it's not a bad book. I just couldn't get into it.