Customer Reviews

Shades of Gray

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This was my first vampire book by Amanda Ashley and i must say it was a catcher. The romance was wonderful, Gregori really knows how to make a woman feel exrta special. It wasn't just a vampire story but it had time travel, action, and ofcourse love. Enjoyed reading it.

I absolutely hated Ashley's A Darker Dream but the premise of Shades of Gray sounded too interesting to pass up. I must say, the author has definitly improved.
Marisa Richards is an ordinary woman. She never would suspect that attending a road-side carnival would put her life in danger. The carbival's main attraction is Count Alexi Kristov, a dormant vampire of terrifying power. The scent of Marisa's blood awakens the count from his centuries long slumber.
Fortunately, Grigori Chiavari has been tracking Alexi for some time so he may take revenge on him for killing his children and turning his wife into a mindless puppet. Grigori decides to protect Marisa at all costs. He doesn't plan to come to love her. Following Grigori and Alexi, Marisa also gains professional vampire assassin Edward (a common name among vampire hunters) Ramsey as a protector. But will it be enough to stop the deranged monster?
The book had a great start. Grigori was an intriging hero because he's not a 'life-is-a-curse' type which can spoil a book for me. The first half is riddled with great conflict, the anomosity between Edward and Grigori, Marisa dealing with the fact that Grigori is a vampire, and even Grigori being torn between his wife (who he wants to free from Alexi) and his budding love for Marisa.
It's not until after the heroes return from their time-traveling quest that the book starts to drag. The suspence element that exsisted earlier is gone while Alexi licks his wounds. Things get mundane as Grigori and Marisa prepare for their wedding.
Sadly, the nose-dive is the climax or what tries to pass for one. Instead of a big fight scene, Alexi ( who is portrayed as the super-powered mega-evil until this point) is pathetically easy to beat. Edward gets turned into a vampire, says 'I guess I'll be going now' and leaves as if he where going out to fetch the paper instead of being tranformed into what he hates. It's like Ashley decided she needed to wrap everything up in the last thousand words.
Despite it's problems the first half of the book is strong enough to make it feel like it was worth the time and money you put into it. While a feel cheated by the ending, I enjoyed it enough to recommend it others with a word of caution. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea.

Picture Halloween. Children trick or treating, a crowd of 20 somethings looking for thrills at a seedy carnival. Our heroine, Marisa, is curious about one of the side show attractions, a vampire held by silver chains. She returns to the tent after her friends have left to examine the strange being. She touches his hand. It moves!She stumbles, falls and cuts herself....her blood awakens the long captive Alexi...and so begins a truly exciting novel that carries the reader through the streets of modern day Los Angeles, through time and the the Tuscan hills. Grigori's persona is on point as the vampire who hunts the ancient one who took his wife. Marisa is the twenty first century woman who has to reconcile her knowledge that the man with whom she is falling in love is one of the "undead". Edward, the vampire slayer enters their lives to add a unique "twist" to the story. It is a "I can't go to be until I finish this" book. Strong writing make it a book that evokes equally strong visuals, leading this reviewer to see this one as an easy transfer to the silver screen. Attention producers, here is a book that should be a movie! Its characters are so clearly drawn, its action so exciting and its plot points so vivid, that a movie maker could produce a vehicle that would enthrall both men and women. Who would be the perfect Alexi,Grigori, Marisa and Edward? Readers, weigh in!

This is the first time I read a vampire romance story book.....and immediately fell in love with the characters, the storylines......just lovely!!! I especially marvel at the desciption of pain that Grigori has to suffer when he is in touch with the sun......I mean, my heart really went out to the man (vampire). And the ending is simply marvellous! At least I put the book down with contentment that the characters will be together forever.

I like the fact the author allowed the herione to find out about the hero's secret and overall this book starts out to be a good read. However towards the end of this book, the main characters actions contradict what they did in the beginning. Throughout the book Marisa doesn't like the idea that Grigori is a vampire; yet she askes Grigori to marry her knowing what he is and considers becoming a vampire herself. Edward is a vampire hunter who becomes a vampire in the end. Because of the context of the story, Edward should have been left for dead. Edward was changing his life i.e. moving into a house and thinking about his future. If leaving Edward alive was supposed to show how far Grigori was willing to go for Marisa's love, it didn't work. Grigori had already won Marisa's heart earlier in the story. Secondly, Grigori already showed compassion throughout the book, especially towards Antionette, his wife before he became a vampire, by respecting her last wish: death. Which would release Antionette's soul once her children's deaths were avenged. Edward should have thought twice before leaving as a vampire considering that he was asked by Grigori to "kill" Antionette and that Alexi, the villian, took Edward's will but left him with his mind. Antionette, having a worse fate at the hands of Alexi, with no mind or will, chose death once Grigori made her into a vampire. With this in mind, should Grigori have granted Marisa's request to save Edward's life knowing both the good and bad sides of immortality?

I found this book to be comparable to a low budget movie. Both the characters and the story line are weak. The strongest character is Alexi; the villain of the story. I also found that the story was choppy and didn't flow smoothly. I found many of the passages to be unimportant to the story and felt that they were 'fillers'. Ex. on page 127 there is a discussion on what kind of Chinese food to order for dinner. Edward asks Marissa if she wants anything in particular and she answers, "No.Well, some sweet-and-sour chicken maybe." Page 148 is Marissa having a mundane conversation with her boss that is so unimportant to the story...a filler. On one of the last pages (389), Edward; who's quest in life is to destroy all vampires, is made into one. Once he realizes this he says, "Well, I guess I'll be going.", as if this life altering experience was meaningless.

I really went out of my way to get this book and was so excited when I finally received it. ! I am very disappointed and give it a big thumbs down.

Alexi-Bound by chains of silver, the vampire had slept for 100 years, locked in a world of pain and hunger, until the seductive scent of one woman's blood recalled him to ravenous life. Marisa- Unnerved by the sight of the carnival's captive "vampire," she stumbled from the tent-into the arms of the most striking man she'd ever seen. Mesmerized by his supernatural embrace, she believed him when he swore all he desired to drink were her kisses. Grigori- Lost in darkness, Grigori found new sustenance in the light of Marisa's love, and new purpose in his life. Only he could protect her from the evil that stalked the night. Now, hungering for her bittersweet caress, he vowed to show her that not all the undead were monsters, and that somewhere between the black and white of damnation and desire lay infinite...Shades of Gray. I was under the impression when I bought this book that it was a historical romance. The cover is misleading. But it is a good read. I think it could have been more action-packed. It had all the wonderful workings of a great love story but there was something lacking toward the end, but I did enjoy the story. If you love vampire stories this is a pretty good book.

I just read this book a few weeks ago and the fact that I can barely remember the characters is telling. I realy have to disagree with those readers who found t his book, enthralling, great ... Reading it was actually a chore. If a book interests me, I tend to try to read it in ne sitting. It took me ages to finish this book and in between I read a Linda Howard and a John Grisham. If you want a really enthralling vampire read, try one of Linda Lael Miller's Vampire series or, better still, Jasmine Cresswell's Prince of the Night. The latter is probably one of the most original vampire and enthralling romances.

This was definitely an interesting story. Great suspense in the beginning thru the middle, sort of loses a bit of steam toward the end. The hero was wonderful and you can't help but feel for him. The heroine was a bit ho-hum, not much depth with her. At first you love her, then it's almost as if you could blame the author for making you turn against her. She goes from strong and compassionate to simpering and immature. Not enough to make that much of an impact, just a bit annoying.

The author also seems to hint at a lot of things like her blood being the sweetest he's ever tasted. Are they drawn together by something more than just plain old-fashioned attraction? It's never clear! You never get a strong understanding of how these vampires live. It's as if all we need to know are the bare facts: yeah, they live forever, it gets boring, they drink blood yady, yada, yada. At one point when one of the characters is turned into a vampire, two seconds later he says, "Well, I guess I'll be going." I'm no expert, but it struck me odd... that he might need a few pointers in his new "lifestyle?" Not to mention shock that seemed more like surprise then instant acceptance!?

I wish I hadn't wasted my time with this one, but only because I have over 300 in my TBR pile that have been calling to me. It's a pleasant enough read. I just can't help comparing it to Christine Feehan's "Dark" series or Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Dark Hunters" series. Both of those authors have created such awesome worlds and their books are, well, better than chocolate! Really.

This was the first Amanda Ashley book I had read. Though cringed a little at the stereotypical romance cover, I decided to give it a try.

"Shades of Gray" is the story of Grigori, a two hundred year old vampire and Marissa, a modern day woman who plays the leading lady in this work. There are several secondary characters including the evil Alexi, also a vampire, and Ramsey, a vampire hunter. The story begin with Marissa inadvertenly reawakening Alexi after he had been bound for a hundred years. Both Ramsey and Grigori are hunting Alexi, though for very different reasons. Ramsey out of a sense of duty and the belief all vampires are evil, and Grigori out of a need for revenge for past wrongs.

Ashley is wonderful in creating characters that are likeable and believeable. Her scenes are unique and set well. She created interesting dilemnas for her characters that could easily have led this to be a great work.

Sadly all those conflicts led to a flat ending and a so so story.

One major annoyance for me was the repetition of descriptions. I lost count of how many times Ashley described Grigori's voice as sounding as "rich as chocolate" or "dark chocolate" or "chocolate velvet." And so on it went. He was described over and over when once would really have been enough.

The dilemna of Grigori's late wife and Marissa's burgeoning relationship with Ramsey could have added so much to this story but it is all blithely ignored and everything wrapped up nice and neat. The fact that Marissa seems a strangely weak character helped not at all. Her whole life seems to revolve around being alone and going to and from work. No one really inquires about her life, even when she disappears for days on end.

The first half of the book is a series of "go away and come back" scenes as Marissa and Grigori struggle to decide if they want to be together or not. The same scene of kissing and then Grigori fleeing lest he take Marissa's blood is seen at least three times and gets boring after awhile.

For a light afternoon read go for it. For a keeper keep on looking.