Vampire books! AT (After Twilight)

Hi!

So with the recent release of the new Twilight gender swap novel by Stephanie Meyer, Life and Death I thought it would be call to talk about some of my favourite vampire books, and a number of these were my after Twilight reads when I still wanted more Vampires!

First I want to talk about The After Dark series by C.C Hunter!

REBORN

Title: Reborn

Author: C.C Hunter

Series: Shadow Falls: After Dark #1

Publisher: May 20th 2014 by St. Martin's Griffin

Genre: YA, Paranormal and Supernatural

Goodreads Synopsis:

"For Della Tsang, Shadow Falls isn't just a camp: it's home. As a vampire who's never fit in with her human family, it's the one place she can truly be herself. But when a mysterious new guy arrives at camp, Della’s whole world is thrown into turmoil. Chase is a vampire with secrets, who knows more than he’s telling. But the more time she spends with him, the more she begins to trust this attractive stranger—and feel drawn to him. But romance is the last thing she wants—as she keeps telling Steve, the hunky shapeshifter who won’t stop trying to win her heart. And if Della isn't careful, he just might succeed.　 When a new case puts everyone she cares about in danger, Della’s determined to do everything she can to save them . . . even if it means teaming up with Steve and Chase, who leave her more confused than ever. With their lives on the line, will Della and her friends survive—with their hearts intact?"

This is a continuation of the original Shadow Falls series which followed Kylie as she discovers who and what she really is, however After Dark follows one of her best friends Della Tsang!. I think you could potentially read this book by itself and still understand what is going on to an extend but the first series is so good that I think it is worth reading both! Plus both have vampires in it anyway, this series is just focused on Della and even though you get the little bits about her friends and what they are it really shows more into the vampire community in the series which is why I was so eager to read it.

Della is such a strong female character and at times reading her stubbornness and attutitde can rub me the wrong way she makes up for it in her determination and her great one liners! She has been through a lot and her family make up a lot of why she is the way she is, coming from a classic Asian family where you need to be the best and anything less is not good enough. The issues for her here is that she was turned into a vampire and everything changed, now she is at a supernatural camp, Shadow Falls. I have just started book 3 in the series which is the final I believe, I love being back in this world the setting is so great and its cool to see the world from a different perspective and delve more into the Vampire community of this world to see how it works.



Its so intricate with both there own community but also the FRU its like the FBI but for the supernatural and they run the show keeping everyone in line. And Della wants to be apart of it she is so kick butt, she wants nothing more than to make a difference the great thing about this series is that you can watch her grow and realize to not see the world so black and white. I love the relationships as well, between Della and her 2 best friends its great and so relate able, one thing I was never too happy about was that there is a love triangle in this. But its getting better and I like the way that Della is handling it at the moment. Overall its a great series and even has a few novellas that go with it that make it an even better series! Werewolves, Shapeshifters, Witches and Warlocks, Ghosts, Fae, Vampires and much more make this an epic series go check it out!

The next series woth all the lovely vampires is the House of Night Series by Kristen and P.C Cast

MARKED

Title: Marked

Author: P.C and Kristin Cast

Series: House of Night #1

Publisher: Published May 1st 2007 by St. Martin's Griffin

Genre: YA, Supernatural Vampire

Goodreads Synopsis:

"After a Vampire Tracker Marks her with a crescent moon on her forehead, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx and has affinities for all five elements: Air, Fire Water, Earth and Spirit. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite club, is mis-using her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny – with a little help from her new vampyre friends (or Nerd Herd, as Aphrodite calls them)"

This series has a lot of interesting reviews and a lot of people loved it but some didn't, I have always been on the fence about it. Some of the books are so good and have a great story to them but others can be frustrating with the lead character Zoey, BUT before you decide to fully jump in please be aware that there are 12 books in this series plus a few novellas about characters seen in the series. This is a full commitment kind of story and that was one of the reasons why I decided to finish it even when I had mixed feelings about the books.

I did like the character of Zoey, she goes through a lot of growth from the day she is marked to the end of the series and its this evolution that kept me going back to the books. Plus some of the other characters were so great and fun that I just fell in love, Stark would probably be my favourite character of the whole series! He is snarky and funny and the growth that he makes as a character is just as great as Zoeys. The relationships too in this are great as there is so many different people in the books you get to see all kinds of relationships friendships and all the ups and downs that the group go through.

The villain in the series start off really great but I think overall the series could have been wrapped up sooner. The Villains have a lot of craziness around them and I am glad that the authors did decide to do a novella about the early life of one of these characters. I also like the way the system of being a vampyre works with having cool special abilities! Like being able to control the elements of having an affinity to death plus I love the way they integrate some of the ancient ideas of the area you can really see that they took the time to look into it and research which definitely helped the story.

The world building and type of vampyre is great and unique and thats one of the reasons why I jumped in but no just that I followed it to the end! I wasn't overly happy with the ending but it was still a good series and although it took a long time I liked how some of the characters ended up.
I do love how the fact that even though they did change the covers the still kept the great pattern on them to put it in together with the marks the vampyre have.

The last series I read through my AT stage was the EVERNIGHT series by Claudia Gray

EVERNIGHT

Title: Evernight

Author: Claudia Gray

Series: Evernight Series #1

Publisher: HarperTeen Feburary 10th 2009

Genre: Paranormal/Vampire

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Bianca wants to escape. 

She's been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in. 

Then she meets Lucas. He's not the "Evernight type" either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him. 

"I couldn't stand it if they took it out on you," he tells Bianca, "and eventually they would." 

But the connection between Bianca and Lucas can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart . . . and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed."

I really loved this series! The writing of this series and all of Claudia Grays books are just so good and why she has become one of my auto buy authors!. This follows Bianca as she deals with the normal life of high school yet its not as normal as you may think. It is a little spoilery saying it is about vampires but it is in such a way that you still will get a bit of a shock.


I like the way Claudia shows vampires in this way it is so different from other ones that I have read before and it does it in a way that it makes you seem closer to what humans are. It makes them seem more normal, easily relatable and some of the other beings that are in these books makes for such a interesting combination but I don't want to spoil that but it is such a refreshing change to the normal combination that authors write with vampires that it made the series even better for me.

I love the main characters in this series too there relationships are so great and funny that it puts a good mix into the plot. Bianca is such a likable character and so easy relatable, she goes through so much and makes so much changes but develops these friendships which are insightful and reflects what I have been through minus the whole paranormal aspect. Lucas is also a really cool character, he is the classic bad boy with very hard center and there is just something about him. One of my other favourite characters is Balthazar! He is just awesome but yet caring and sweet mixed with a badass quality that makes me so happy plus he gets his own book too which made me fall in love with him even more!

The setting is really cool, it goes with the vampire angle though as its so Gothic and the way I picture the school in my head is just so epic! And I like the setting for the companion book too it so mystic and thats something both have in common its just perfect for the setting and the plot. I love the Villans in this series too there are so many different sides and it seems that it is just black and white but thats a cool thing about this book it, you have that line and when its crossed your not on the other side the lines get blurred. I do have one of my favourite OTP's from this series but I don't want to say without spoiling the series! there relationship is so epic, they make such sacrifices for each other and not only do they grow into themselves they grow together in a great way as well. Its sad but awesome, one of my favourite series!

Plus I am not normally a fan of people on covers of books but I do kinda like these and I really like the font that they used for the writing, These were one of my first books that I bought and I still have them nicely on my book shelf at home. Makes me miss all my lovely books!

So those are some of my favourite vampire books, if anyone knows more please let me know I always get in the mood for a good paranormal series from time to time. MUST READ ALL THE BOOKS!

Hope everyone is doing well and have a great day
Peace : )