Tara ShulerBesprekingen

I like alpha males with a hint of vulnerability. Kai is just too clingy for me. I did like the story enough to follow the series and see what happens next.

Seventeen-year-old Alice is a home schooled vampire attending a high school with humans for her senior year when she gets involved with Kai, a good-looking abuse victim. The conflict arises when Max, a vampire hunter also claims to be in love with her. The story ends without resolution to the relationships and an excerpt from book it.

Vampire novesl have been the same story for so long, I don't know why I try to find something different. This book, at least, showed a different side of vampires that was interesting. Born vampires, instead of just created. This young adult novel tried to make a more tame version of the classic Dracula story, but the love triangle that is going on is just...weird. Kai is soooo emo, it almost disgusted me to keep reading. And then, when he was so clingy when Alice is gone, I didn't blame her for what she did. The whole novel tried to show an adult theme, but I think the author was targeting the wrong audience here.

This was another acquisition during my obsession with free books in January.

Again, the writing style and plot development were incredibly poor - I very much understand why this was a self-published effort. It doesn't appear to have ever crossed an editor's desk and it shows. Poor spelling and grammar, one-dimensional characters, and a nonsensical plot make this a very slow read.

The main character is a female teenage "vampire". I use that term because the author did, but it is like no vampirism I have ever seen. There are NO downsides to it, aside from being hunted for no apparent reason. (I think, though my memory is rocky, that at one point she said she didn't even need to drink blood. Really?)

The three main characters are all the same and highly annoying. I struggle to care about what any of them are dealing with, which is good because they make stupid decision after stupid decision for no apparent reason.

Instalove and overly-perfect people abound. Beware.

Another waste of precious reading time.

Format: Kindle
Price Paid: Free
Recommended: No
Value: overpriced at free

*The review is filled with spoilers*
Most of the reviews of this book are almost praising it, but I just have to say that I cannot see where they are coming from. The plot is inconsistent, the characters unlikeable and unbelievable and the sheer writing style is just too simple.
Let's start with the plot. The story centers around Alice, a young vampire who's mother decides to enroll her in the local high school after years of homeschooling. She's "socially awkward" according to the author, but it doesn't seem like it when she interacts with other teenagers. On her first night she goes to a party she was invited to where she meets the alluring Kai Walker (Which she thinks sounds like "skywalker without the s"). He's quiet but intriguing. After a few hours of barely talking and just looking at each other through smoking eyes, they are in love. However, later on in the story she meets Max. The over-the-top friendly bad-boy who wears leather jackets and rides cool cars. From that point on, the story skips a bunch of interesting details, adds a bunch of uninteresting details, and the story is complete with a whole lot of angst and over the top drama supported by strange adjectives and questionable actions. The whole story is over the top and unbelievable. Twilight you could at least still imagine it happening, this however, was just plain ridiculous.
The second problem was the characters. Honestly, Shuler must truly hate her characters because no author with a smidge of respect for her characters would EVER present them the way Shuler did. Alice, Kai, Max, even Alice's mother were all truly unlikeable, unbelievable and just complete drama queens. I wanted at least one of them to die so that I wouldn't have to read about them any more! And when I'm talking about unlikeable characters, I am not saying that the characters are bad people, like Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but characters who one cannot stand reading about because they are not developed properly. There was no depth to the characters, no explanations to their actions, no indication to why they did what they did. In Shelter, the characters did what they did because the author told them to. I wanted to claw my eyes out when reading this because the characters were so boring and unbelievable.

I finished this book because I had to write a review since I got it from the Member Give Away. I did not finish the book because I wanted to, it did not deserve to be fully read. I also cannot care less what happens in book 2. I was in pain from the second page and it just got worse from then on. This was the first book I've read from the Member Give Aways that I've received, and all I have to say is that I really hope none of the other books are anything remotely close to this. Stick to Twilight, it has it's flaws but it will feel like an Oscar Wilde novel after reading this!

It reads like a first draft book that needs a lot of editing and rewrite. The story jumps time and thoughts are scattered. With a strong rewrite this could be an excellent story. I would love to read it again after work has been done, but right now it's just not enough.

Not sure about the paranormal but not a bad read for the Tween set. 17 year old April is going to school for the first time after being hime schooled her entire life. Not only does she have to worry about the mean girls and homework, but how to deal with all the humans in school, since she is a vampire. Would have like to see the characters a little more fleshed out but all in all was not a bad way to spend an afternoon in the sun.

I really enjoyed this book! It grabs you from the first page and won't let go. The characters are very interesting and well-developed. The story is unique, especially in light of all of the vampire books out there right now. It is also a quick read, which makes it a nice lazy day book. I definitely recommend it!

While this story has a good plot line, I think the story is pretty poorly executed. To begin with, there is a lot of telling instead of showing. The actions of Alice, the main character read something like this: My phone rang. I picked it up. It was Will. I answered it. I said. He said, etc. Also, I was highly disappointed with the vampire part of this book. While Alice and her family are vampire's, the actual story line revolving around this aspect of their lives is really downplayed. In the beginning we are introduced to what vampire's do, how they act, how they feed and how they age. The beginning back story is interesting and had me intrigued but it quickly became a little flat and boring. We're launched into Alice's story abruptly with no understanding of what really lead her mother to make the decision as to why Alice was to start attending school alongside humans. We just know Alice was home schooled and suddenly, with her last year, her mother is sending her off to school and that is that. And why must all of the human character's Alice encounter minus the two snobby girl's that seem to hate her for no apparent reason have poor self esteem. And why would these two characters be so inexplicably drawn to Alice and seem to want nothing more than to bend to her will? And why are all of the guys that are romantically interested in Alice possessive to the point where they're aggressive and almost abusive with her? It's not attractive. If you're really interested in a vampire story, this really isn't a strong one until the end. Then the only thing we're really subjected to is the world of vampire Hunters and the Vampire's they want to kill. The second story might probe deeper but I doubt I will read the second to find out. x-posted to my blog.

While this story has a good plot line, I think the story is pretty poorly executed. To begin with, there is a lot of telling instead of showing. The actions of Alice, the main character read something like this: My phone rang. I picked it up. It was Will. I answered it. I said. He said, etc. Also, I was highly disappointed with the vampire part of this book. While Alice and her family are vampire's, the actual story line revolving around this aspect of their lives is really downplayed. In the beginning we are introduced to what vampire's do, how they act, how they feed and how they age. The beginning back story is interesting and had me intrigued but it quickly became a little flat and boring. We're launched into Alice's story abruptly with no understanding of what really lead her mother to make the decision as to why Alice was to start attending school alongside humans. We just know Alice was home schooled and suddenly, with her last year, her mother is sending her off to school and that is that. And why must all of the human character's Alice encounter minus the two snobby girl's that seem to hate her for no apparent reason have poor self esteem. And why would these two characters be so inexplicably drawn to Alice and seem to want nothing more than to bend to her will? And why are all of the guys that are romantically interested in Alice possessive to the point where they're aggressive and almost abusive with her? It's not attractive. If you're really interested in a vampire story, this really isn't a strong one until the end. Then the only thing we're really subjected to is the world of vampire Hunters and the Vampire's they want to kill. The second story might probe deeper but I doubt I will read the second to find out. x-posted to my blog.

I won this e-book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway Group.
This was a great YA Paranormal Romance. One I would recommend others to read. This book didn't feel like just another vampire book with the same kind of vampires. It was very interesting the way Tara Shuler wrote the Vampire Characters. I really enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to reading the rest of this series.

Most definitely a young adult paranormal romance novel, this book hits all of the high points that are essential to that genre. Dark and brooding main character runs across a secondary character that causes her to shift her main outlook. Typical paranormal romance. However, it should be noted that there are themes in this book that might be inappropriate for the younger reader.

Written fairly well, some of the exchanges between characters, as well as the narration, seem juvenile. Again, what one would expect from YA para romance.

There were several typos and editorial mistakes in my copy. However, this was a free giveaway preview copy: one can only hope that those errors will be rectified in the actual publication run.

I enjoyed reading this book. It didn't stand out to me as one of the best vampire books I have ever read, and I found Alice's ability to fall in love, with someone she didn't even know, overnight a trite component to the story. It was ok though.

I enjoyed reading my first vampire book. I was gifted this book to review as an ebook and have stayed away from the culture of vampires. I now realize how many parallels there are between humans, vampires, vampire hunters and any ostracized ethnic culture. It is apparent that the world of vampires can be a representation of all that is stressful in coming of age. Shelter, Blood Haze is the first of the series and enticing in the difficulty of choosing to take care of the underprivileged, unloved and needy or the adventure and seduction of the strong and protective.

I loved that the vampire was a female instead of the sterotypical male. This has some unique observations on vampires and did provide a good back story. I was dissapointed that it ended. I am looking forward to the next in the series.½

Alice is a young girl who happens to be a vampire and she is also attending high school with humans for the first time this year since her mom wants her to interact with humans. She was scared about interacting with humans until she meets another vampire at a party given by one of her classmates. At first she doesn’t know that he is a vampire until he reveals himself to her and there is another one of her classmates called Max that is also interested in her. It turns out that Max is a vampire hunter in training who is supposed to kill vampires in order to protect humans. This makes for an interesting love triangle with two vampires and a soon to be vampire hunter. The sequel would be interesting to read in order to see who Alice ends up with.

*I won a free copy this e-book in a LibraryThing Member Giveaway*

Two guys, one vampire girl, and two dark secrets that threaten to tear her world apart.

this is a good book..another twist from common vampire stories..this time the girl is the vampire..and two human boys-human?(find out the secret!)
it's a great take on vampire phenomenal..twilight fans-read this book!
stories like this tend to get the attention of teen readers..and i'm one of those..a good story and a new one-in it's sense...
remarkable and fascinating-a one-read-book!
The plot is good and well-flowing, one that would set the readers into full read. I just hate the part that the guy is almost perfect except the fact that he's too emotional, an opposite of Edward(twilight). Nevertheless, the book is great, I couldn't actually say it has suspense, because you could guess, what's coming up next in the situation, but I daresay, that the plot of this is one of a kind, the history's of each character except for new ones, was well-written and explained.
Warning though: this is a cliff-hanger, so if you decide to read this, be sure, you have access to the second book...
great, great book..
my e-copy had some typographical errors..

Alice Wright is a young vampire going to high school for the first time at the age of seventeen at the behest of her eccentric mother. In many ways, she's more afraid of the human students than they would be of her.

She feels lost and awkward in human society, but she soon develops a strong bond with the cousin of one of her human classmates, nineteen year old Kai. He is beautiful, but somewhat of an enigma. She discovers a dark secret in Kai's life, and she instantly wants to shelter him from the pain that has tormented him all his life.

Then she meets Maksim Augustine, the incredibly gorgeous guy who seems more like he should be a model than a high school student. She is overwhelmingly attracted to him physically, but her love for Kai causes her to continually push him away. Eventually, she discovers a frightening secret about Max, too.

But Max's secret threatens to destroy everything...

http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9781461167020-1

Much like how I feel about the Twilight series, there was simply far too much teen angst and silliness for me to enjoy this at all, unfortunately.

There's wasn't any depth to the characters or the plot. About 95% of the book was taken up with the characters' romantic interests with each other, the overplaying of emotions (screaming, yelling, shrieking, hissing, snarling, and other bodily reactions that were far too dramatic), and the contrived conflicts involving the silly little love triangle.

If you pick up this book, be warned that's primarily what you'll encounter. I don't know if the second book is any deeper, but if you think there's going to be a good dose of vampires and action in the first story, you'll be sorely disappointed.

I don't know, I'm really not sold on this book. The plot was not entirely believable at times, I was a little bothered by how quickly they decided they were absolutely in love, and many scenes between Alice and Kai were textbook abusive relationship in flavor. It's a story that has potential in it, but I think it needed more developing to quite get there.

I was mixed on this book. I liked this take on the vampire world, and I liked the main character. What I just didn't get throughout the book was her attraction to the clingy and violent vampire boy. I found it unrealistic that she would continue to be his girlfriend after killings he perpetrates while in a jealous rage. nevertheless I am curious about what happens, and it did have that young sexual tension that makes the reader want to get to the next page or the next book to see which guy she kisses next. I would read the second novel.

I was asked to review this after getting it from librarything give away. As it is i just couldn't get passed the 50 page marker. It started off far too slow and the first chapter was full of vampire information that would have been better off told in short burst through out the story rather than in two paragraphs. All in all the idea of the vampire lore change up was nice, but the pace could have been better.

This is the 1st book in this series. This is the story of a vampire who has been sheltered all her life and is now put in public school. Get invited to a party meets a boy at the party she falls for and shortly they both tell the other they are vampires ..... when a new boy starts trying to hang around they find out he is a vampire hunter this starts a love triangle.

After going back and reading this book again, I have to say that I have changed my mind in the review I had previously given. The book was to fast paced, the clinginess of the vampire boy seemed to only annoy me and make me want to close the book and forget I ever read it. Though before I sang it's praises after several conversations and rereads over the book I have to come back and correct myself. Though it's an unique take on vampires and their lives it also lacks the depth of a book and seems more to me a short story broken up.

I enjoy YA fiction and found this to be a captivating and interesting read. I liked the different take on vampires - not being portrayed as immortal and had families and children. To me this was an interesting baseline for the story.

I enjoyed the characters but found myself getting frustrated with Kai's immaturity - a total difference from the self-confident Max.

This is a captivating read and will appeal to those that enjoy Twilight and other YA paranormal romances. Be warned that this is a cliff-hanger (UGH! Now I NEED to know what happens next!) that contains no sex, but some offensive language.

I received this book from the author through LibraryThing for me to honestly review.

I like that is has a slightly different take on the vampire tale, that they are just a kind of more evolved type of the human species. It kind of bogs down and becomes like every other teen love story, girl loves boy but also fall for another boy even though she "loves" the first boy. The story gets kind of predictable. Kai gets very annoying and needy and Alice is fickle, the only way to avoid feeding on Max is to make out with him. Why has she suddenly lost the ability to control herself after 17 years? I could see the outcome a mile away, both of them fighting over her and the great revelation about Maxs' identity. I had a hard time really getting into the book and ended up just skimming. It wasn't a bad book it just seemed liked I had read it many times before