I really like the story. A few typos, but overall, it was not bad. Just wish it ended more appropriately. ( )

Sarah has just lost her father, and must take over the family business; a B&B. She just finds out that her mother, whom she was told died many years ago, is still alive (sort of).

First she meets Alex. An ex vampire (somehow his undead condition can be reversed). Then she meets Micheal, a vampire who has lived on her property since her dad was a child.
Sarah finds out her family are wardens to a field of sleeping vampires, and Micheal who was sentenced there for some wrongdoing.

This is the first book of a series, so we don't really get all the answers to what is happening. How a vampire, or anyone for that matter, could live on your property under your nose for 20+ years is something I don't understand.

Sarah believes she has many friends. But they all knew and kept important secrets from her. The vampire field, her dad's responsibility as warden,her mother changing to vampire and still being alive.

I found this story a nice way to pass some time, but wasn't really thrilled with the plot. ( )

Ok, but an incomplete story. ( )

Others have told you about the story line so I'll just tell youI enjoyed the book. I didn't get much done today. I read a book. This one.
( )

2 ½ Stars

23 year old Sarah Brightman has been running the family B&B alone since her father died of cancer three months prior. Just as Sarah is starting to get used to her heavy load of responsibility she is told that her mother – who she thought had died 14 years ago – is alive. And that her father had left her a journal with details that she needed to know. Five minutes after this bombshell is dropped on Sarah, she finds a wounded young man on her property.

This young man is Alex and he was sent by Sarah’s mother to help her – because she was the new Vampire Warden. The Vampire Warden maintains a sacred plot of land that allows vampires to rest in peace without threat…and it is also a prison. No vampire can enter or leave without the Vampire Warden’s permission.

The Vampire’s Warden has an interesting and different take on vampire stories. There are quite a few issues that I had with this novella but it was a very…readable book at the same time. While there were quite a few times I put the book down and had to force myself to pick it up again; I also found myself reading large amounts very quickly.

The beginning of the book starts in a very clunky manner – both with the writing and with the plot. There’s a great deal of random info dumping without really giving any clear information about the backgrounds of the characters or the conflict.

Sarah has just learned that her mother is alive after 14 years of believing her dead…and that is the exact moment that Alex appears at her home. Before Sarah ever speaks to Alex she has some strange reaction to touching him: she falls into some trance or something and begins to see visions.

“My chest tightened and hazy haunting images rose up before me. These figures were pure pain, a collection of tortured, hopeless souls.”
--page 15

This type of unwieldy writing is very present in the beginning of the novella but as the book goes on the author catches her stride and it smooths out quite a bit.

The reason why Sarah sees visions when she touches Alex or why Alex was found hurt outside her home is never explained.

I found it a huge leap and an eye-rolling experience to read that little “coincidence.” Her father has been dead for 3 months…why is everything happening now?

Alex tells Sarah that he was sent to her by her mother before she ever cracks open the journal left to her by her father…at which time Sarah throws a hissy fit and stomps off. Sarah does this quite often, actually; she’s quite good at it. Sarah is left a journal that explains everything…but she runs off to demand answers from Alex before really reading the damn thing – only to stomp off again as soon as she hears something she doesn’t want to hear. The really funny part about Sarah’s hissy fits is that she gets over them rather quickly and then adapts to whatever the situation is. Alex shows up, tells her he was sent by her dead mom but no other background info – so Sarah takes him at his word and gives him a job. *face palm*

The author set up a lot of plot strings that she left dangling…but not in a “sequel” kind of way. The characters also felt very flat and unreachable. I didn’t really care about any of them because I had no real emotional connection to them.

The only character that was really interesting was Michael – and his part was small(er) and shrouded in mystery. There was a lot of mystery surrounding Michael:

- What did Michael do to get imprisoned?
- What’s with the connection between Sarah and Michael?
- How does Michael get such fabulous and oh so very vampire-like changes of clothes? Michael is first described as wearing black jeans and a v-neck t-shirt the first time we meet him. Jeans didn't start to become common till the '50s and even then they were thought to be rebellious (except as work clothes). Jeans didn’t start to be worn regularly until the late 1960s. Every time Michael’s clothes were mentioned I would think… “How does he get changes of clothes and how the hell does he have black jeans when he’s been stuck in a meadow in the country since 1947??”

Speaking of mystery, there are a ton of questions that were left unanswered – the book ends abruptly in what seems to be the middle of the story arc. The disappointing part about that is the author was just catching her stride and the story was getting much more interesting.

I know that that this is a series but I doubt I’ll pick it up. I smell a love triangle coming and that’s not my thing.

All in all – it’s a decent (very) short read if you’re into YA angsty vampire stories and you can ignore the items I mentioned above.

2 ½ Stars!

Note: I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads program ( )