V Games by Caroline Peckham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Holy Mother of Awesomeness! This book is the perfect mixture of mystery, conflict, girl power with a splash of romance and vampires! I repeat…VAMPIRES!
Think The Hunger Games, The Testing, and Vampire Academy…but BETTER. You read that correctly! This book surpasses some of my favorite books of all time! Color me very, very pleasantly surprised!
Selena Gray was 18 when she’d had enough of her stepfather’s horrific abuse and defended herself. Now labeled a murderer she’s looking at a lengthy prison sentence with a heartbroken mother left back at home. In prison she shares a cell with “Cass” who introduces herself as an arson but something about her seems far more menacing. After only a short stay in jail she’s kidnapped by a mysterious man and finds herself on-board a ship headed to an island so vile I pray nothing similar exists in real life.
Upon Selena’s arrival on this arctic island Selena discovers she’s part of a sick game for rich a$$holes. Selena, Cass, Kite (psycho from the jail) and 22 other former female convicts are thrust into a “game” where survival is king and treachery, backstabbing, and thirsty vampires reign supreme.
Insert Varick who’s a vampire forced to oversee the contestants. He sees in Selena something he admires and a most unlikely friendship begins.
This book had absolutely everything you could want!
1) Girl Power- Selena shows strength, intelligence, compassion and cunning. Needless to say Selena kicks ass and I loved every minute of it!
2) Mystery- Who are the Helsing family (sick psychos) who run this vile island and insist on these twisted games? What “experiments” are they running? How much power do they have- both on this island and throughout the world?
3) Excitement- Heart pounding, heart racing, gripping my bed sheets… This author sure knows how to amp up the anticipation as these characters race to survive. So enjoyable!
4) If you’ve been snoozing during this review WAKE UP because I’m talking about SEXY VAMPIRES for goodness sake! Varick is described as in-humanly handsome. More likely to be seen on the cover of Vogue than running a psycho human v.s. starved vampire game in the arctic. Don’t let his beautiful and frosty demeanor fool you! He’s passionate, loyal, strong and patient. Waiting for the right time to strike.
5) Romance (see item #4) This wasn’t the main theme but definitely sweetened the story for me. Amongst the muck and mire of this sick sport there rose a truly beautiful (and highly unlikely) alliance. Human convict and Vampire/former pirate = GREAT STORY
I absolutely can’t wait until the next book is released! If it’s anything like it’s predecessor it’s a MUST READ!
*I’m happy to volunteer this review after receiving an ARC for this book and look forward to reading anything and everything she creates in the future!
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