Saved by Allegra Skye
Title:Saved (Book #1 of the Shadow Vampires)
Author: Allegra Skye
Publisher: Self-Published
Release: June 22, 2011
Length: 163 pages (Kindle)
Age Group: Young Adult
Recommend: Jennifer says, “I felt like the story was rushed.”
In Saved (Book #1 of the Shadow Vampires), Keira and Amanda, twins, move with their family to a new town, and start their senior year at a new high school. But though they are twins, the girls have different fates. Amanda, beautiful, popular, is sought out by everyone. Keira, who has always lived in Amanda’s shadow, is smaller, awkward, different. Even her mother, who is so close to Amanda, doesn’t know what to make of her other daughter. Keira turns to books, and to her journal, for solace, and to find out about other worlds.
Amanda makes friends easily at the new school, and quickly finds a boyfriend, while Keira is left alone, an outsider. But very quickly, it is clear that something strange is going on in Everstock. The town and the school are very divided. The popular, rich kids act as if they own the school and have nothing to do with the other kids, who are poorer and live in a different part of town. Not only are the kids meaner here, but an unknown infection has gripped the town, with more and more people going to the hospital. Something here is terribly wrong.
But things change suddenly, as there is a terrible accident involving the twins. Not only are Keira and Amanda’s lives changed forever, but a new dimension of life begins to open to Keira.
As Keira recovers, she begins to change in ways she can’t expect, receiving new and mysterious powers that no one can possibly understand. At the same time, a gorgeous, mysterious new boy, Cooper, appears at the school, who grips her imagination, and who refuses to tell her what secret he is hiding.
As Keira and Cooper grow closer to each other, it soon becomes apparent that destiny has brought them together-and that they may each have to sacrifice it all if they want to stay together… ~ Goodreads.com
Review by Jennifer
Why I read this book: I love vampire stories. After going through a vampire genre drought I decided it was time to read vampire books again. For the month of August I chose to read as many vampire books as I could and Saved was on my list. Saved turned out to be a quick read with only 163 pages according to my ipad. I was able to read it in one evening.
What I liked: I liked the concept of the vampires in this book. In this vampire offering the vampires are shadow vampires. They don’t feed on blood but on emotions. I am a reader who loves a well written character. When an author can make me feel immense emotions for a character, whether love or hate, then the author has made my reading experience that much better. I liked the lead female character, Keira. Keira lived in the shadow of her twin but she had a quiet strength. She comes into her own throughout the story. The mother in this story was something else. She favored Keira’s older twin. When things go wrong Keira’s mother is the first to alienate her. She is a real piece of work.
What I didn’t like: I felt like the story was rushed. Although the story concept was a good idea, I felt like there were just too many instances where the reader is told details and not shown. Also, some of the time frames didn’t add up. I feel the author could have taken more time to develop the story. The other thing I didn’t like was that all of a sudden Keira has these abilities and it isn’t explained where the abilities came from. Keira’s abilities, the shadow vampires, the strange goings on in the town are all hinted at and the reader doesn’t really get any answers. Reading the book left me with more questions than answers. The last thing that bothered me was the romance between Keira and Cooper. It just was not believable to me. One minute Cooper doesn’t notice her and the next thing I know they are declaring their love for one another. Again just too rushed.
Recommendation: I did like the concept of this story and with many questions still in my mind I may have to take a look at the second book to see if my questions are answered. I feel this was a good starting point but I would like to see it developed more and maybe that is what book two will offer. There were editing errors but that didn’t keep me from reading the book. Anyone who likes the vampire genre may want to give it a try. I would suggest possibly reading book one and two together.
