Review: Amaranthine by Tricia Rigli

Title: Amaranthine
Author: Tricia Rigli
Series: Stand Alone 
Published By: Self Published (April 10, 2012)
Source: Copy Provided By the Author In Exchange For An Honest Review. 
Genre: YA Paranormal
My Rating: 3 Stars




Goodreads Description:
 Amaranthine is a tale of the dark side of desire. Crimson Wilkinson is a seemingly normal high school senior who, bored with life, finds her kicks in reading a popular vampire series. But her boredom is well remedied when she becomes an active part in the very true vampire stories the world thought were fiction and falls in love with their author, Nicholae Albaric, the dangerously gorgeous and sweetly lonely vampire celebrity. The rush she once so longed for becomes a burden as Crimson discovers she has a rare gene that makes the carrier extremely powerful once they are made into a vampire, and she is targeted as the vampire community's number-one most wanted, some who want to kill her before she can become a threat and others who want to use her powers to their own ends.


My Review:

  I am having a hard time reviewing this book, not because I didn't like it but because there were so many blaring similarities to Twilight that I find myself having a hard time liking what was original about the story. And there was some originality to it that was pretty great and interesting. So, yeah, see my dilema?

I should start by saying that the cover of this book is just amazing. Truly gorgeous. I think it is very eye catching and just draws you in.

The concept of a human with a gene that, if made a vampire would make her powerful and dangerous and therefore feared and of course a target for other vamps to go after, was fun and original and entertaining.

.

The varying cast of characters, again nice, but, the love interest, their romance and instant love for one another (willingness to forgive unthinkable acts and possessiveness from Nickolae), the battle with the vampires over Crimson (which is an awesome name for a character by the way), the mysterious leader of the vamps in a foreign country and his creepy sidekicks?

Well sometimes it was just a little too much like Twilight for me and I found myself shaking my head at the likeness.

I know, terrible of me but I couldn't help but feel that way, and I did like Twilight, don't get me wrong on that count, I just didn't want this to be so much like it and I don't even know if the author was aware that she was making so many similarities to be honest. They were pretty subtle sometimes.

Don't get me wrong though, what was original about the story was good. The writing was fine and the characters were loveable, I especially liked Crimson and how feisty she was, but things, especially their love for one another, just moved way too fast for me. They were in love after one meeting, like crazy, sick in love. I think I would have liked to see their love grow a little over time.

The story started off with a vampire stalking Crimson but we don't really get why or really learn anything about this vampire. In fact, it is easy to forget that he is even there since we see so little of him throughout the story. I would have liked to see that played out a little better than it was. I think it would have put a little more action into the story and spiced it up a little.

The ending too was a little confusing. Why throw in her cousin Haley wondering about Crimson's safety? Was it a lead up to a sequel? It left me feeling a little lost.

Overall though this was a fun fast read that I think lovers of Twilight will really enjoy and have a good time reading. The characters and storyline are different enough that it isn't too predictable or slow and it isn't a rip of the Meyer's work.

If there is going to be a sequel I would be really interested to see what happens next and see if some of the similarities of other series die down and little and this takes on more of a life of its own.

I think the author has great potential and has come up with something interesting and fun to read about that any lover of vamps and the paranormal will enjoy.