Review: Pretty When She Dies by Rhiannon Frater

Title: Pretty When She Dies
Author: Rhiannon Frater
Series: Book One in the Pretty When She Dies Series
Published: February 12, 2009
Source: Purchased
Genre: YA Paranormal
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:
Amaliya wakes under the forest floor, disoriented, famished and confused. She digs out of the shallow grave and realizes she is hungry...

... in a new, horrific, unimaginable way...

Sating her great hunger, she discovers that she is now a vampire, the bloodthirsty creature of legend. She has no choice but to flee from her old life and travels across Texas. Her new hunger spurs her to leave a wake of death and blood behind her as she struggles with her new nature.

All the while, her creator is watching. He is ancient, he is powerful, and what's worse is that he's a necromancer. He has the power to force the dead to do his bidding. Amaliya realizes she is but a pawn in a twisted game, and her only hope for survival is to seek out one of her own kind.

But if Amaliya finds another vampire, will it mean her salvation... or her death?

*Amazon*B&N*

Okay so this wasn't exactly that happy go lucky romance that I normally read during this time of the year, nor was this one anywhere near the summer list of must read books I had created in my head, but I think that is exactly why this one was so darn good. It wasn't expected. I hadn't planned on picking it up and honestly, at the time, the only reason that I did was because I was in sort of a slump. I needed something different and not romance related (gasp, I know, I can't believe I just typed that). I needed something darker and something that would completely pull me away and put me in another place and mind set.

This did that and then some. And to ease that nagging voice in my head that demands romance, this even had just enough of the hot stuff to keep her happy and satiated. 

I don't know what my problem is sometimes, I see the glowing reviews and praise and still, I hesitate to pick up a book and try it. I don't know, maybe I fear it won't live up to the hype. Not really sure but either way, we all do it. We buy a book based on a recommendation and then it sits there in our TBR piles and grows dusty and forgotten.

Can I just say, I am so glad I pulled this one out and dusted it off?

This was deliciously dark and called out to me in ways a book hasn't for a while now. It pulled me right out of my book slump and made me forget all about it as I was quickly thrown into the world the author had created.

This isn't a lighthearted easy read. In fact, at times it will make you grimace and maybe even blush but we can't help but be fascinated with it all and be drawn into the story as what happened to Liya slowly unravels and unfolds and her new life begins.

This was so well done. I have read a lot of vamp books in my life and this one truly does stand out, not because anything about it is new necessarily new or unique but because the writing and the story are just that good. 

I will definitely be coming back for more.