Unputdownable Books: Review + Giveaway: Embraced by the Shadows by Mayra Calvani

Title: Embraced by the Shadows
Author: Mayra Calvani
Started: 1/9/2011
Finished: 2/9/2011
Goodreads | Review List

Goodreads Synopsis:

In a bazaar in Istanbul one evening, ten-year-old Alana Piovanetti glances into the shadows to find a man watching her. He smiles, and over time she convinces herself that it was just her imagination that placed sharp fangs amongst those flashing teeth.

Twelve years later, Alana is surprised when she is chosen to manage a new restaurant opening in her home city of San Juan. She has neither training nor experience to justify her success. But La Cueva del Vampiro has the kind of ambience she adores, for Alana has always had a penchant for horror and the dark side of life. Yet she is also plagued with dreams of dark sensuality, dreams that take on shattering reality when she meets the stunningly handsome, charismatic Sadash.

For Sadash is the man she saw in the shadows so many years before…and Sadash isn’t human….

Review:

I received this as an ARC through e-mail about a week ago and accepted it enthusiastically because it sounded like a good book. And it was for the first few 50 pages.

The beginning really drew me in. The scenario took place in Puerto Rico which was new and welcoming from my part. I like reading books in different scenarios so thats a plus for the unique setting. In the beginning we meet Alana our protagonist and her bestfriend Valeria. They have this undying bond with one another that is beyond normal and kind of freaked me out a bit but Calvani made up for it by introducing a vampire lead into the equation that is called "Embraced by the Shadows". He was haunting, dark, handsome and all kinds of alluring. But I was disappointed when certain things came into view about him and how vampires work in this book. Though it may be more realistic than other vampires in different books. It just seemed like he lacked this essence that I was looking for.

As the story progressed, I began to get annoyed at all the characters. They weren't as well constructed as I hoped they were and the story line just began to lose its favor with me to the point where I disliked it. It was great within 50 pages then Calvani took the book into another 158 pages and it seemed as if it was rushed and not well thought of. It was missing the WOW factor. But I did enjoy the book enough to read the first 50 then the next 158 without a sweat. Calvani's skill can grow and I look forward to see if she go beyond boundaries.