[ARC Review] A History of Vampires: A New Queen by Amanda Lewis
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Angelina thought she had her life figured out: teach her college archeology classes, visit her aunt, and go home alone. But then she met Jude. After following her for years, Jude finally reveals himself to be the king vampire, and he would like Angelina to be his queen. After getting to know Jude, as well as some of his historically-famous brethren, Angelina knows her life is about to change forever and everything she thought she knew about history is no more.
I loved the potential A History of Vampires had. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else that I truly enjoyed about this book. I did make myself finish the book in case the ending changed any opinions, but reading was slow going and I honestly struggled to pick it back up. I usually devour paranormal romances, but I acknowledge that just because this one wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean others will have the same reaction. Here are some of the issues that I personally had while reading:
The connection between the two main characters. Jude and Angelina are supposed to be courting, but I struggled to find any chemistry between the two of them. Angelina went on and on about how attractive she found Jude to be, but there was just very little chemistry when they were actually together. It felt like Angelina spent more time around Jude’s family/friends than around him, so that might have contributed to the on-page chemistry.
The vampire lore. There was a lot of potential to really create a new and unique vampire lore, but it felt like Lewis hit just the tip of the iceberg on the background and history of vampires and then gave up trying to flesh it out. The first book in a series really needs to lay the foundation of any new world if readers are going to be swept away into the story, but there was just too much that was briefly mentioned and then never touched on again. When creating a new vision, especially one so different than normal vampire lore, fleshing out the details is important.
The writing style. I was very conflicted over the writing style versus the intended audience of this book. The writing style itself came off as very YA, but Angelina, at 35, was too old to be the main character of a YA novel. The writing style seemed very disconnected to the actual characters. I wasn’t sure if this was meant for adults and came off as younger writing, or if this was meant for younger audiences and just featured older characters; either way, the combination put me off the story a bit. There were also phrases that Lewis kept repeating, and even using synonyms instead of the same phrases over and over would have freshened up parts of the writing.
Character perspectives. Lewis included a few, random chapters told from secondary character perspectives. I appreciated that these chapters were meant to provide an alternative look at Jude’s history, rather than him telling Angelina himself. However, I wish Lewis would have either committed to the alternative perspectives more or left them out altogether. By only including a few throughout the whole book, they felt out of place and interrupted the natural flow of Angelina’s narrative.
Famous historical figures. I really liked that Lewis included these famous historical figures in the story. Discovering that all these famous people she had studied in history books were really vampires was probably the part I found most interesting about Angelina’s story. However, Lewis made it a point that these characters aren’t the same people we’ve read about and studied; in fact, they were very different from everything ever written about them. I appreciated this approach to historical figures - it definitely added a new layer to both them and the story. But, some of the new character traits were hard to really believe, and those disjointed traits often pulled me out of the story. It was interesting, but I’m not sure these secondary characters were more helpful or harmful to Angelina’s narrative.
I enjoyed the overall idea behind the story, and the potential for this new vampire lore. But, there were a lot of areas that just hit wrong or just skimmed the surface of what the story could have been. I wish Lewis would have provided more detail, grounding the characters in this new world and fleshing them out. The first 80% of the book was just Angelina and Jude committing to being in a relationship, and no real conflict was introduced until the epilogue. A History of Vampires included a lot of fluff, and I would have loved this story if there was more chemistry between characters and more actual action in the plot. Sadly, this story just didn’t do it for me, but readers who enjoy lighter paranormal romance might enjoy Amanda Lewis’s new series.
I received an advanced review copy of A History of Vampires from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.
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