Laney (The Brookehaven Vampires #1) - Joann I. Martin Sowles

The Gist

Laney
Buy it here and support our blog

Laney Alexander is totally ready for her second year of college.  But when her and her best friend Kiera Blake arrive at campus, they're in for a shock in the form of new-guy Oliver Knight.  Tall dark and stunning, with piercing emerald green eyes, Oliver is gorgeous and more than a little distracting.  Especially given he's in all of Laney's classes.  They become closer, and he becomes all she ever thinks about.  As their relationship progresses, it's clear that Oliver is much more than he seems.  Laney can't stay away, but she's fighting for answers, for Oliver, and for her life.  Some creatures aren't so fictional, and Laney needs to watch her back - and her neck - to be with Oliver.  And she has to consider, 'What would you give to be with the one you love?  Would you give it all, including your life?'  


What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Number of Pages: 285
Do you know why I was graced with this book's presence first?  It was a simple decision.  Of the four of us, I'm the only one who hasn't read the Twilight series.  And from looking at it, this book seemed suspiciously like Twilight.  Yay for me, right?  Well.  No.  This was not a good book.  First of all, the pacing was bad.  It was slow for half the book, started to get faster in the middle, and was packed with action and information in the last 80-ish pages.  And it wasn't worth reading the boring first 200 to get to the action-y last 85.  Bad pacing makes a bad book, and this is absolutely no exception.  
Then there were the characters.  The main character, Laney Alexander, was awful.  She was whiny and possessive and slightly paranoid.  There's this one chapter where she flies completely off the handle for a small thing, and freaks out and screams and cries while at the same time wishing she weren't freaking out.  It was over the top and unnecessary.  I had to re-read the chapter three times before it sunk in that what I read actually happened, and wasn't just the creation of my sleep deprived mind.  Her best friend, Kiera, was ditzy.  That's pretty much all there is to say about her.  Her other friend Carter was the same.  There wasn't a lot of substance to him.  He also wasn't in the book a lot.  I give the author credit for the name 'Oliver Knight', because I really liked it.  However, there's only so many times you can say 'he's my Knight in shining armor' before it gets REALLY DUMB.  This book exceeded the limit.  He was an ok character.  He was very clingy and desperate, and I didn't find him to be a believable character.  There were two characters I liked, Julz and Hayden, but neither of them were in the book very often.  They were introduced about halfway through (more bad pacing), but weren't in too many scenes.  Julz was harsh, and Hayden was just likable.  Like I said though, they were barely there.  
The plot was over used.  It really was like Twilight, and I've never read Twilight.  In fact, they watch the movie Twilight in the book, and proceed to talk about vampires.  Ew.  I get that Twilight was popular, and it sold a lot, so quite a few authors want to jump on the vampire bandwagon, but I'm begging you here: create your own ideas.  Move away from the vampire theme.  Unless you're a writing prodigy, like someone I know, anything you do with vampires will feel old and cliche.  Including this bunk.  (Bunk is my new word.  Anything bad or annoying is bunk.  Ergo, this is bunk.)  
The writing made me want to die.  Ok, that's an exaggeration.  But barely.  Seriously, every time Laney talked about Oliver, it mentioned how gorgeous and perfect he is.  He's (or some part of him, like his eyes, smile, etc.) gorgeous, stunning, gorgeous, beautiful, perfect, beautiful, gorgeous, beautiful, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, perfect, perfect, perfect, stunning, gorgeous, drop dead gorgeous, dazzling, beautiful and gorgeous. All within six pages.  It was painful to read about he-who-is-flawless.  PHYSICAL PAIN.  There were a few little gems, but not enough to make it a good book, and not good enough for me to remember.  The first line, if you don't count the 'message from the coven' (which is stupid and cliche), wasn't good, but wasn't bad either.  Utterly forgettable.  The last line was so cheesy it made me want to throw the book against the wall.  
So yea I totally can't wait for book two!  Oh wait...
Real Teen Rating~ D+: Use it as an excuse not to do things.