Rhinoa's Ramblings

Rating : 4.0/5
Number of Pages : 347
Series : #1 The Gardella Vampire Chronicles
Format : Urban Fantasy Novel
Reason for Reading : RIP IV Challenge

Meet Victoria Gardella, the latest in a long line of vampire hunters. In each generation a Gardella is born with the innate gifts allowing them to hunt and kill vampires. It is up to them is they accept the call. If they do they must first pass a test and kill a vampire. If they succeed they are given a piece of blessed jewellry, a vis bulla, that gives them extra strength, power and healing.

Set in Jane Austen times when girls have coming out debutant parties. Victoria has to balance her vampire staking duties with balls, picking out new gowns and falling in love. Some of the other vampire hunters (Venator's) believe that you can either be a Venator or settle down, marry and have children. Victoria particularly butts head with Max who is a Venator by choice rather than family calling. He lost family members to vampires and has devoted his life to killing them ever since. Victoria has other ideas though and her Aunt thinks the best thing is to let her take her own path.

Think Pride and Prejudice meets Buffy. The setting made it stand out from the many other vampire series out there although it does take a lot of inspiration from Buffy (I love Buffy though so that's not a bad thing!). There is a twist near the end which was not unexpected, but the final ending was. It ends on a sad note and I am glad that the story is not completely romanticised. It made it seem more realistic somehow.