I have decided this review will be about Breathless by Sean Prussing. For two reasons, that is. One is because I just finished last night and it is fresh in my mind. Two is because I have started the second book in the series and if I do not write this review now, it will turn into the other reviews I will write coming up of the past books I have read. Which will end up as a review of a mush of the books in the series thus far into one review (not including ones yet to come XD). To avoid reviewing in that manner from now on, when I finish a book I will try to review it before I read or get too far into the next book. I must warn you now, this is a book about vampires… for the most part that is (for those of you who like to shy away from them in general).
Just about all the supernatural, semi-romantic, fantasy books (and this one is young-adult most likely - you have been warned) I have read were written by a female author. It was fun to see that a male author can be just as good and even sometime better at the same genre. I really enjoyed Sean's writing and am excited to read more of it.
Breathless is the first book in the Blue Fire Saga. There are currently three books in the series and I have not read hints of further books, but I also have yet to read the third book and find where it leaves off. Breathless centers mostly around Leesa. She grew up around her mother whom had claimed to have been attacked by a one-fanged vampire while pregnant with Leesa and has since been progressively acting stranger and stranger. When her brother, Bradley, goes missing from college, Leesa decides to move to Connecticut, the place her mother went was supposedly attacked and her brother went missing from, to go to college and search for her Bradley. In her time there, she meets Rave, who she feels drawn to, ends up dating, but will not kiss her. Throughout the book, Leesa learns what is happening around her, a secret about Rave that she must decide whether she can accept the dangers of, and whether or not she will make the ultimate sacrifice to save her brother.
I quite enjoyed this book. It was a bit shorter than the books I have been reading. Although it is short, which may be a downside for many readers, the story really wraps itself up nicely. The book is written in third person omniscient perspective. I have not read a book in this perspective in a while and it was quite refreshing. Although it focuses mainly around the main characters point of view, you also get the view from Rave and other characters Leesa comes across that are important to the story. I enjoyed knowing the minds of many characters and feeling like I had secret information. There are the occasional misspelling or grammar issues that you find in self-published work, but I find that always makes me feel more connected to the author. The author is very descriptive about the setting of the story. I appreciated it to a point, but when the description went on for more than I page, I found myself skimming the rest of it. When a description drags on, it seems to start to take away from the story.
This story took a unique take on those who hunt the vampires. I will not give more detail than that for fear of spoilers, but thus far I have had fun with the new idea and am intrigued to read further. This book also leaves on a good note, but a note where you definitely want to continue. I really like books that don’t have such a horrible cliff hanger that you want to scream at the author for having to wait so long for the next book, but also leave enough out that you look forward to the next book.
Overall I give Breathless 4 stars and look forward to continuing the next book in the series, Deathless.
