Into the Shadows

by Sara Crawford

[chymerra]

I am going to come out and say it: I am not a huge fan of PNR’s that feature vampire. Ever since the whole Twilight craze, I have steered clear of them. I like my vampires in the dark and evil. Not glittery and good (well goodish). So when I was approached to review Into the Shadows, I went back and forth about accepting the invite. I decided to accept the invite because of the blurb. Enough information was given to make me go “Hmmm.“

The plotline for Into the Shadows was simple. Chloe travels to New Orleans to meet her online friend, Theo. She met Theo through a forum dedicated to a series of vampire novels that she was obsessed with. When Chloe meets Theo, she finds out that Theo is Theodore Dupont, the dangerous vampire from the series. At that meeting, who and what she was and what she was to the supernatural community. There are choices to be made and battles to be fought. Will Chloe be able to adapt to her new reality?

As I was reading Into the Shadows, I was reminded of The Vampire Diaries. I could picture Theo as Damon and Chloe as Elena. But, the deeper I got into the book, the more those two characters took on their personalities.

I didn’t know how Chloe dealt with everything being thrown at her at once. I would have gone off the deep end. She was thrust into a world that she did not know about. And then to find out about her parents. It was awful. I didn’t blame her for going catatonic for two weeks. I did like her, though. She was strong and adaptable. I didn’t like that she was made into a blood whore, though. I thought it diminished her character. She was able to bounce back, but still.

I did like Theo. He didn’t live up to what Chloe imagined him to be. Which was a good thing, believe me on this. I do wish that the author went more into his background. His real background, not the one that the author embellished. I thought it was fascinating that his blood tasted like strawberries.

The secondary characters were well developed and brought an extra depth to the book. I loved Daliah and Chloe’s friendship. I did think that Chloe was right to question it, though. I was a bit iffy with Christine for 75% of the book. I thought that Thomas was a slimy jerk. He deserved what he got.

There is no sex in Into the Shadows. Which I was fine with. I liked seeing Theo and Chloe fall in love. It was refreshing to read without them jumping in bed every 5 mins.

The end of Into the Shadows was interesting. I’m not going to go much into it except to say that I want a Faerie. If you have read the book, then you understand why I said that. I also will say that the scene with Chloe’s parents was heartbreaking. Talk about trying not to cry in a public place (where I was reading the book). I snorted a couple of times trying to reign in my emotions. I will say that I was surprised at what was revealed in the last chapter. I can’t wait to see what the next book will bring!!