Turned at Dark (Shadow Falls)

by C C Hunter

[Raven]

Della Tsang is strong-willed, thick-headed, and independent. She is trying to live up to her Chinese father’s high expectations of her while still being her own person and not disappointing herself. Logically, she knows ghosts don’t exist, at least until she sees the cousin whose funeral she attended the year before running into a dark alley. When she follows him, she finds herself in the middle of a gang-war, and Chen, her cousin, saves her. Unknowingly, he also turns her. Chen is a vampire, and Della is about to become one as well. Forced to admit that not everything is so logical, she must now decide if she will fake her own death as he did and follow him to live in a clan or if she will travel to Shadow Falls and hope for a more normal life.
This is a super duper short novella that showcases the story of how Della turned into the vampire she now is. The story is very simple and linear. I love how the change is written like a disease. Part of me feels like it could’ve been written to take up a little bit more time, but at the same time, it was written just well enough that you understand it without getting bored.

Della is a nice character. She is strong and cynical, trying to live up to her father’s super high expectations of her. She is starting to tire of it though, and is about ready to just run away from it all. She wants to move in with her boyfriend Lee and just start her own life. Living up to her own expectations instead of someone else. You don’t get to go deep into hers, or anyone’s characters, with how short the story is, but she is a good character that I am looking forward to learning more about.

However, after beginning Born at Midnight, the first real book in the series, this novella becomes a massive disappointment. Within the first few chapters, you actually meet Chan and hear a bit of Della’s backstory. Things don’t match up. Namely, Chan wants to take her to Utah in the novella, but in Born at Midnight, it’s Pennsylvania. Some of the other tidbits don’t match either. Being that they were published no more than a fortnight apart, you have to wonder why the details would be so obviously different.

Regardless, this is a really quick, easy, read. If you overlook the small details, then this is a good precursor to the main series. It isn’t an imperative read, but it is usually free on Amazon so there is really no reason to not read it.

Read this and other reviews at my blog.