A review by eap157
The Scarlet Veil by Shelby Mahurin

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

I was expecting S&D with vampires, and instead I read over 600 pages just waiting for any of it to come together. There was very little world building, an unlikeable, deeply traumatized heroine, and a lackluster Rhysand stand-in vampire king. Michal and Celie had zero chemistry, so romance 0, action, maybe a 3? I would have forgiven a lot of its failings if the ending had wowed me, but the ending was 
TERRIBLE. I can't believe she didn't make a choice and just give us an actual ending. To leave things ambiguous after 600+ pages was just wrong. It's not a cliffhanger if the should-be ending of this book will be revealed in the next book's blurb. Why leave it out?
 
The brothel scene with the blood witch in Amandine was the book's highlight for me. It was a very quick read, but it left me so disappointed. SM teased at the salacious vampire aspects, but that was mostly just violence. She took the (YA) sexy out of vampires. BOO.
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