There’s only one way out
Belle Morte. One of five houses where vampires reside as celebrities and humans are paid to be their living donors. While others came here seeking fortune, I came in search of my sister who walked into Belle Morte five months ago . . . and never walked back out.
Now that I’m here, the secrets about this world have proven to be much bigger than I ever anticipated. And lurking around every corner are shocking insinuations of what happened to my sister.
There’s only one person who might have the answers I need, and the undeniable pull I feel toward him is terrifying: Edmond Dantès―a vampire, and my mortal enemy.
The harder I try to resist him, the further I fall under his spell. And in one instant my life is irrevocably changed. My past becomes prologue and my fate becomes sealed behind these doors.
Belle Morte has spoken. And it may never let me go.
In a move that probably surprises no one who is familiar with my recent reviews, I first came across this book because of the Vampire Book Club. It was an option in April's vote and, though it didn't win, sounded fun enough for me to snag a copy in anticipation of a future read. I mean, how could I turn down a YA vampire romance book? If it wasn't good, it could at least be hilarious, right?
Unfortunately, though I was intrigued by the setting and entertained by the characters, the final product left me less amused than disappointed.
Our main character, Renie (shortened from Irene), was a snarky, not-like-other-vampire-obsessed-girls protagonist with a chip on her shoulder and a mission on her mind—that is until Edmond enters her vision and she can't help but fall for him. I liked her dedication and gumption, and even empathized with her guilt over daring to feel happy when she knew there were more important things still to be done. Meanwhile, Edmond was our brooding, tortured soul of a love interest, feeling drawn to the heroine for reasons unknown. He wasn't as easy to connect with, having narration in 3rd person, but shared a lot of intriguing info about vampires and history in general, which helped flesh him out eventually.
Roommate Roux is peppy, quirky, instant BFF no. 1, and fellow donor Jason soon fills the gay best friend role, simultaneously presenting more personality and yet less individuality than our mains. Both of them fall into the more-interesting-secondary-character-syndrome that characters like Alice from Twilight or Magnus from Mortal Instruments spawned. However, they're largely only there for plot purposes, or solely for the sake of helping Renie, such that their main characteristics fall into the super-awesome-best-friend category. Roux has literally no goal for her time at Belle Morte, except to help Renie, and while Jason gets a crush on one of the vamps, he seems to have absolutely no autonomy outside of when Renie is in his presence. Like the townspeople in WandaVision.
And that goes doubly for every other character, including our no-nonsense vampire matriarch who serves as an antagonist to our heroine, Ysanne. No idea how to pronounce her name, but she was both the most interesting and the most mysterious character in the entire book. As the vampire who revealed herself to humanity in the most bombastic manner possible, it makes little sense that she's now one of the most by-the-book vampires shown to us. We're treated to glimpses of her shared past with Edmond, as well as her barely-contained fury at one point, yet most of her personality remains a mystery. She even says she'll be investigating more around the main mystery of the plot, yet literally nothing comes of it at all. I want her book.
But back to the story at hand. The romance between our two leads was pretty standard for paranormal YA. Renie fights the romantic pull because she sees him as a possible enemy, one of those who are keeping the truth of her sister from her. But once that plot point is resolved, she's pretty willing to put aside almost everything for her love. Edmond fights the romantic pull because it's against the rules and he's been hurt before. But eventually he just gets over it and gives in.
I won't argue that their romance was kinda fun once it got into swing, but I was annoyed that it was never explained what the pull was in the first place. Edmond made it seem like he's turned on by her vulnerability when she first arrived, combined with her inner fire when it came to her convictions. I don't know about you, but if a guy liked me for being vulnerable yet still fighting back...that would send up more red flags than red hearts for me. Still, if you can turn your brain off and just accept that these two fell in lust at first sight, then worked out their feelings over the course of a couple weeks, it's not the worst romance ever. Especially for a vampire/human couple.
Really my biggest problem with the romance was that it took precedence over everything else in the book. I expected to get a mystery, with Renie hunting down clues about what happened to her sister. But it seemed like her being suspicious about the vamps would have gotten in the way of the romance, so she finds out what happened a little under the halfway mark. And not even cleverly, but more brute-forcing her way through the locked door. Disappointing, but there was still a promise that more answers would be sought (mainly the why and who), so though I already had my suspicions, I sat back and waited for more mystery to unfold. Cue the last chapter tossing in an action scene, having the (very obvious) villain out themself for no reason, and leaving the why for the sequel.
Okay, the mystery was a bust, but what about the world-building? Surely vampires being a part of society would at least bring something of interest to the story? Edmond admittedly brings some great moments of vampire lore to the book when he goes over his backstory, recounting his turn, how he served in WW1, being hunted as a monster when a previous love betrayed him. But other than some flashes here and there, we get hardly anything about how vampires work in modern society. They mainly act as super-high-class celebrities, which makes absolutely no sense when you think about how Ysanne introduced herself to the world by acting like Superman. You're telling me there are no humanitarian aide requests? No duties to help out in natural disasters? I mean, how did the donor program even start? Maybe we'll get more vampire culture in the next book, but it just seems like such a waste of a setting here.
I hate to come off as one of those readers, but a lot of my disappointment came into focus once I realized this was a Wattpad book. Being an ebook, I honestly didn't know until after I'd finished it and the name popped up in the acknowledgements. And really, it just made sense—the trope-laden characters, the fascinating yet unexplored setting, and the insistence that the magical unexplained romance trumps all in priority, even the bizarre ebook formatting (some random paragraph breaks [especially during dialogue] and hyphenated words [like res-cue] appearing in the middle of lines). I'm not saying to expect lower quality from this publisher, or from the website even, but knowing this book's origins may have tempered my expectations before reading.
Still, I can't say I hated my time with this story. It was nice to turn off my brain for a bit and just read a pulpy YA vampire romance. Even if on reflection, there were some red flags in there, and even if the mystery and conclusion (and major cliffhanger) weren't completely satisfying, I did have fun while I was in the weeds.
Overall, this book had some interesting concepts, but could have definitely gained from a couple more passes of revising. It's probably fine for those new to the paranormal romance genre, but familiar readers may find themselves just going through the motions. I'd recommend it to middle grade or YA readers who like vampires or paranormal-tinged forbidden romance, or anyone in the mood for some vampire fluff. I may decide to return to the series just to see what, if anything, develops of this world and its characters, but I won't hold my breath for the next installment.
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