Title: As Twilight Falls
Author: Amanda Ashley
Paperback (eBook is also available)
Pages: 360
Publisher: Zebra Books
ISBN: 9781420130393
Release Date: 2013
Book Details: Standard paperback dimensions.
Where To Find It: I bought my copy years ago from Target. However, as I was doing research for this title, I see that there’s been a new release of this book. New ISBN, new cover (and sorry, not a great cover), and new higher price. I’ve only been able to find it on B&N, but I imagine that other booksellers would be able to get this for you.
Time that the story takes place? Current day
POV? Third person
What caught your eye? First thing: Amanda Ashley, the woman can write Vampires like no one else can. I have double copies of a few of her books, I love them so much.
Did you enjoy it? I really did.
Was it predictable? Yes and no. Not in a bad way, just in a “I’ve read this author enough I know what to expect,” way.
Was it sexy? Tame? Tame at first, then pretty sexy.
Did you find it funny? Entertaining? Not funny. As far as being entertaining, just the premise of the story was enough to keep me turning the pages.
Would you read it again? I would.
Is this part of a series? The Morgan Creek series.
This is going to be one of those times that I don’t do the deepest of dives into a book, only because I don’t want to spoil it for you. What I will say, out of all the Amanda Ashley books I’ve read in my life—which believe it or not, isn’t all of them, yet—this was the scariest one.
I honestly feel like Amanda Ashley and Stephen King had lunch together one day and this plot was hatched.
Kadie Andrews, a photographer, is in desperate need of gas. Seeing a gas station on the other side of a bridge that looks barely able to sustain the weight of a car, and with storm clouds threatening rain any moment, Kadie decides to go for it and races across the bridge.
The gas station is out of business.
She tries to call the auto club, no cellphone service.
This is when Kadie meets a nice English gent who informs her she’s going to freeze in her car and suggests she come with him to the tavern. He assures her she’ll be safe with him and takes her to the tavern where she can get a cup of coffee.
He also informs her that the hotel is out of business. But there’s an empty house that she can stay in, the former occupants are not coming back.
Naturally this all seems a bit bit sketchy with Kadie, she’ll sleep in her car, she’s done it before and she’s not afraid to do it again. Her new friend informs her that isn’t a great idea and insists that she stay at the house.
And against better judgement, she does.
Now, gentle reader, this is where my normal review of the book stops. Why? Spoilers, baby! All I will tell you is that the town is a trap. Once you’re in, you can’t get out. A coven of Vampires own/run the town and keep the people there as a food source, would you believe there’s a love story involved in all of this?
And while this is a love story, this is also a truly terrifying book. The occupants of the town are unable to leave. No matter what they do or how they do it, they are trapped there. They also have no choice in the matter of being fed on. While the coven is mostly men, there is one woman in the coven of Vampires who apparently makes her chosen target do “evil and sick things.” The coven cares for their human captives as best as they can, providing food and shelter, they have no reason to work—though many of them do just to have something to do.
I actually wish this were the size of a Stephen King novel, because there is so much going on in this book, that you really want to see the outcome of certain things. Seeing as there are two more books in the series, I’ll have to give them a look.
The book isn’t overtly violent or overly sexual, it has a nice balance of both. And I was actually fooled—even though I’d read the back of the book—that the hero, Saintcrow, doesn’t show up right away. I thought it was this other guy that was going to be the love interest and my brain apparently forgot because when the hero did show up, I was all, “Oh, wow . . . holy cheese, okay.”
One of the best parts of the book is when Kadie, now living in the hero’s house, is told to go through some catalogs and get “whatever she wants,” and thinking that she’s going to teach Saintcrow a lesson and makes a list of the most expensive things she can find. Upon giving him the list, he looks it over and asks, “Is that all?” He doesn’t even blink at the stuff she’s asking for.
This is a great book to curl up with on a cold autumn night with some wind whipping through the trees.
My only complaint of the book—and I realize that this is a series—is that this book just wasn’t long enough. I truly wanted more story. Again, yes, I know this is a series, but when you read it, I think you’ll know what I mean.
Wonderfully spooky, perfectly frightening, and appropriately romantic, this is a great read for those days that are getting shorter.
