Title: Venom & Vanilla
Series: The Venom Trilogy Book #1
Author: Shannon Mayer
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Blurb: Successful Seattle baker Alena Budrene doesn’t want to die. But when she’s infected with a lethal virus spread by supernatural beings, her only chance for recovery is to make a deal with the devil—or in this case, a warlock.
Though he saves her life, it looks nothing like the life she once knew—and neither does she. Alena is a new breed of “Supe” no one has ever seen before. Even the supernatural police don’t know what she is. Now exiled to the northern side of the Wall, which marks the divide between humans and Supes, Alena is thrust into a dark and magical new world.
But just as she begins to adjust to all things supernatural, she realizes that her transformation is the least of her worries—and it was no accident. She was chosen…to be killed by a Greek hero trying to make a name for himself once more.
Alena was brought up to be subservient, preferring creating to fighting, and vanilla and honey to blood. But that was then. Now, to survive, she must stand up for herself—and this time she’s got fangs. But will she be ready to use them?
Thoughts: If you happen to be looking for a less-serious, lighthearted paranormal book, this one would fit the bill. I actually enjoyed the premise of the book and the storyline, however I did have a bit of a problem with our main heroine. Alena was just very immature and timid for the most part and even when she’s being a ‘big bad’ she just never quite pulls it off. Of course, all the other characters she encounters in the book are fascinated by her – which I just don’t get at all. Something about the story and the author had me continuing the book, however, and I didn’t feel that her character was so awful that it rendered it unreadable. It was actually an ok book, though I probably won’t continue with this particular trilogy.
Rate: B-
