ARC Review: On the Edge of Humanity by S.B. Alexander

I just signed up to Book Blogging a few weeks ago and started looking for ARCs instantly (as well as for challenges and memes). I soon found one that seemed rather intriguing, a vampire story. I'm usually a bit cautious with vampire stories, because I do love them, but there are only a few really good one, however, since it's not the kind of ARC that comes before publication, it actually was published in 2012, I could read a few reviews on Goodreads. Most of them were quite content, the uppermost one said she wasn't a fan of vampire stories but had loved this one. Well, unfortunately I can't share the love.

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampires
Publisher: - (Indie)
Publication: December 28th, 2012
Series: Vampire SEALs
Pages: 324

Format: eARC
Source: Book Blogging

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Synopsis:



Sixteen-year-old Jo Mason is lost in a world where traipsing from one foster home to another is normal. She hates her life, she hates school and on most days, she hates living. If it weren’t for her twin brother Sam, she may already be dead.

Her normal world shifts one hundred and eighty degrees when she discovers her own blood tastes like candy and her eyes change colors like a mood ring. On top of that, her eyesight seems to be failing when she spies an otherworldly man sporting bloodstained canines trying to strangle a cop. The developments are shrouded when Sam goes missing between Anger Management class and History class.

She’s called to the principal’s office to meet Lieutenant Webb London, a Navy SEAL who is part of a secret team of natural-born vampires. His mission is to protect the twins from an evil cartel, but he’s too late. With Jo now under his protection, his team searches for Sam.

However, finding and rescuing Sam from the evil cartel may be the easy part. Jo learns she carries a dormant vampire gene that, if activated, could save him. As her normal world fades even more, pushing her closer to the edge of humanity, Jo must decide if her human life is more important than her twin brother.

With time as her enemy, she struggles to make a life-changing decision for both her and Sam.


Rating:  

My thoughts:

Jo Mason is a sixteen year old orphan who is constantly pilgriming from foster parents to foster parents until she ends up the worst one of all. They are cruel and in the end she gets put in to hospital where she witnesses something that changes her life. From that moment on she has to flee, to run and while doing so, she discovers secrets of herself, her real family and of the existence of vampires.

Actually the first few pages were great. I thought it was going to be nice to read it. The plot was intriguing, the style was not bad, but on the very last page of the first chapter things started to become awry. Still I though "Okay, no problem, nothing is perfect." I'm such an optimistic. *rolls eyes* Unfortunately, I was wro
ng.

The story started to take a bend in the direction of illogical, inconsequential and even a teeny tiniely ludicrous. Let me explain this latter. It was probably meant to be simply dramatic, but it was overdone and came out being a bit ridiculous. Here are a few sentences that didn't really work out for me for the above mentioned reason so that you know what I mean:

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD! IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW SOME SENTENCES OF THE BOOK JUMP TO THE END OF THE SPOILER!

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"Wait." I scurried over to the table, grabbed the cop's card and shoved it into my pocket. I didn't know if I would need it, but if anything, I could contact him later to make sure he was okay." All this while they were escaping from the hospital. If I were her I wouldn't call the cop, who is obliged to take me to back to an orphanage, once I hate to be at foster homes.



"As I admired the sexy curves of the car, my gaze landed on the license plate that read Case-96. I looked up and the blue sign above stated the car belonged to Dr. Leroy Case. I wanted to laugh. To me, Dr. Case didn't look like a Leroy; he looked more like a nervous Nelly." (Still escaping.)

END OF SPOILER

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Apart from these wrongs there were also contradictions, such as it changed every minute whether she liked a certain person or not and what she knew or not. Though it could go with inconsequential, I imagine.

Another thing that didn't work out well for me was the unceasing hatred and shouting and some overused profanity. No, there wasn't too much and it wasn't obscene, nevertheless if I get to hear 'as*hole' once more I run out of this world.

ON THE OTHER HAND, it's too bad because the plot wouldn't have been bad. Nay! It was actually pretty intriguing and suspenseful despite the fact that sometimes I felt that all the stupid vampire myths were stuffed into it.

Rating Breakdown:

Cover: 5/5
Characters: 2/5 
Plot: 3/5 
Style/Writing: 3/5 
Word building: 2/5 
Originality: 2/5 

About the author:

Young Adult Author S. B. Alexander is a former navy veteran, high school math teacher and college professor. She currently travels through Corporate America always looking for her next story, character or scenery.

She believes words are the key to opening the door to extraordinary places with amazing characters that tell a great story.

http://sbalexander.com/

Continue the series!

New vampire Jo Mason had never imagined life with fangs, or drinking blood as her main meal. She has, however, dreamed of her first kiss, her first date and her first high school dance—but for a new vampire, none of those firsts come easy. Humans now tempt her appetite for blood and the Plutariums, a rogue team of vampires, want revenge against her family.

When her human friend Ben Jackson asks her to the May dance, Jo struggles to abide by vampire law. She isn’t sure if she wants to kiss him or taste his blood. She’s even more confused by the mixed messages coming from Vampire SEAL Webb London. The way he looks at her makes her want to jump off the nearest cliff and into his arms at the same time. Her guy problems, however, become the least of her worries when the deadly ones take center stage.The Plutariums abduct and drug her. She wakes alone with Ben, stranded on an abandoned yacht in the middle of a storm-tossed ocean. Worse, she struggles to keep her bloodlust sated and it will be a battle to see who survives.