See full review @ The Indigo Quill

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

To be honest, I had no idea RaShelle Workman had written all these other books in addition to the original Blood and Snow series! Where the heck have I been? I found out there was going to be a Season 2 and I was just short of sitting on her doorstep waiting for it to be published. Needless to say, I had extremely high expectations for this installment.

As I began reading Vampire Lies, I was first surprised that this season was from the perspective of Snow and Dorian's 7 Magics-baby, Jasmine. The pace was good at first, but then it slowed down significantly. It didn't come close to the page-turning anticipation I felt from the first season. For the most part, the bulk of the book was mundane and focused on normal, every day school-girl things with a murder or two thrown in between. I felt like the richness of the story was seriously lacking until the very end. I hate saying this because I really loved Season 1, and because of that I know what Workman is capable of, but I didn't see it here.

For instance, the character of Jasmine. She is capable of having so much more depth than what we saw in this first book. Yes, she was in a new environment as a result of rebelling against her placement in life, but how could this affect her reality aside from being ignorant of "normal" human ways? She could've delved into her Royal knowledge to put the bullies in their places. She could be much more bel-esprit for knowing what it is to run a kingdom and facets of the world that no one else knows about. She may feel stupid at first, but yet she has way more knowledge than anyone else around her.

Snow and Dorian could've played a much larger role. Yes, they figured things out quickly and came to oversee Jasmine, but she didn't once question the fact that it had been days and her parents hadn't questioned her absence. And although she lived in the real world, I felt like there should've been a little more of a connection to the magical world than what we were given.

I'm going to continue reading this Season because I still have faith that things will pick up and RaShelle Workman will release more emprise that she's hiding up her sleeves. The hardest part was that I had so many questions and wanted more out of the story. I just felt like the majority of it moved incredibly slow and so much more could've been happening. I still recommend the first Season to lovers of paranormal YA romance. And although this book didn't meet my expectations, I'm still looking forward to the next. ( )