After posting my review on Friday of "A Vampire in Disguise 1: A Friend in Love", author Amelia Wilson sent me an ARC of part 2 in exchange for another honest review.
This second story in her series picks up where Avice and Yarra left off, Avice having made the decision to leave his family, break from his clan, and run off with Yarra to protect her and be with her forever. This second story chronicles their departure from her home and the obstacles they must face along their journey toward living together in peace. While on the run, Avice takes Yarra to Nainoru, an ancient witch who used to know and work with Avice's family, but has since gone into hiding. In their time short time with Nainoru, Yarra and Avice receive information about their families from the witch that neither knew previously. I really enjoyed and appreciated how Wilson used this new character to clarify and further develop some information from the first story.
From Nainoru, Avice learns more about his family's first battle with the opposing vampire clan and learns of how his mother rose to power within his own (former) clan - The Keeper of the Blades. He also discovers some surprising and hard-to-stomach details of his mother's past which further explains her current actions and decisions. It logically delineates how Avice came to be in the difficult moral dilemma that he currently faces between his family loyalty and his new love. He must learn to digest and reconcile this information about his mother, and transform his own ideals about her in the process. This adds complexity to both Avice and Alicia (his mother) as characters, and also begins to develop some more conflict - both internal and external - for multiple characters.
At the same time, Nainoru reveals to Yarra that her ancestors also played a large role in the first vampire clan wars - much in the same way that Yarra helped The Keeper of the Blades in the first story in this series (even though much of the detail of how she specifically helped is left out of that story - see my previous review). Yarra, having been adopted by human parents, knew nothing of her ancestry, species, or how to control her powers prior to meeting Avice and his family, so to learn more about her own family allows her to more fully embrace being an oracle in this second installment. Through this part of the story, Yarra uses this new information about her self and her family to further hone her powers as an oracle and embrace the fact that she is not alone in her paranormality. These new details in Yarra's life and ancestry also add complexity to her as a character and continue both her internal and external conflicts which add depth and interest to the plot.
One detail of Yarra's powers that I relish is the concept that her visions are not always concrete for the future. Rather, they are presented to her in the same way as a choose-your-own-adventure style story. If the characters make specific choices, and choose one, given path, then they end up at Vision A. However, if there is a change or digression from those particular choices or paths, then Vision A becomes null. It reminds me of the theory of a multiverse (as opposed to a universe - look it up if you have never heard of the theory) which completely fascinates me. While I recognize that these two ideas are not mutually inclusive, I also recognize that they are neither mutually exclusive, so I allow myself to divulge in this possibility within the story and life. /End of preferential digression...
There were, though, a few parts in the story could have been handled better.
For example, at the very beginning of chapter 1, Wilson mentions that Avice uses Yarra's precognitive abilities to maneuver around her guards (who happen to be members of Avice's family's Keeper of the Blade clan) in order to escape and run away together. However, Wilson does not detail how exactly Avice and Yarra escape. It felt almost as if the author here was unsure of how the two would ever be able to make it out of there, logically, but knew she wanted the two to escape alive and run away, and so skipped over the details of the escape. I was disappointed as it would have added much suspense and intensity in a Jason-Bourne-style, action/adventure escape scene that could have been done rather well if having taken the time to plan it and write it accurately.
Another part that I didn't find particularly believable was when Yarra has a vision of how to get Nainoru's house even though she has never been there. Yarra has a vision of the inside of the house, which makes sense as that is where she and Avice are headed, so this vision of her and Avice's near future in their visit makes sense. However, within this vision, Yarra's thoughts then pan out in an ever widening scope (much like a camera pulling away from a close up to reveal more about the scene in a larger scope) until she able to provide exact directions on how to get to Nainoru's house. While I understand and appreciate that this take on her clairvoyant abilities is a unique twist and helps to drive the plot, it once again felt like the author here needed a way to get them to Nainoru's house and added this special attribute to her precognitive abilities as a way to meet that need in the plot. While not altogether unbelievable, it seemed like a stretch on the part of the author to more easily meet the needs of the storyline.
One part that I continue to find inauthentic in the series is the small amount of dialogue between Avice and Yarra in scenes where they are alone. They consistently refer to each other as "baby" as a romantic petname for one another. While I recognize that this story is labeled as a paranormal romance, and I've mentioned before that I am a love curmudgeon, these moments of dialogue seem forced and out of place. The rest of the dialogue sounds authentic and fits well with the characters and the plot, but these random inserts of "baby" in Avice and Yarra's conversations disjoints the communicative function of the dialogue for me. I guess just personally I could do without the mushy names.
Finally, there is a small scene in this story where Wilson slightly details some sexual encounters. Again, this makes sense in a genre labeled as romance, but with the rest of the story and plot, the scenes and the words to describe them seemed disjointed with the flow of the rest of the story. These scenes almost feel like afterthoughts added in to be able to label it as a romance rather than fully fitting into the story smoothly and authentically.
As with the previous ARCs, this could also benefit from some professional and close editing as there were a few places where the grammar and spelling distracted from the story. And like the first story, I felt that this story, if given more time and detail, could be greatly extended as chapters of one longer and more developed novel that chronicles Avice and Yarra's adventures. While I find myself enjoying the story and am interested in reading about what happens next, I also feel that there is a bigger potential in the story that Wilson could truly benefit in developing.
Overall, I am extremely grateful for the continued opportunity to read these stories and look forward to the next installment.
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