Review: Afterlight by Elle Jasper

Published Date: November 2nd, 2010
Finished Date: July 5th, 2011
Publishers: Signet
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Series: Dark Ink Chronicles book 1

Blurb from Goodreads: Savannah's most unconventional tattoo artist, Riley Poe, lives on the edge. Now she's put over the edge when her younger brother is taken by a sinister cult led by vampires. Her only ally is the hot-tempered vampire Eli Dupre, attracted to Riley's beauty and rare blood type. To save her brother from certain un-death, Riley faces dangers she's never dreamed of, ruthless bloodthirsty enemies, and an evil of endless hunger that wants to devour it all...

My Review: Wow, eccentric book.

Riley Poe, best tattoo artist in town and an ex-juvy-turned-good, has been living with her brother, Seth, until the day she trail-shadowed Seth and his friends to Da Hell Stone - which was this tombstone in the local cemetery that her psychic adopted uncle-father-figure told both her and her brother to stay the hell clear of. So she managed to bring Seth home, but strange things started to happen. For example like how Seth started to sleep a hell lot more(PIG! haha joking), and he started wearing sunglasses in the light, or how he's suddenly and uncharacteristically quiet and non-touchy-feely(usually he's so witty and snarky you're sure to really like him..just like me!:D). Riley's worried, but she doesnt want to smother him too much like her deceased mom did to her and made her all emo and turning to drugs and all. And in the midst of all this, she saw this guy in black(wow..MIB) staring at her thru her tat store's front window and she just cant seem to get him out of her mind(yawn).

ok so one day, Seth runs from home after he did sth really bad(I am very sorry i forgot what exactly..i put off doing this review for quite some time to heal from the usual roiling emotions after i read a book and well..my memory sort of ditched me:/). But yeah he ran away, and 'poof!'-the uncle-father-figure, Preacher, is actually well acquainted with a local family of vamps and they have a plan to solve it all! And to top it all off, she found out that the eldest son of the Dupre family(the vamp family) was the GIB(guy in black) at her store front that one fateful day, and lo and behold..They fell in love. Well, i certainly didnt see it coming.NOT.

And of course, good guys triumphed in the end, but the bad guy didnt die(at least one of them didnt).ok BIG spoiler. That was a big one. haha but oh well, if you've ever read my reviews before then you'll know im privvy to spoilering a lot of the books i do review.

I should stop digressing..

Ok onto the story: The first thing i noticed about the book was that Jasper utilized a different to separate the 'chapters'. Well, they were labelled as parts..but you'll only know what im talking about if you've already read the book. Just thought it was kinda cool..dont ask me why, but i do.

Anyway, the first part of the book was not well written. I did not really understand what was going on until a little ways into the book. The prologue was a scene after the book which i have not read in a while, and which i totally did not dig. I'm fine with the reversed way of writing, but why not try to write one that is more attention-grabbing or just one that doesnt sound like a "i have found the love of my life. The end" kinda thing? The first chapter/part was on delving into Riley's inner take on things as they happen around her, so there was a lot of inner commentating which became rather confusing at times cause it was kinda like plunging straight into her life without a foreplay/introduction.

The book picked up its pace quite soon after so i was slowly getting absorbed into the grim world of vamps and the underground world where Riley used to frequent. Which was really a lot of fun, what with her wicked fighting skills to defend herself and sarcastic, witty and snarky(not to mention independent)nature.

There was one part that was fast paced which did not sit well with me at all - the romance part. Riley and Eligius Dupre fell in love so fast that there wasnt any overt love and chemistry that i could feel. I literally groaned with the disappointing anticlimax and cringed with the cliche and cheesy-ness of it all(i was rather expectant of a good love story..oh well). It made it all seem so unnatural. Also, when they were making love, Riley was almost the dominant one. Oh gosh, that was just..weird.. Not that im sexist, its just...mostly unseen of. And i think because Jasper tried to paint Eli as a more alpha possessive lover, she had to tamp down on Riley's own alpha possessive nature to let him shine, which equates to being inconsistent. Oh and amidst the love making,which was really hot and violent(ok visual overload haha), he suddenly said mine, you are mine when he appeared to be the kinda-passive at first, so it didnt really link to the image i've created of him in my head. It all just strikes me as fake.

Riley was cool. Badass fighter(tho the kneeing groin thing got kinda old after the 4th time she used it), brave, strong, determined as hell, sexy and beautiful exterior, add her soft feelings for those she loves or calls friends, i took a liking to her immediately.

Eli was...as i've said, relatively passive. At least he was initially. So he wasnt my favourite male heroine, nuh uh. And since i've been reading more shmexy adult PNR books nowadays, the basis for my comparisons are rather high in standards. So no, he wasnt my ideal type, but it was also because Jasper didnt make him shine so much in this one.

Ok this review is getting lengthy so im gonna stop soon. It wasnt that the book was bad, it's just that all this criticisms just pops into my head like some negative commentating diarrhea tap turning on and it just flows into my hands y'know? It wasnt bad, just that i think i've had enough of vamp novel books in a while. But the truly couraeous female heroine in a vamp romance YA novel is refreshing(and a kind of novelty in this Twilight/Vamp Diaries and all those other authors taking advantage of the sudden vamp craze's books period).

2.75 stars? Haha, but it's worth a shot. What's not to love right?

My Rating: