Well, that's what written on the first sentence of the first Vampire Princess of St. Paul series synopsis. I actually had just found the novel a few days ago. To tell you the truth, I really love to read fantasy novels, especially young adult ones.
Hmm.. after reading that tag that telling this novel entitled 'Almost to Die for' is kind of a mixture between 'Twilight' and 'Princess Diaries', I of course was interested to read the book, let alone this is all about vampires.
Then, I read through the pages days and nights (since there are two books already). It tells about a sixteen-year-old girl named Ana Parker who was known as a witch but she found out that she couldn't do magic. Instead, she was actually a dhampyr (half blood vampire).Uhm, maybe you've known that vampires and witches do not go along so well. Yeah, they also do in this book. Even, Tate Hallaway told that vampires only feed on witches' blood. And then here she came, Ana's Mom that actually was the Queen of Witch married her dad, who was the Vampire Prince. Dang!!
Amelia Parker did that in order to make the world in peace, but the thing was, it was failed.
Things became complicated for Ana. She didn't want to choose between those two worlds, so she decided not to be neither a witch nor a vampire, but both. Yes, she was the Vampire Princess of St. Paul as well as the Witch Queen's daughter.
And there were more complicated love story of Ana's. She had a boyfriend that was a vampire hunter apprentice, but on the other hand, she was betrothed (engaged) to a vampire knight. What the??
Okay, done with the story-line.
Well, it's time to talk about the way Hallaway wrote to these novels.
First, I like the main character, that is Anastasija Ramses Parker. She's an innocent. Though it's really cliche that Hallaway characterized her as a loner at her school that suddenly she was prominent because her lover was a vocalist of a well-known local band, still, I like the way Ana is described. Not only Ana, I also like Elias, the other main character. He was the vampire knight who was betrothed to Ana. Hmm, despite his too ancient action, I really love his gentleness. Well, gentleness is always able to melt girls' ice. Hahaha
Nevertheless, compared with two fantasy series I like most, Vampire Academy and Mortal Instruments, these novels, Almost to Die For and Almost Final Curtain, are not so good, I think. It is because the pace of Vampire Princess is too slow. And the confict isn't too complicated to be solved, plus the solving is too ordinary and too smooth. And I think, the sequel is better if it's still on the first book. So, make those two novels become one, then it'll make more enthusiasm for readers to read.
But still, this series is quite a good reference for you who loves fantasy and young adult novels..
:)
