Veritable Vampires

ALMOST HUMAN by Melanie Nowak

*Received this book from the author for review

Overall the whole trilogy gets a fantastic 4 out of 5 gnomes for having intriguing characters and vampires who have a lot of personality.  I really like how this trilogy is set up because each book leads right into the next and you never know what's going to happen next so you end up getting drawn right into the story.  Each chapter is set up in the beginning almost as if it's a play or on TV.  It can vary among the chapters but you learn everything from who's going to be narrating the chapter, what time it is, where this is happening, and what day of the week it is. 

The main character Felicity is the new girl at college and kind of has a whole country mouse turning into a city mouse kind of thing going on.  This country mouse is being introduced to the fact that vampires do indeed exist.  Unlike some other recent literary characters that seem fine about vampires existing, Felicity is not sure at first what to think about it.

There is plenty of relationship drama across all three books.  You see the beginning, middle and end of one relationship then the start of another.  Somehow though I don't think that these relationships may stay stable at all.  There are two love interests across the three books.  Ben is the first guy that Felicity meets, he goes to the same college, and works in the The DownTime Café and Bookstore (the same place that she works).  He lives in town with his Dad who's not home a lot.  The reader of course can tell that Ben really like Felicity but of course she has no clue for quite a while.
 
Cain, an extremely old vampire with a very literal name, ushers Felicity into the world of vampires when he saves her and later when she finds out that he is a vampire.  There interactions are great but he's almost more intriguing as a character when you see his actions and thoughts when he's not around Felicity.  I do like the fact that they both know that the relationship between them has a not so great chance of working out.  Cain has plenty of flaws but Felicity is slow to catch on to that fact.  In the second book the reader gets to see what Cain's life was like before he became a vampire, seeing this glimpse is enlightening to why he is the way he is today.  The relationship of Felicity and Cain is well done even though I did want to slap some sense into one or the both of them at different times.  They even have a whole Ross and Rachel moment thrown into the works which thankfully is brought up in the book.

I like that the author shows the flaws in the vampires that shes created.  It's not easy for a human to have a relationship with these vampires.  They have venom in their saliva and other body fluids so whether they bite someone or kiss them, they'll find themselves becoming addicted to venom and craving it just like a drug.  After being bitten the person is marked as well the property of whichever vampire bit them.  Their venom and bite lets them trace the location of the person they've bit and have some sway on their actions.  The one plus to this is that the human can also sense if the vampire is close.

There is more then one villain but Sindy is the main big bad that starts it all.  She was young when she was turned into a vampire but she has a real thirst for power.  Sindy and her group that she's made into vampires are not practicing the best vampire habits and are pretty noticeable.  Their hassling of people and making of poorly made vampires are the reasons that Cain comes to town in the first place.  He tries to teach vampires the ways that he lives by and if they don't agree he at least tells them to not kill the people that they take blood from.  Complications ensue because of Sindy's actions and that she also wants to be with Cain and Ben.  Because of these feelings of course she doesn't really like Felicity at all.  I have a feeling that Sindy's going to be an important character in the future and I really like that she's not just a one dimensional villain.

Each book ends at a great point but I would recommend reading it as a trilogy.  I love the endings of all three books because they either leave you laughing or contemplating what could happen next.  This is especially true with the end of the third book which shows a promising direction for the future and ends with Felicity finding out some very intriguing information.  These characters were fun to read about and there are still secrets and stories to explore so I'm really looking forward to reading more from Melanie Nowak.