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Vampire Beach #2

Initiation (Vampire Beach) by Alex Duval

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THE A-LIST BITES.Jason Freeman is getting the hang of DeVere Heights. Then life from his flyover past pays an unexpected visit in the form of his old friend Tyler. Jason's surprised — but psyched to see a familiar face.Having his friend around turns our to be a downer — especially when Jason realizes that Tyler is running from some kind of crisis. But Tyler isn't in on DeVere Heights's little secret. Now instead of escaping his problem, he's about to put himself in mortal danger. Literally.

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First published January 1, 2006

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Alex Duval

21 books210 followers
Alex Duval is a pseudonym for two seasoned YA writers.

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5 stars
705 (30%)
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686 (29%)
3 stars
645 (27%)
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220 (9%)
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60 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
Profile Image for Briar's Reviews.
2,283 reviews577 followers
October 25, 2025
I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first, but it still had me hooked and I want the rest of the series.

The bestie Tyler visiting wasn't as smooth flowing as the rest of the book seemed to be. Tyler got on my nerves more than I'd like to admit. He was a big part of the plot moving, so I guess I can forgive that, but I was more intrigued with some of the surprise twists that popped up...

Regardless, still an easy read with low stakes.

Three out of five stars.
Profile Image for Liz .
14 reviews
January 18, 2024
Give me 1 day and an 8 hour shift and I will finish this book.
Can't wait to try find the next books in the series.
Idk what I'll read tomorrow now
Profile Image for Emilija.
1,868 reviews30 followers
June 12, 2025
This isn't a great book but it's not a bad book. It's just a little bland. It was predictable and a little boring compared to the first book.

I liked Jason in book 1, but the fact that hes literally chasing a girl with a boyfriend is really turning me away from his character, and the rest of the characters are all a little two dimensional (except for Zach, because I like Zach). Sienna is still the it-girl, Belle is still the craving attention girl, Brad is still the good guy, Zach is still the mysterious but helpful guy, Adam is still the film nerd guy, the characters dont seem to be moving anywhere.

The plot itself was a little... well, does anybody really expect a human to get into a high security house owned by vampires with very sensitive ears by swinging up the ivy tresses and not get caught? The whole book kind of existed on that sort of suspension of disbelief.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jennifer Wardrip.
Author 5 books516 followers
November 9, 2012
Reviewed by K. Osborn Sullivan for TeensReadToo.com

In the second installment of the VAMPIRE BEACH series, Jason Freeman is still coming to grips with the fact that the popular kids at his new Malibu high school are all vampires. And why shouldn't the vamps be popular? They're beautiful and rich, and they throw the best parties. But Jason knows those parties are simply an excuse to drink blood from unwitting human guests. It's true that the humans aren't hurt, the vampires need blood to survive, and many of those vampires are Jason's friends, but still... Let's just say that Jason is feeling conflicted. Then when his best friend from the old neighborhood turns up unexpectedly and under mysterious circumstances, Jason's problems multiply.

As with the first VAMPIRE BEACH book, I love the premise. When I was in high school, I often wondered what it was that made the popular crowd so special. I could wear the same clothes they wore and sport the same hairstyle, but still something was missing. Maybe they were all secretly blood-sucking monsters. That would explain a lot.

But, again, just like the first book in this series, the execution of the great premise left me cold. For one thing, this book is too short. I wanted it to delve more deeply into the characters and their lives. So much could have been going on in this vampire-run town, and I was constantly disappointed that the author wasn't exploring those things. I was also bothered by the fact that there were some pretty improbable actions being taken by people in this story. For example, if you're hiding in a roomful of vampires and your cell phone goes off, wouldn't it be odd if the vamps still didn't notice you were there? The reactions and explanations sometimes felt contrived and highly unlikely, which detracted from the story.

In the plus column, this book seemed to have toned down the first book's uncomfortable attempts to use current teenage language. Or if it didn't tone them down, then I must have gotten used to them. Either way, it didn't grate on me the way it had in VAMPIRE BEACH: BLOODLUST. Also, this story was interesting and it had a few twists and turns that kept me turning the pages eagerly.

Overall, this is an intriguing book. I like the premise, the characters, and the story itself. Be warned, though, that this one is for older readers. Like BLOODLUST, it contains references to alcohol and drug use, as well as some sexual activity and a little swearing. As for this book's problems, my chief complaint is that it left me wanting much more.
Profile Image for Sidney (aka Sidsbooks).
178 reviews22 followers
July 23, 2018
I unfortunately did not like this novel as much. It was super repetitive and predictable. That being said I am excited to continue reading the rest of the books in the series!

Watch this link for my full review >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phz-W...

Have you read this book yet? What did you think of it?
Profile Image for Shaft.
595 reviews2 followers
August 7, 2017
OK but just ok the main character is becoming annoying but this is a romance based YA so that is inescapable. At least we learn some more lore.
Profile Image for ✨✨ Claire✨✨.
1,131 reviews58 followers
September 12, 2017
aimed I think at the younger end of the YA scale but if you're after an extremely light, no hidden secrets, no adult content at all this is for you.

For some reason I have read up to book 6 (I think that's all published till now). if I'm honest the spin on vamps is a little different and some of the characters a little endearing.

And it's sometimes good to get a little light relief from heavy serious reading!!!!

But I still couldn't in all good heart give any of them more than a 3* .

I did like Tyler in this one and the vagueness of his issues but the obvious symptoms he had that there was something wrong.

Annoyed for Jason at the end - and was actually surprised at that little extra piece of juicy extra chucked in at the end there!!!

So many ways for this to turn out- well done to the author for the openings!!

✔ does Tyler just go back to Michigan?
✔ does Tyler stay in Malibu now? And with the Freemans?
✔ does Tyler get turned into a vamp but stays?
✔ does Tyler get turned into a vamp but sent away to control new urges?
✔ does the vampire council kill him?
✔ do Jason and sienna smuggle Tyler out of Malibu?
✔ does Tyler turn out to be a vamp already?

very nice!!

Yes Jason was a cute new guy who does well against all the vamps. Sienna does well as the beautiful yet is-she-isnt-she reachable female...... but there is STILL the whole vamp theme. More explanations are needed in the way of how they exist in general day to day etc....

.....or maybe I don't have a clue what I'm talking about!!!! 😂😂😂 I don't know.

Sorry author.....you give a YA audience vamps in a great way and I try to ask for more than what you can give!!!

apologies!!....ill go sit in the corner over there.....!!!!😉😂😂 lol!!!!
Profile Image for Jordan.
69 reviews1 follower
March 14, 2021
Okay so this is technically two different books, that are part of the same series, compiled into one book. I’m going to review them together as, though, as that’s how I read them.
Jason Freeman has moved to the ultra-exclusive DeVere Heights in Malibu, where it seems like everyone is beautiful and rich. Jason quickly becomes friends with the in-crowd and is soon hitting all the best parties. But, when tragedy strikes and a girl washes up dead with a suspicious fang like bite mark, Jason has to come to terms with the fact that his new friends may be more than what they seem.
I would say that this series is firmly teen fiction, the writing isn’t amazing but it’s light and easy to understand. After the hard slog of the last book I reviewed, this was like letting my brain take a little holiday. I managed to read what was technically two books in less than two days, without feeling like I rushed it, which I really enjoyed for a change.
The story itself wasn’t exactly original and it was on the predictable side, but I never felt bored, I wanted to keep reading. The use of the sexy-yet-unattainable woman was the only part tat annoyed me, but I understood the need for it in the context of the story. I also really like that vampire lore is completely thrown out the window, none of it really matches with any of the myths. I don’t mind putting a new spin on an old story, but this didn’t really feel like vamps, it felt like partying teens that just liked to drink blood from time to time.
The characters were mostly likeable, if a lil 2D. They all had distinct personalities that seemed to complement each other without clashing, which kept things interesting. I didn’t notice any real character development though, everybody stayed pretty stagnant.
I don’t think I would go out of my way to collect the rest of the series but if I saw them in a thrift store, I would absolutely get them out of curiosity. I would only recommend these books if you wanted something to read while on holiday or beside the pool, something to chillout with.
This was definitely an entertaining read that had more good than bad, I just wish it was written a little better and that there was some actually character development.
2.5/5 Stars
Profile Image for Lozz’s Random Reads  McKenzie - Lee.
930 reviews18 followers
November 28, 2022
Book two in the Vampire Beach series, Initiation,the story continues for Jason Freeman, along with his sister Danielle, nerdy filmmaking friend Adam, and. The DeVere Heights elites…
The vampires Sienna,Brad and co…

This time, however, that truce between vampire and human may be coming under threat from a very unexpected person…
Jason’s childhood. School friend Tyler.

Tyler’s sudden appearance out of the blue, at first welcomed, sparks lots of rumours and suspicions as his erratic behaviour threatens Jason’s relationship burgeoning relationship with Sienna, but also Zach, the charismatic brooding alpha almost the Malibu Vamps,

At Zach’s birthday party, Tyler makes a rash decision that puts his.I’ve in danger, threatening Jason’s family in the process.

Will Jason be able to put things to rights, and smooth over his best friends indiscretions before things get waaayy out of hand?

The biggest revelation comes, however, towards the end of this book when Jason is forced to face a huge reveal that he didn’t see coming..

These books are great short reads with enough if a plot to keep me entertained and interested.


The ONLY tiny problem I had with his second book was, Jason’s lovesick lusting over Sienna.
It is starting to get a little annoying now.

He can’t keep his hand off her. Kissing her every opportunity he gets.

Knowing she is Brads girlfriend, and still not being able to control himself and pursuing her, it just wrong.

Four stars


Profile Image for Sienna.
22 reviews
October 8, 2018
Pages: 192
Main Characters: Jason Freeman, Sienna Devereux, Tyler

The second book in The Vampire Beach series, sees Jason getting more familiar with life in Malibu. But as with all good things, they have to be balanced with some bad. He gets a visit from an old friend, Tyler. While he is excited to see him, he becomes increasingly suspicious and eventually finds out that all is not as it seems. Tyler is in trouble but coming to Malibu, a place with a vampire hierarchy only promises to bring more. When Tyler steals a very important vampire artifact during a party, he doesn't realize that he's putting himself in mortal peril. Jason then has to find a way to protect his friend without betraying his new ones; all the while, trying to get closer to Sienna.

I liked this second book in the series about as much as the first. I do enjoy watching the romance between him and Sienna unfold more and more. I appreciate the set up of the first novel and this ones extension of the world. They are short books and this one was no exception: short, light, and fun. I think that as far as YA goes, this is an easy read which is a good thing. Not all books need to be heavy, or complicated. They just need to get you to read and this one definitely does that. A very easy book to finish in one go.
Profile Image for valerie pinon.
240 reviews4 followers
January 12, 2023
🩸Murder Mystery
🩸Friendship
🩸Betrayal
🩸Toxic Youth
🩸Bingeable

The second book Initiation:
Jason's friend from Michigan comes to visit and brings his baggage with him. He gets into trouble with the vampires and you learn something important about them. Looking forward to the next two books where this saga continues.
54 reviews1 follower
Read
July 15, 2023
It’s deeply funny to me that I spent a lot of energy as a teenager trying to figure out if Alex Duval was a man or a woman. It could not be more clear that it was written by a man. It’s the male gaze, distilled. Revisiting teenage favourites has been quite revealing about my teenage psyche.
Profile Image for Carmen.
892 reviews2 followers
November 6, 2018
Loved both book 1 and 2 so far great characters and story
Profile Image for Duchessbookworm.
1,305 reviews44 followers
March 12, 2020
This book was better than the first one. But I wasn't attached to the characters.
80 reviews
March 23, 2023
not good , just read it out of boredom and coz i downloaded the wrong book
Profile Image for Cheri McKenzie.
110 reviews
December 12, 2023
i feel like i’m reading mini episodes of these characters of a vampire sitcom. i’m not mad about it but it’s an interesting choice of writing. i would read more of these books if they were longer!
Profile Image for Amy.
25 reviews
July 26, 2024
how can a book in part of a series called vampire beach have such little beach and more importantly, so few vampires/vampire related plot!!!!!!!!!?
Profile Image for Natshane.
536 reviews52 followers
June 23, 2011
One word : Unexpected.

I love the first book of the series, and who knew that the second one would grip me to the extent that I can't seem to put it down even though I'm 5 minutes away from school, not until I reached the last page, not until I know what happened in the end.

That might sound a bit of an exaggeration, but I just wanted to emphasize on how much I love this book. Compared to the first one, Initiation was filled with a much more fast paced plot, now that we know about the vampires in Malibu, there was no longer the element of unknown, but that didn't stop me from being awed at how Jason reacted.

I mean, if I was him, I don't think I'll be that calm and still continue to yearn for a vampire chick that's definitely out of my league, hell, I think I might be the first Malibu upperclass resident who is admitted into the psychiatric ward because I would be rambling away about 'non-existent' vampires.

Reading from Jason's POV on how he handled his life in Malibu was interesting. Jason, from what I read is someone who's popular, but not popular enough to be in the vampire crowd, thus keeping him afar, close enough to be their friend, but not close enough to be one of them. Still, he led his human life, not depressed and simply shrugging each time. And not to mention his fascination (okay, it's way past the fascination stage, perhaps pining?) for Sienna, the vampire babe, I swear, he's becoming even more girlier in this book! But I love him for it, it's not everyday you meet a guy like Jason!

So to sum it up, I love Initiation because:

1. I feel my infatuation towards Jason intensified because of how he constantly put others in front of him and how he deals with his inner turmoil because of his concern for Tyler (he's troubled friend) and Sienna (who he has a MAJOR cursh for).

2. I feel a certain draw towards the vampires of Malibu, they are not scary, in fact they are friendly and charitable (apart from the cool Zach, but he's a cool dude) and sophisticated too, but there's definitely something about them that makes you automatically shy away from them.

3. I just got to know that Jason is related to a vampire! I won't tell you the who though.

4. Sienna, Jason, a forbidden relationship with every bit of teen drama and humour.
Add that all and you got Vampire Beach. One thing though, I'm not that satisfied with how the story resolves, I feel it lacked the action compared to the first book. Nevertheless, a perfect 4.0!
Profile Image for Amy H.
592 reviews21 followers
March 16, 2013
This book was just as good as the first one. Jason continued is friendship with his vampire friends and continues on the swim team. Adam is still is best friend and his side kick. While everyone is getting ready for school vacation Jason got a surprise vist from his friend Tyler.
Tyler hitched hikes from Michigan to Jason's house so he didn't have any clothes. Jason's family loves him like there own so they were happy to see him and let him stay In the guest room. Also staying for thanksgiving vacation was his aunt b. Tyler started acting funny and was getting weird phone calls. Jason started asking questions and found out that Tyler was into drugs and needed 5 thousand dollars. Jason took Tyler to one of the famous parties ins devre heights and Tyler ended up stealing a very important vampire cup.
Now Jason has to figure out how to get it back and save Tyler. Now all vampires are looking to kill Tyler and Jason just found out that aunt b is a high in the vampire chain. Mean while seriena is getting closer to Jason but Jason keeps screwing up his chances with her.
Profile Image for McKenzie Templeton.
71 reviews50 followers
March 4, 2015
This story was substantially better than the prequel Bloodlust. This had more suspense, more action and drama, and more plots twists. Although I did see most of the plot twists coming, they were still very interesting to experience.

The plot was very good. It picked up right where the other left off, but also reintroduced the characters so it could be read first with little confusion (although I don't see why you'd want to do that! This series is one you want to experience entirely.) It was action-packed, romantic, and full of paranormal drama, with plenty of vampire lore.

The writing was also very nice in this novel, just as it was better this time around. It was suspenseful and kept me rapidly turning pages as I hurried towards an unexpected ending that, although it isn't the most suspenseful ending, it still leaves you wanting more.

Overall, I will definitely be checking into finishing this series. It's a great little vampire series that I predict will get better and better with each sequel.
Profile Image for Natalie.
703 reviews15 followers
June 20, 2013
Vampire Beach (Vampire Beach, #1)
by Alex Duval
7028776
Natalie's review
Jun 19, 13 · edit

2 of 5 stars
Read from June 16 to 19, 2013

This ISBN actually goes to a book that is actually books 1 & 2 of the series in the same volume and that's what I read. Book 1 is Bloodlust and Book 2 is Initiation.
Well, this book was as cheesy as the title and cover made it seem. Definitely a different twist on the whole teen vampire thing and from the guy's point of view also. It wasn't a bad book but it wasn't very good either. Too risque for younger YA readers - nothing graphic just a lot of background sex and a whole lot of upfront teen drinking. I have no interest in finding out what else happens in this series although it was super quick light summer read. There are better YA paranormal novels out there.
Profile Image for Alan.
23 reviews1 follower
September 28, 2007
jasons friend come from Michigan to visit him, but he seems to be in some trouble and is hiding it from Jason. One night they attend zacks birthday party and a necklace required for zacks initiation into the vampire counsel was stolen. Jason eventually finds out that his friend owns someone money and stole the necklace to help pay off his debt. The vampires went after jasons friend and plan to kill him. Jason finds out that the ancient jewelary was sold to a shop and the owner sold it to someone else. Serene informs Jason about his freidns whereabouts and zack is trying to save his friend from being killed. In the end, Jason got the biggest surprise of his life. Jasons aunt happens to be a high ranking member of the vampire counsel. Jason retrieves the necklace by using his savings .

52 reviews
Read
November 16, 2011
In this book, Jason's friend comes from Michigan to visit him, but he seems to be in some trouble and is hiding it from Jason. One night they attend zacks birthday party and a necklace required for zacks initiation into the vampire counsel was stolen. Jason eventually finds out that his friend owns someone money and stole the necklace to help pay off his debt. The vampires went after jasons friend and planned to kill him. Jason finds out that the ancient jewelary was sold to a shop and the owner sold it to someone else. Serene informs Jason about his friends whereabouts and zack is trying to save his friend from being killed. In the end, Jason got the biggest surprise of his life. Jasons aunt happens to be a high ranking member of the vampire counsel and Jason retrieves the necklace
Profile Image for Theresa.
4,085 reviews14 followers
September 8, 2016
For some reason this book was shorter than the others. It cut down on the amount of action and detail that was in the others, but it was still a good story.

Jason once again becomes deeply involved in th Malabu vampire affairs. First a childhood friend just shows up: in trouble, then he nearly blows it with Sienna. There's and interesting twist/surprise at the end, that I'm glad of. Looking forward to read how it developes in the rest of the series. I also wonder if we find out more about Tyler.

Jason getting into the Lafreniere mansion is abit unlikely. The vamps definitely should have heard him. But that's expected in a quick YA book. And what's that about 'bubble tea'?

Fave scene: Jason and Sienna's chase.
Profile Image for Aymee.
660 reviews21 followers
April 16, 2011
*Four and a half stars*

Building on the first book, we continue on in Malibu, CA, hanging out with Jason and his vamipiric friends. When his old friend from Michigan arrives unexpectedly, chaos ensues.

While there are some pacing issues (although minor and not too bad), this second book in the Vampire Beach series is engaging and interesting. You learn more about Jason and Sienna in this installment and watch their attraction for one another grow. You also find out more about the vampires of DeVere Heights and how they operate.

All in all, a good book with a decent mystery attached to it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews

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