Even though I didn't like it, I still want to thank the author for getting me the copy I read.
Where do I begin? As you can tell, I didn't like this. I honestly didn't even finish it. I made it 50% for the author's sake (and because I like to be far enough in that I feel I am making an informed review. Stopping before 50% seems opposite of that).
When I started this book, I didn't know it was a paranormal read. It wasn't in the description, and I try to avoid reading reviews until I finish a book so they don't impact my expectations. It was a little surprising to find vampires running around through this story.
I'm going to try to do this review without turning it into a list of grievances.
My biggest issue with this book was that I just couldn't get behind Katrina, the main character. She drove me crazy. She blew off her best friend time and time again in order to spend time with the cute new guy. To an extent, I get it. And Katrina is insanely lucky her friend was ok with it too, because I wouldn't have been. Also, Katrina is supposed to be endearingly clumsy and in need of rescuing. Your typical damsel in distress. But to me, it came off more that she was completely incapable of saving herself, even from falling after she kicks a nightstand. It was funny at first, but it quickly became not funny, and I just wanted her to get herself out of a bad situation just once.
Another problem I had was typical of many characters. They didn't seem to take serious situations seriously. Katrina was particularly bad about this, but Cole is guilty of it too. For example, there is a scene in which time is of the essence. They need to move. So what do Cole and Katrina do? They make out in Cole's car and completely forget what's going on around them. Seriously? If my life was in danger, I don't care how much you tried to snog my brains out, I'm not going to forget I'm in danger.
Both of these segue into my next point. The writing needed a lot of work, and I don't mean just spelling and punctuation. That was mostly good. Things just happened either too suddenly, out of character, or too obviously. The kissing I previously mentioned is good for the suddenly point. As for "out of character", I have one example that drove me nuts. Cole believes he knows Katrina from a previous life, so he calls her by the name Caroline all the time. Katrina occasionally makes a stink about it, and Cole changes for the rest of that chapter, but then he goes right back to calling her Caroline. If you're gonna date the girl, Cole, at least get her name right. And finally, for the "obviousness", the writing seemed to go too far in the way of "show, don't tell." Or not enough, I haven't made up my mind. For instance, we are never told that the school bell rang. No, someone always tells us, "Crap, there's the bell." It was maddening.
Ironically, I spent the first few chapters comparing this point for point against Twilight...and Twilight came out being the better of the two. Everything was matching up in some way. The instant (and I mean very instant in this case) love/lust, the vampire-werewolf rivalry, the father who is a doctor. Little things mostly, but it just started feeling like a cheap Twilight knockoff.
And I know Twilight isn't known for having realistic vampires, but the Cullens were more believable than these. At least the Cullens acted like vampires at times. Cole never seemed to have a vampire moment. They never seemed in danger of bleeding anyone, they never had an issue with sun, they just never acted like vampires. The only thing they ever did was some hissing at threats and a little mind magic. If I was going to read about vampires, they could have at least been believable.
I feel like this did turn into a list of grievances after all. I guess if there's one good thing I will say for this book was that I did start to lose myself in it when the action started picking up. When I stopped, there were certain points being put in motion that I think would turn out well for the story (though maybe not well for the characters). However, I just couldn't get past some of these points enough to enjoy it.