Devour

Institut Scientifique #1

by Melina Morel

Werewolf hunter Catherine Marais, while on a mission to destroy the last Montfort werewolf, is distracted by a two-hundred-year-old vampire who sets her soul on fire and tempts her to succumb to immortal darkness. Original.

Genres: Paranormal, Vampires, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Romance, Werewolves, Fiction

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 2, 2007

About the author

Melina is from New Jersey and spent many years teaching before publishing her first paranormal novel, DEVOUR. She always loved history and enjoys reading it, especially relating to the world’s great empires. She’s a big fan of the History Channel and has always adored costume dramas. Her love of history also led to an appreciation of art and fashion, and in fact, she put this to good use when she wrote two historical novels under another name some years ago. Delving into world myths and folklore led to an interest in the theme of the werewolf and the vampire, which seem to be quite widespread around the globe.

Reviews

[Valorie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm finding myself very disappointed with this book. It is very dis-jointed, the writing doesn't seem to flow. She jumps from one character situation to the next very quickly. The characters interaction with each other seems very formal and reminds me of bad acting in movies. It is very difficult to pick the book back up again. I'm going to try and get through it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

ug. I agree with some of the other comments. The writing is disjointed. She seems to jump around in the thoughts of her characters. In one sentence they have one feeling. In the next it's the opposite feeling. I had no trouble putting down this book which is a bad sign for a book.

[Midnight · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand now why critics say you have to catch the reader's interest in the first page or there's no point. I have to move shortly and can't afford to take the millions of books I haven't read with me, so I started reading them all. If it doesn't interest me within 50 pages I drop it. I literally don't have time to read a book I don't enjoy.

This book didn't snatch my attention. Not with the first page, not within the 58 pages I made it to before giving up. There are too many yo yo-ing points of view without making you care about any of them. There was a sex scene mentioned and one sort of mentioned so maybe it's a romance? It didn't feel like it though. There were no heart-skipping moments or anything. It was just a gentle walk through the open fields with nothing to bind you to it. With the mention of a vampire and werewolf, I figured there'd be a lot of heart-stopping scenes, but this was like watching Van Helsing (the one with Hugh Jackman) if he and the paranormal beings had been on tranquilizers.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I love the characters in it. My favorite Catherine. Her humor, her passion, her strength is just amazing. She is one of those just because I wear high heels and make-up doesn't mean I can't kick your ass. She is in love with a vampire even though the society she is part of doesn't agree. She has this personality of you don't have to like it, your not the one dating or having sex with him. Which man some of the one-liners she has are absolutely hilarious.

The whole idea in this about werewolves was also fascinating. With there being so many paranormal books out there it is nice to read one that has an idea which surprises you.

The book does move a bit slow at times and goes off in a random direction. However, it's not something that bothered me a lot. I would recommend this book still. :)

[Jackie (Literary Escapism) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, Devour was a really good read. I mean, I couldn’t put it down, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. After being told the books could stand on their own, I’m kind of left feeling like that isn’t the case. The more I think about it, it’s kind of like the Bourne series, where there is a lot of strategy going on, and there is a romance in the background, but it’s more about all the fun locales and the little play by play events that a take-down generally has. Like I said, Devour is good, just don’t pick it up based on what the blurb says, you might end up feeling like I did.

For my full review, click here

[Darcy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only made it to page 40 or so on this book. It just couldn't keep my attention. The whole werewolf killing a person 150 years ago and then their decedents coming together in present day sounded like a good idea, but just wasn't executed enough to keep me interested. This one just wasn't for me.

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good not great. I bought the series thinking i would fall in love as usual but it took me a couple weeks to drag mussel through it. I can't even tell who the main character is. Finished book one don't think I'll read two or three though. Too boring

[Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many romances, not enough book length to do any of them justice.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A plesant read, I had heard a fair few bad reviews for this book, so was impressed when it read well, the plot was good and the finale too. PIck up Prey the second book in the series.

[Arlene Mullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly it was good. I was afraid I wasn't going to like it because I wasn't sure who or what it was about but I liked that it followed so many others and told their story without boring you