Ritual

Vampire Beach #3

by Alex Duval

The A-list bites.

Jason Freeman has gotten used to the fact that beneath its glamorous surface, DeVere Heights is full of unexpected secrets. And vampires. Then just when he thinks he's golden, he's attacked. With a crossbow.

At first the attention Jason gets from his crush, Sienna, makes the wound almost worthwhile — especially after she breaks up with Brad. But the crossbow-wielding lunatic isn't finished, and his next victim is found dead with a bolt through the heart.

As tensions rise at DeVere High, suspicions about the attacker point to pretty much anyone. There's something cold and hard in Brad's eyes-the look of a killer? Nah....

Genres: Vampires, Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2007

About the author

Alex Duval is a pseudonym for two seasoned YA writers.

Reviews

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short but enjoyable read. The mystery was quite predictable, but it was still enjoyable. Though I do believe that if the average teenager had been shot in the chest with a metal crossbow bolt, they wouldn't be up and exercising and driving again after two weeks, so maybe Jason is the superhero in this rather than the vampires.

[☆☆Hannah☆☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very quick read. Overall I'm enjoying this series. I will admit that it's not the best series. You can tell that it's definitely geared for the younger folks. I do like Jason. He has been an enjoyable character and he has been handling everything very well.

[Cheri McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love these books but this one was a bit extra cheesier than the first two and not to my personal liking.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com

Jason's in a world of danger, at least according to the psychic at the fair his sister forced him to attend. Jason scoffs at the idea, but after an afternoon at the beach filled with surfing and volleyball, he takes her warning more seriously. Alone on the beach, he's attacked, shot with an arrow from a crossbow.

At first, he believes it to be just an accident, but when vampires start dying around him, Jason decides to uncover the truth behind the murders. Who is attacking vampires in town and why did they go after him? His buddy, Adam, believes a vampire hunter is responsible for these attacks.

Jason must not only suffer through the recovery of his wound, but also personal rumors floating around about him and newly single Sienna. Can he handle all the stress in his life?

VAMPIRE BEACH is an addicting series that will leave readers wishing for the next installment. RITUAL is the third book of this vampire series that takes a bite out of the GOSSIP GIRL lifestyle.

[✨✨ Claire✨✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

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!!!!

So this one has a crossbow wielding maniac running around in it!!!! Again this one had a couple of unexpected turns in it and it's these little turns that make me read. They're nothing huge or anything but keep the story interesting. Unlike some other huge international books that I barely got thru the first one of......🙄🙄!!!

We're seeing more of Adam these days which is kinda cute cos he's like Jason's sidekick despite being around DeVere since forever. It was him that figured out the whole vampire group in the first book. And it's generally when these two are just bouncing words off each other that ideas and thoughts form.

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

And as much as yes I like Jason...how does he keep besting vamps? A mere mortal shouldn't. There should at least be a close call but he always saves the day....a little more will-he-wont-he or let a vamp be a hero with their strength or speed?

.....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!!!!

[Lozz’s Random Reads McKenzie - Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third book in the series has Jason and the Malibu Vampires, dealing with a crossbow wielding Vampire Hunter.

Unfortunately for Jason, he mistakenly became the first victim.

Fortunately his injures,though awful, we’re not life threatening.

This, Jason and his trusty sidekick, Adam, become engrossed in the case as more Vampire are killed and Human’s mistaken for Vampires.

One thing becomes clear, the killer appears to be following the suspected vampire list that Jason and Adam drew up.
The very same list that Jason had had in his stolen wallet.

The list that was in alphabetical order…

Meaning…

Sienna is next

Will Jason put the clues together in time to save the girl he instantly fell for the moment he landed in Malibu..

Or, will the killer claim another vampire.

Not a bad read, but I personally feel,it’s probably the weakest so far.

The whole Vampire Hunter serial killer seems like a ploy to heat up the Sienna Jason relationship.

This is why the ending seems a little soap opera -esque

But overall still enjoying the series.
Now onto Legacy

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable story, I picked this up without reading the previous 2 books in the series. The characters were likeable and made it easy enough to root for the main character even though I haven't read the other books. The plot was semi-predictable and you can tell the writing is for a younger audience. This book intrigued me enough that I want to read the others in the series.

[Shaft · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another Vampire YA but I like it and it messed with the mythos enough to keep things interesting. Definitely worth checking out but start at the beginning or you'll miss out a bit on the story arc.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a alright story just felt like it was leading up to more then what was portrayed in the book

[Jazminn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book in the series. Builds the characters as it goes.

[Amy H · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow!!! these books keep getting better and better! were can i find me a guy like jason!

well, jason is at it again. he is still friends with all the vampires of devree heights, but things are getting a little heated between him and sienna. but backs off because he is knows brad is a good friend of his and he couldn't do that to him.

jason takes his sister and her best friend to a psychic fair. he made his sister do his chores for 3 weeks for this little adventure. jason decides to make the best of it and goes into one of booths to get his fortune taken. this lady had a horrible russian accient and told me to beware of the cold thing. he thought it had something to do with the vampire friends he has.

jason then goes out to the beach to start surfing. not everyday did he get to surf on december. his friend adam joined him and they decided to play volleyball with sienna and the rest of the group. once everyone left he was gathering his stuff when out of no where he was shot with a crossbow. he woke up in the hospital and his sister told him that if he didnt bend over to grab this stuff that he would have died and the bow would have went into his heart. now jason had to figure out who and why someone wanted to kill him. sienna went to the hospital and talked to him about what was going on. they almost kissed but sienna's boyfriend walked in and caught them.

jason was recovering from his wound when another high school student dies from a crossbow. jason now thinks that there is a vampire hunter and that his friends were in danger. his vampire friends told him that there was no such thing. adam and jason didnt belive them and continued to investigate who could it be. sienna and brad broke up and now the whole school thinks it is because of jason. jason is getting the cold shoulder from everyone on the swim team, and they even brought in an new guy to replace him because he couldnt swim till feburary when his chest heals.

while eveyone is on a crewfew and getting ready for this masked ball jason had to talk to this new police officer who transfered from las vegas and is determined to find who the killer his. now jason found out who was next on the list, and can he find out who the killer is and once again play hero and save the day? will the swimteam accept him as one of there own again? finally, will jason and sienna get to finally have there moment and start to date?!!

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy these books, when I first heard about this series from my friend, I thought "vampire beach" how stupid is that, it's probably going to be super lame, but ever since I read the first book, I've been completely hooked. Author, Alex Duval has completely developed all of the characters, making it easy to relate to most of the main characters, if not all, and empathize with them through out the books. As the series continues, and the problems involving the students at the Heights grows, the increasing suspense draws the reader in even more. With each word, each sentence, and each story Duval weaves, the reader becomes more entranced and desperate for more. I loved this book, my only complaint is that I can't get enough and the books are way too short for my liking. However, length aside, it is a series so even though it's a fast read, it's not a major problem because I can easily get the next book to fill my craving for more. I don't know what I'll do when I run out of books to read in this series though. These books are well written with informative descriptions that give you a good visual of the setting and the characters. The dialouge is cliche sometimes but witty and humorous, the plot is entertaining and easily keeps your interest. Over all, these are perfect if your looking for a fast-paced book for a quick read that will keep you invested in the story 100%. Way to go, Duval, and keep writing. :) I'm going to end it here so I can move on to the fourth book titled Legacy. It might be a late night, most likely.

[Aneisis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhhhhhhh ! Just as good as the first and second one, but it keeps getting better ! So Sienna and Jason have finally opened their eyes and see the attraction (i guess screaming at a book really does work lol) and everything is going well, tyler is safe at home, sienna broke up with brad and jason finally has a chance ( but not right away though , gosh man , guys and their man codes lol) until .. jason gets shot with an arrow while surfing -___- . yes and hes not the only one, Dominic, Scott and Trinny are all shot, and die, so the question of whether or not jason was also trying to be killed. When adam and jason look closer into the case , they notice people are getting shot in the same order they were written in adam and jasons vampire list. and if they're right, well, Sienna is next. and she is , but like any teen flick, jason comes to save her at the last minute, risking HIS OWN life, allowing her to drink his blood to save her. Twist? You know the killer right? yea, it was the case investigator in charge of the case. Perfect murder? .. Almost .

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one of my Gibraltar purchases, this one actually came with a magazine, which means that it's not even the proper book I own - just the free sample version.
Anyhow, I don't think I would have stumbled upon this book any other way, which is a shame, really. It wasn't good, yeah, but it didn't suck either (pun not intended). The vampires are very toned down, especially in this one, and they are just used for the good-looking department, though I can't judge wether they have a more specific role in the previous installments.
So, yeah, even if it is a teen book with vampires it actually keeps a great pace regarding mystery and it reads more like a teen detective story than anything else. (Took me barely an hour and a half to finish: great pacing doesn't begin to cover it) The writing could be a lot better, but if I had known about the series before, in my actual teen years, and started from the very beginning I would have come to like this a lot, which means that the potential is there.
Not bad for a Gibraltar purchase, honestlty.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another of Jason's adventures ends in this book. Jason attends the psychic fair with his sister. When he gets his free reading he scoff's at the idea. But this quickly becomes a reality when Jason is enjoying the beach by himself and get shot by a crossbow.

So there's a hunter loose in Malibu who's after the vampires, which of course no one acknowledges. Even the vampires themselves have denied the prospect of a vampire hunter and says that it's just a myth when Adam suggests it. So the writing is super simple to read but the storyline was pretty alright. However, I think that Duval left the action too late and there was too much build up to it. I mean it was obvious that Sienna was going to be in trouble and Jason would play hero but he could have done without all the other suspense chapter beforehand.

You can find more reviews Mademoisellesnow Blog

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book free with a magazine. And let's just say, I was not happy. Most magazines give you the first book in a series with a promo thing to make you buy the next ones. And let's face it, without one of said free books, I would never have experienced the awesomeness that is Strange Angels so, yeah, I was expecting some at least half decent. Wrong.

I couldn't get past the first page the writing was so atrocious. The first page is supposed to intrigue, to draw the reader in, but no. I just thought "This is cr*p" and put it down. I even flicked through the rest of the book to see if it got better. No, it didn't. As a result, I have no interest in reading the first book of the series. So, don't read this. It sucks.

[Victoria Pring · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about a dramatic start! Only 2 chapters in and ||Jason has been shot||. Adam is 100% my favourite character and if he does not become a detective it would be a complete waste of his skills, he would be waste in the film industry. I enjoyed the mysteryin this book but was a little let down when ||I figured out the killer way too early||. Sienna could have handled the whole thing with Brad so much better ||Brad deserved better, I am glad that now they are broken up she cant cheat on him anymore atleast||. Jason must be some kind of bad luck charm as apparently Malibu was safe before he got there. Will be interesting to see what disaster he will attract next. ||No matter what it is im sure Jason will save the day again, what would the Vamps do without him.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one, while the basic story was good, felt like a 'filler' book. Sort of like a 'place holder' to tie the last and next books together.

We don't learn a whole lot about Malibu vampire society or their H.S. life. It's mostly moves forward the Jason/Sienna/Brad triangle. Which, of course, is what we're waiting for.

There is another strange food that mentioned: Bubbies Mochi- a type of ice cream. Now that I think of it, each book has has a strange food mentioned. There's a pattern and I, fortunatly or unfortunatly depending on how you look at it, am not in the loop.

Fave scenes: Jason at the hospital and the Christmas shopping.

BTW: coincidentally: I've been reading this series at about the same time of year as they are set. LOL.

[Francisco]

In Vampire Beach: Initiation, Jason continues along with his high school life as though he doesn’t attend a school with vampires. He is surprised by a totally unexpected visit from a friend from back home, Tyler. This book revolves around Jason trying to help Tyler get out of trouble as well as explaining a little more about the vampire world. What's great about this book is the tense relationship between Jason and Sierra. As a reader you really want them to be together, but the author leaves us hanging again. I would recommend this book to all teenagers because it incorporates a wide range of problems (not vampires though). The most popular being school life and of course, love life.

[Mared Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really surprised me. In truth, I'd give it a 4 and a half or three quarters or something but I can't do that so I gave it a 4.

Anyway, back to the book. As I said, it really surprised because since I have started Twilight (which was really boring in my opinion. I gave up after the 1st chapter.), but this wasa much more, well, things happened, exciting things, in every chapter, and you never got bored. I am soooo gonna read the 1st and 2nd books!!!
Mared
P.S. I think I'm gonna start reading Twilight again. Maybe it's not so boring now...

[Ceejay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Vampire Beach teen pulp series continues. I know this series will never win any awards, but it is truly entertaining! In this book we learn that the Malibu vampires aren't invinsible! We discover if vampires and humans can work together to stop the evil that is overtaking Malibu. By the way,the author, Alex Duval, is just a name chosen by several authors writing for Working Partners Limited.Working Partners Limited produces novels that are then sold to publishers on approval. As I said,this really is teen pulp!

[Juliette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun addition to the Vampire Beach series! I read this one SO quickly as I was hooked on the storyline. I didn't find it predictable at all. I've said it before but I really think this book series would've made a great tv show, as there's so much suspense. I don't want to give too much away, but there's a slight murder mystery aspect trying to figure out who the killer is. A fun, quick summer read, which makes me wish I was a teen in Malibu with cool vampire friends haha!

30-Mar-14: 8/10
31-Jul-23: 6/10
Paperback, owned.

[Jade aka MrsTosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw these books advertised in the childrens library haha and thought well why not....althought I was slightly emarassed when checking them out. I must say having finished this book in 3 hours I have been impressed with the series so far and am looking forwards tor eading the next installment. Not quite so indepth as other books of this genre the chemistry as usual between human and vampire has me gripped and dying to see what happens next!

[Maggie]

Amazing!! :D Jason and Sienna are perfect for each other! Brad is cool but it's good that he finally realized that he and Sienna aren't in love anymore. Tamburo was already not one of my favorite characters from the beginning. Figures he would be the killer!! And Adam just makes everything better. ;) I feel so bad for Belle but I predict a future romance with a main character? <3 Anyway, can't wait to finish the series in Legacy!

[Xing · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is another book about vampire, but I like Twilight series better than this one. In this book, vampire doesn’t have special talent. Without special talent, those vampires are no different to the normal people. Basically, the book is about a vampire killer who tried to kill all the vampires in DeVere Heights. And it is a normal boy named Jason who saved their life.

[BxerMom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a great series for teens. I'm really enjoying it. Its also a hard series to review as I don't want to reveal too much!
Basically there is a vampire hunter on the loose. Who will his victims be? Will they find him in time? Read it to find out!

[Odalys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the series but the ending could have been better. The author could have shown the love relationship between the main characters a little more, like showing what happens when good wins over evil. But all in all its a great series.

[Alisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best book of the series, if the rest had been written like this I might have enjoyed the books more. Still it wasn't a great work of fiction or really anything special. The characters just were slightly more enjoyable and realistic in this book then in the others.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feel bad for Brad.

[Sarah Lamberton]

What does anyone think of this book??