The Vampire and the Necromancer: An out of Sequence Love Story

Multiracial Monsters #2

by Gisele R. Walko

The Vampire and the Necromancer: An out of sequence love story is the story of Ivan, who was born with necromancy abilities, and when he transfers to a new middle school he immediately meets Noah, a fellow biracial classmate, and falls in love with his quirky twin, Nova (because necromancers love so deeply of course).
Nova until her senior year of high school is an overachiever and violinists (Orch-Dork). She becomes angry at her best friend Ivan, because she too has loved him since they met, and there is a misunderstanding when Ivan resurrects Nova’s nemesis Ko (Mariko). Nova thinks he snuck into her room to kiss her, so she decides to go to a party, her first high school party, which happens to be a neophyte party to make new vampires. Nova is turned into a vampire as a joke by a classmate because she is vegan, and he thought it would be funny to make a vegan into a carnivore. After Nova is transformed, she has to learn to accept her life, as it is now (infertility, not growing old, intense cravings, and gaining acceptance from those she loves, and new acquaintances, and of course herself.
Story follows characters from 7th Grade through their freshman year of college. Chapters are out of sequence, which I think makes this work fun and unique, but if I get feedback from others saying it is too strange, it could easily be put into traditional order like its predecessor: Wolf girl finds necRomance.

ebook

First published December 1, 2015

About the author

I am a wife, mother and Media Assistant at an Elementary School. I like to write in my spare time. In my past life I was a social worker, so some of my stuff focuses on social issues. My children are products of an interracial marriage, and there are lots of biracial kids in my extended family, so lots of my characters are biracial. I love watching horror shows, and puzzles.

Reviews

[Heather ~*dread mushrooms*~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can a monster and a human have happily ever after together?

I picked this book up for free on Smashwords. And it's perfect for vampire month!

This is a different kind of vampire story. It's about ordinary people living in Oklahoma, two of them best friends who are in love with each other but can't seem to make it work. One of them is a necromancer, and one gets turned involuntarily into a vampire.

The necromancy was a very, very small part of the story, but it added an element of interest. The vampire part was somewhat larger, as Nova struggles to adapt to living among humans as a "monster." She was vegan as a human, so drinking blood is especially gross to her.



Luckily Ivan, her necromancer best friend, is there to bring little bunnies back to life after she kills them. He's also there for, um, other things...



The story is told in out-of-sequence chapters. Toward the end it got a little confusing for me, as the timelines started to converge, but overall I think it worked pretty well. I think this is difficult to pull off, but it can also be more interesting than reading straight through when the events described are mostly mundane. I loved the narrative voice, which was very realistic and relatable. Most of the time I don't like first person present tense, but I didn't mind it here. There were several errors, such as improper dialogue tags and misplaced apostrophes, but surprisingly this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

I like tumultuous relationships, but I wish Ivan and Nova hadn't let so much drama come between them. There were times if only they had just talked to each other like actual best friends they wouldn't have had so many problems. Which, I know, is part of the will-they-or-won't-they drama, but after a while it gets tiresome.

Overall, the characters were well-rounded and likeable for the most part. At times they were too perfect and pretty, but this wasn't a dealbreaker for me liking them. I'm not sure I would read the companion novel, Wolf Girl finds necRomance, but Fairy Girl in Dreamland is told from Ko's point of view, and it might be interesting to get inside her head.

3.5 stars

"I'm sorry. My heart doesn't beat. Your hand is on my heart."

"Baby you don't ever have to apologize for what you are. Here." I lift her on top of me and put my chest against hers. "Can you feel my heart beat? We'll share my heart."

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

This is a good read, but it was a little long. It was funny and heartwarming. The sequence of events didn't deter me. I was invested in the story. I will definitely read something else by this author.

[N.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable quick read. I started the book last night and finished it this morning. Although I am very much a linear thinker, I had no problem following this out of sequence story. Admittedly, there were times I really wanted to know what happened next and didn't want to wait for the author to get back to a part of the storyline I found intriguing. Overall, the story was a good one. I think the topic of identity, especially for teenagers, is important and relevant in the lives of children that age. Nova was a great example of the struggles of defining self, accepting self, and loving self so many young people grapple with in all societies. The added paranormal piece just made it all so much more dramatic. I do, however, wish the author would've shown more and told less. There were so many scenes I wished the author would've written out for the reader, especially in the end with Noah. No spoilers, but I would've loved to have seen that moment between twins instead of having Ivan tell me what happened. The same for the scene with Brennan, Nova, and Brandon afterward. No pun intended, but the author could've really sank her teeth into such emotional scenes. The novel would've jumped about 50 or more pages with more telling, but that would've been fine with me.

[Tamara Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed The Vampire and the Necromancer. I spent a few nights up late reading it way past my bedtime because once you picked it up, you didn't want to put it down. The love affair between Nova and Ivan is a true testament to author, Gisele Walko's skillful writing because although both of them were incredibly flawed individuals, I never once stopped believing in their love or that they didn't belong together. There were so many moments shared between them (both the sweet and the trying times) were written so realistically I was rooting for them even when they were apart. The out of sequence story telling was perfectly quirky and reminded me of early 90's style romantic comedies aimed at the under 25's. I would definitely recommend this book! 10/10

[Andrew Mowere · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was great. Timeskips are rarely done well, and this book happens to be a precious example. The same applies for alternating first person narration. It was absolutely refreshing, especially when I found a chapter seemingly dedicated to answering my questions from the part before it.

Added to that, the characters here are interwoven and deep. It truly creates a clear focus to what some characters are like, and they rarely do something unrealistic for their personalities.

Ivan, nova, Brennan, Noah, all were charming in extremely different ways.

This was a blast to read, despite being completely out of my comfort zone.

[Gina G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book caused me to lose sleep trying to read it all.
Love the way it is "out of sequence".
This book is humorous, and does take you through those stages when love makes you feel a certain way...that you might not be ready to acknowledge.

Great writing Gisele.

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading the book. This is a long book. There were few pages sounded a little bit dull, but overall the book was good. Four stars.

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is has been an unusually exciting romance, that keeps you wondering how a necromancer and a vampire make their relationship work. In the case of Nova the nerd and Ivan the giant, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. Ivan knows that Nova is the one and only love for him the day they meet, and his devotion never wavers. Nova in all her oblivious intelligence, is the only one who doesn't know Ivan is helplessly in love with her (like she is with him). Add into this tumultuous love story vampires, werewolves, necromancer's and fairies, it gets to be quite the drama. Normally I don't enjoy stories with such disjointed time lapses, but it just seems to make the whole thing more enjoyable. It kept the plot moving and the storyline interesting as you read more trying to figure out how they first began, to how they ended up. Nova is quirky and a lovable character with a genuine heart. And Ivan was a funny gentle giant when it came to anything involving Nova. It was an enjoyable read.

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally don't care for stories about teenagers and their problems...so imagine my surprise at my enjoyment of this read!
Told in alternating first-person, in an out-of-sequence format, The Vampire and the Necromancer was really good! Even though there were a few editing issues, ie spelling, punctuation, and factual errors (witches were executed 300 - 350 years ago in America - not 200, for example) they did not detract from the dynamic story-telling. I appreciated the humor dispersed throughout the story as well. I also thought it odd/cool that the paranormal creatures and events in the story were matter-of-factly accepted among many of the town's occupants.
The heroine Nova was adorable for the most part, and I could relate to her nerdy quirkiness. Her best friend/beau Ivan was a treat...one could envision the fine man he would become as an adult.
I liked the characters: Their youthfulness came through, along with wisdom beyond your average teen. In fact - the young characters in the book sometimes spoke in a prose that surpassed much of what is spoken by adults in other books. Refreshing, since teens usually come across as idiotic to me at times, and as such, they get on my nerves - lol.
I will be reading more of this author's work in the future!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and the characters. Found myself screaming at them when they would screw up and feeling bad for them when mistakes we made. The storyline is as advertised and is out of order, but it doesn't take anything away from the story.

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review via LibraryThing.

[Pamela]

not sure if I posted the right one here or not. but I just had a small version of this book. was a good read . I also recieived this e book off the librarything site