Review: What Kills Me

What Kills Me (What Kills Me, book 1) by Wynne Channing

Genre: YA Paranormal
Edition Reviewed: eBook
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: What Kills Me

The fight for survival begins.
An ancient prophecy warns of a girl destined to cause the extinction of the vampire race.

So when 17-year-old Axelia falls into a sacred well filled with blood and emerges a vampire, the immortal empire believes she is this legendary destroyer. Hunted by soldiers and mercenaries, Axelia and her reluctant ally, the vampire bladesmith Lucas, must battle to survive.

How will she convince the empire that she is just an innocent teenager-turned bloodsucker and not a creature of destruction? And if she cannot, can a vampire who is afraid of bugs summon the courage to fight a nation of immortals?

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Review:

As a paranormal junkie reader there's always one creature of the night, or the, creature of the night that is the main staple of the genre. Whether reading urban fantasy or paranormal romance, vampires are a staple. And usually paranormal fans where introduced through vampires. After a while fans might drift away from the beloved fanged hotties—or horrors depending on the fanged spin—and find new paranormal loves. For me animal shifters and witches have earned a sweet spot on my shelves. Yes, vampires might be featured, but they're just the side characters. So when I picked up What Kills Me it was exciting to have vampires as the main mystical critters. Even better was falling in love with the book and reaffirming my undying (ha-ha) love for my fanged friends.

The synopsis of the book is a bit all over the place and I thought it was going to be a poorly written adventure. So wrong! The writing is solid, and actually tops a number of books that big named publishing houses actually put out. The pacing gets the story going fast, so no awkward waiting for the book to “get going”. Channing doesn't neglect back stories, or character growth, she has the rare skill to create an engaging read and maintaining the ability to build onto the world with out pausing the book to fill readers in.

Speaking of characters, despite the mentioned growth the story is too short to setup the proper connections. At first I was excited that Channing was going to slowly build the obvious romantic couple presented. Then the next thing I know Axelia is proclaiming that she loves Lucas . . . and part of the shine died there for me. For the most part the emotions matched the book happening fast and giving readers a rush. However, the romance just jumped the gun. Build up. Like the movie Speed states: “cause you know, relationships that start under intense circumstances, they never last.”

That's the point of What Kills Me. It's fun and fast, just the kind of read you need to give readers a pick-me-up after they've read to many long books or have been suffering from what I like to call reader's burn-out. Or if you just need a vampire injection of awesomeness! Sure there are some holes in the plot and mythology, but hey when something is this fun it's easily overlooked. Oh, I'm there for the ride baby! If only readers new the definite release date. Another book to show readers that indie/self-published titles are well worth the time and money!

Sexual Content: Some kissing, a few mild pervy thoughts. All in all pretty clean.

 
4/5- Great! Really enjoyed it.

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Previous book(s) in series:
Reviewed on BW:	Amazon:	Goodreads:
What Kills Me (1) I Am Forever (2)	What Kills Me (1) I Am Forever (2)	What Kills Me (1) I Am Forever (2)