Review: Almost To Die For, by Tate Hallaway

Almost To Die For (Vampire Princess of St. Paul, #1)
by Tate Hallaway
Paperback, 241 pages
NAL Trade
Published August 3, 2010
ISBN: 0451230574
ISBN13: 9780451230577

On her sixteenth birthday, Anastasija Parker's present winds up being the shock of a lifetime. When her mom referred to her absentee dad as a deadbeat it was actually half true -- he's a vampire. And a king, no less. A king who wants his daughter to assume her rightful position at his side. But, thanks to Ana's mother, the blood of a witch also runs through her veins....

Too bad vampires and witches are mortal enemies.

With her parents gearing up for an all out brawl over her destiny, Ana's about ready to scream. But things get even crazier when a male witch and a brooding bad boy vampire start vying for her affection. Then the barely leashed tension between the vampires and the witches starts to boil over, and Ana has to figure out once and for all if she wants to become heir to her dad's throne. And deciding your eternal destiny is a pretty big deal for a girl who just wants to get through high school.

I have to say the first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover. The two different colored eyes definitely caught my attention. Then -- “vampire”. As soon as I found out it was about vampires, I had to get it to see what it was all about!

I hate to say that Ana’s voice narrating the story took a few (fifty or so) pages to get used to. I understand writing first person POV like an inner monologue, but some of it was a little too immature for my taste. However, once I could look past that, I actually found her voice and made up words endearing to her character.

The other characters were well fleshed out and fun to interact with in the story. The bad guy was a douche, as expected. The best friends stayed friends, though there was definitely some tension in the story - as there is in real life with some friends some times. I have to say that I was a little surprised with Nik’s reaction to vampires, especially after he seemed bitter at first to know he had to follow in his father’s footsteps. So, when he went all anti-vampire, I was a little baffled. I loved Elias and can say nothing wrong about him - though, like Ana, my feelings for him conflict with Nik’s… as I heart them both equally.

I’ll have to say that the climax was a little anti-climatic for me. I thought it was good, but the author spent so much time building up the story to that point, it seemed very rushed and short… almost like an afterthought. I like more action in my climax - more airtime. However, this is the first book in a series, so maybe this book is just building to even more awesomeness in the next? I sure hope so!

The Verdict?