Shades of Gray

Shades of Gray by Joleen Naylor 

This would be a case of not judging a book by it's cover. To be honest I wasn't expecting much. I was very pleasantly surprised. I believed I had just purchased another paranormal romance but this novel is far darker than any other books I have read in this genre. Do not be fooled by the cover this is in no way shape or form a YA rated novel. Due to some of the content of this book, I really wouldn't recommend it for anyone under 18.

The story begins with Katelina, a young woman reeling from the death of her lover Patrick, who she found brutally murdered a few weeks prior. While she is trying to grieve and reconcile her feelings for him, she receives a mysterious phone call. The voice on the other end tells her he knows who murdered Patrick. She is to come alone to an abandoned farm house for the truth she seeks. While her better judgement tells her this is stupid and dangerous, she goes anyway.

At the farm house Katelina meets Jorick, the mystery voice from the call. He fills her in on Patrick's dark secrets, such as, his brother is a vampire slave, who had planned to win his freedom from his master. Patrick became tangled up in the bid for freedom and that lead to his demise. Jorick, of course, has secrets of his own. While Katelina believes he is a crazy maniac who plans to kill her, the farm house is attacked by another group of vampires. She has no choice but to follow and put her trust in him. 

Up until this point the book had your basic vampire scenarios.  Jorick is our typical lead vampire who has bucked the system. He's a loner, Dottie, a rebel! Luckily, for once, our female lead isn't a virgin. However, she is human and we all know what disadvantages that has when fighting in a vampire war. Of course, we have the sexual tension, undeniable attraction and chemistry. Eventually, our main characters give into the desires for one another, so far I'm thinking it's good book but fairly by the numbers. The story took such an unbelievably dark turn there shortly after that I'm still in shock.

 *I was going to put in a spoilers button to describe the darkness but apparently I suck at code. So NO spoilers for you!*

Despite the darkness of this book, definitely no daisies or roses here, I really enjoyed this book. As a matter of fact, the dark tones were what made it enjoyable. As I'm sure has been noted in my latest reviews, I've grown weary of the paranormal romance genre. This book was so different from what we are used to. Though at times it was brutal and difficult to read, I loved it. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

I would recommend this book if you have become bored with the cookie cutter style of the genre, but only if you can stomach the viciousness that lies within it's pages.

Ciao!