Review ~ The Mortal One by Shannon Bell (Book One)

The Mortal One (The Mortal One #1)

by Shannon Bell

 Published December 9th 2013

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you went looking for vampires? What if you secretly believed they existed? Dylan decides to go on a vacation of a lifetime in order to find herself. She begins in Romania, contemplating the existence of vampires and quickly realizes that she was wrong. Once she ends up in Florence, however, she is confronted with an immortal, Nico. She must be marked if she wants to live because she learned the truth of vampires. Nico catches her and her heart by surprise. The Mortal One is a whirlwind romance amidst vampire politics. Dylan must be marked for her safety, yet she is trying to be claimed by another vampire, thus making her time in Florence very complicated for her. She tests the bounds of her relationship with a vampire and tries to create a life for herself as the mortal one. The main setting of the book is Florence, Italy, where Dylan is in love with the history of the city. 

I was sent an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I would say I liked it. I didn't love it, it didn't hold my attention the first two-thirds of the book. But once I got into it, I did actually enjoy the read and I'm most definitely interested in reading the next in the series.

I think what set me off for much of the book was that it felt very rushed. I was honestly very confused at the beginning. I felt like I was dropped into this story rather than gradually introduced into it and it was a little disorienting. I wasn't sure what was happening or why. Because of that, I had trouble staying interested... it took me far too long to read it... I kept putting it down.

Nic's introduction and the discovery that vampires are real felt very rushed. The relationship between Dylan and Nic also felt very rushed... very "instalove" which while not horrible, doesn't instantly lend itself to the idea of a deep or lasting love. BUT, because this is a vampire romance, I can easily forgive that... vampire romance tends to exist in a different wheelhouse.

Once I got over that, I was actually really intrigued by the characters and where their story is going. I'm intrigued by the level of civility most of the vampires have. I'm intrigued by Oliver's extra-abilities and finding out how he has them. And I'm REALLY intrigued by the Mark and how it's going to change/influence Dylan and Nic's relationship. I've read a lot of vamp romance where a psychic/empathic bond is formed and I'm always really interested by it... it's like a bonding of souls...

Anyway, while it had flaws for me, I did enjoy it and I plan to read the next book. I'm hoping that now that I know these characters, I won't struggle to read the next.

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Shannon Bell grew up in Florida and has always dreamed about vampires – and still secretly hopes they exist. She is married to someone who tolerates her crazy story-telling about Romania and has a daughter she hopes will have the same enthusiasm for vampires when she grows up that her mommy does.Shannon has a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida as well as an online degree in vampirology. She is a full-time writer and currently hard at work on her next novel. 

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