The Vampire Hunters Daughter by Jennifer Malone Wright

Beat those Monday Blues with today’s favorite guilty indulgence!  The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter Part IV releases today!  If you haven’t been following this series then you are in luck because Part I is Free today on Smashwords!  So now you can say Whoo Hoo for Monday! 

The Vampire Hunters Daughter Series is a fresh, exciting story told over a series of “parts”.  If you are a fan of True Blood, Vampire Dairies or even younger adult series like Nickelodeon’s House of Anubis then you will love this series.  Instead of the normal stand-alone short story format these are written more like an installment in an ongoing story.  I found this a refreshing approach compared to other “short” stories.  So often the lack of time can cause the story to feel undeveloped or incomplete.  Instead Ms. Wright does an excellent job highlighting the crucial points of the plot and getting to the heart of telling a captivating story in a very short number of pages.  With each part in this series under 20 pages, the parts are a continuation of the story and leave you excited for the next installment.  Given that the parts are very short I’m not going into a ton of detail about each part to limit the plot spoilers…

Part 1 –

Chloe is woken in the middle of the night to chaos.  Vampires have attacked her house and her mother resulting in her mother’s death.  Before the vampires are successful in kidnapping her, a group of Vampire Hunters storm in to the rescue.  Upon being taken to their compound she learns that her mother, a former vampire hunter, has been living in secret for years trying to keep her existence hidden from her Vampire Father. 14-year-old Chloe handles all of this is stride.  Of course she grieves for her mom but she takes the knowledge of Vampires and her new knowledge of her heritage to heart and uses it to help her embrace her new home with her grandfather.  She learns more about her ancestry and the extent of what is involved in being a Vampire Hunter.   A cute boy named Drew was one of her rescuers and happens to live in her Grandfathers house. 

Part II –

Chloe learns more about the origin of Vampire Hunters and her ancestry.  She begins her training, with the help of Drew, to become a Vampire Hunter like her mother.  Chloe learns that some Vampire Hunters have special abilities that manifest around puberty.  Chloe’s relationship with Drew develops and she has her first encounter with killing a vampire.  Chloe turns 15.

Part III –

Chloe celebrates her first Christmas without her mom.  Drew takes her to her mom’s grave.  Chloe learns that she has special powers and more about her ancestry.  Chloe begins to learn more about her Vampire heritage and what it means to be half-vampire.  Chloe learns that even at the compound she and the people around her aren’t safe from her father and his pursuit to get her back.  Luke, her grandfather, is badly injured in an attack.  Gavin, a boy from Chloe’s school, asks her to go out to the upcoming New Years Eve bash. 

Part IV –

Gavin and Chloe have their date, which seems to cause a strain in Drew and Chloe’s friendship.  Luke, her grandfather, is still in the hospital and they continue to visit him and check on his progress.  Chloe realizes that she is continuing to develop more powers.  She and Gavin have another date.  Her dad threatens Luke and she realizes that the only way to keep her friends and family safe is to go with him.

What is so great about this series is that Chloe is incredibly mature and a strong feisty character.  The relationship between her and Drew and her and Gavin is appropriate for her age and Ms. Wright lets that develop naturally instead of trying to turn this into a teen romance book.  I really enjoy that with each installment more clues are revealed about the world that Chloe lives in.  Much like several of the Harry Potter books she spends time researching in the library and exploring her environment to piece together clues to unravel what has been hidden from her by her parents.   This enables the reader to be on the journey with her as she grows and embraces her new life.   So rest assured even though I gave you the some details about each part, it is her journey through and what you learn about her along the way that makes the story really exciting.  I’m really looking forward to reading the next in the series and seeing what Chloe will learn now that the next step in her adventure begins – facing her father! 

RATING:  I give this series Four Chocolate Dipped Strawberries!

 

This book was given to us by Ms. Wright.  Many thanks.