Book Review: Belle Morte by Bella Higgin

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*An ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review*

First Thoughts:

Short and simple - this book was a good debut. Lots of things that worked, a few things that didn't. However, I applaud the step into the vampire world!

Writing: 3/5

I had little problems with Higgins writing style. I think that the alternate POV could have been better executed. I feel like the majority of the time, when the alternative POV was used, it was only for the purpose of love interest. Most of the information Edmond had, our MC would find out anyways on her own, not so long after we got it from him. I could have done without the Edmond bits and preferred to have more character depth to our MC.

Plot: 3/5

The plot was the best driving force to this book. I like the high life vampire take. Usually, vampires are the dark, unknown creatures that are bound to secrecy. In this book, they are out in the open, bigger than celebrities. The mystery end of the book revolved primarily around our MC's sister's disappearance. While this was a bit predictable for me, I liked where this initial mystery brought about the "meat" of the book. We went from tunnel vision to big picture quicker than I thought but the execution was great!

Characters: 2.5/5

Here is where I was about 50/50. Half of the characters I enjoyed and found amusing. As for the other half, I felt like they were too quickly developed and therefore fell to the most typical bookish characters you could get. Our MC's best friends in Belle Morte were my favorite. They both were the perfect upbeat and comedic relief characters a vampire book needs. The vampires unfortunately were just too textbook. There was quite literally no life to them. Vampires can be witty and unserious too. I get that they've lived many lives but they were in fact human at some point. They get to have unique characteristics...and not just in looks (this too was very textbook for me).

Romance: 2/5

Welcome back to Edward and Bella...just give Bella a bit more spice. I could not feel the chemistry for the life of me! I could not buy into the unexpected magnetism.

Overall:

Again, this book had enough qualities to make it a good debut. However, there was just a few too many elements that felt more like a Tumblr fan-fiction than a top tier vampire book. That being said, I am appreciative of Netgalley and Wattpad for allowing me early access to this book! You win some, you lose some. This one just wasn't for me.