My Review of Release by Nicole Hadaway 

Book Teaser:

Forever.

That’s the response Ben Gongliewski receives, when he asks Miranda Dandridge how long she’s been a vampire. He doesn’t expect the wordforever in her reply, but then again, Ben never imagined meeting vampires, let alone demons and werewolves, during his time as a Resistance worker in World War II Poland. Far from being horrified, Ben discovers that Miranda and her friends have very useful … talents … especially when it comes to saving children from concentration camps. After all, in these desperate times, while the line between good and evil is clear, the one between heroes and monsters is very, very blurred.

The last thing Miranda wants at this point in her immortal life is a human lover, but as she and Ben perform rescue after daring rescue, she can’t help but be drawn to his passion to save his fellow Jews.

As the War draws to a close and Miranda must chose her love for Ben or her duty to her race, Ben is blindsided by a betrayal that no one sees coming. This leads to a danger in which all hell is about to break loose … literally…

Review:

The background of WWII for this literary paranormal story set a dark, ominous tone which was very appropriate for this tale of vampires, werewolves and demons.  It all just fit together.  I feel the author portrayed very accurately the terror of this period in history, and her characters who braved being part of the resistance were very believable knowing a lot about this time given that my husband teaches Holocaust Literature.   I was impressed by the details, both real and fictional, and how she blended them together.  There were ideas present of persecution and self-acceptance that tied together themes like a vampire living in a humans world and Hitler’s persecutions of many groups other than just Jews.  I appreciated the multi-layered affect in this dark tale. 

At the same time, I enjoyed the author’s personal touches, the additions to what Hitler was up to and into.  I could not help but be amused at one point when this news came via a werewolf.  Just seemed appropriate somehow, just like when one man said he would choose a vampire over Nazis any day! One of the main characters even comments about not wanting to have to relive being found out and having to run, “especially in these times, with these Nazis bent on exterminating whomever they deem unfit to live, to further some ridiculous goal of a ‘master race’.”

The vampire world was great as well, as I am partial to the darker side of vampire tales. I like the true blood suckers, especially when you add in the turmoil of one who act as if they have a soul, burdened by what they are.  Along with this, Hadaway added elements, myth if you will, that was completely her own creation and fit flawlessly with the rest. In particular, rules of marriage and procreation among their kind I felt fascinating.  But, the myth deepened and overlapped in new and ingenious ways. The author did a lot of world building with this one.

The story takes place in a lot of different heads, but I didn’t mind it.  The characters are introduced slowly throughout the book, so they are easy to keep track of.  It is a long one, but the action doesn’t stop, and the plot continues to thicken.

To Purchase The Book, go to http://ebookundead.com/

To find out more about Nicole Hadaway, go to http://www.nicole-hadaway.blogspot.com/ or http://doubletoilandtrouble.blogspot.com/