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Rising Tide: Dark Innocence

spaceThis took a bit longer for this reader to read, than usual. Perhaps it was the way Maura was presented, an extremely naive sixteen year old girl that is so totally clueless to her surroundings and so desperate for a friend - other than her own mother, Caelyn - that she finds herself left in dire straits by the faux friendly twins from across the street. Even depressed teen girls are able to find a single redeeming quality of some kind, in themselves, to focus on and either try to build or simply hold onto as a thread towards life... especially when they are not presented as suicidal (Maura was not). Maura at times felt much older than her stated sixteen years; however, when she met Ron, she finally felt like a teenager falling in love. This reader found it difficult to empathize for Maura for the majority of the book because Maura herself was so down on herself. It wasn't until Ron was introduced and small tidbits of what he saw in Maura was slowly revealed, that this reader was able to start to see a slightly more rounded character. This reader found it highly unlikely that a teen presented as somewhat intelligent, that follows anime and plays video games, could be so, well, stupid, concerning others. The overprotectiveness of mother Caelyn does not adequately cover Maura's total lack of understanding other people because she does have the ability to see how people interact via high school classes, television, movies, the books she loves to read and the video games she plays... it would have been more likely her views of others would have been influenced by the movie, books and games she devoured. Yet, Maura's insecurity concerning Ron, especially with the red herring her friend Merina inadvertently introduced, was completely believable.
spaceThe way vampires are presented in this book, growing into and transforming into vampirism, was a fairly unique and completely believable scenario and greatly enhanced this reader's enjoyment of the book. Specifically, that females are unable to give birth but males can impregnate a human female. However, when Maura's father, Maxwell, is explaining the history of vampirism to Maura and tying their creation into the fourteenth century - Black Plague era - caused this reader to raise a brow... vampires have been alluded to in mythology going much further back than this era, so it might have been better suited for Maxwell to be explaining when his familial line of vampirism was created. When this reader convinced herself that Maxwell was actually explaining the family history of vampires, the timeline was more believable and allowed the reader to appreciate their history.
spaceThis book is the first in a planned trilogy, so it left some of the larger questions unanswered. This is acceptable and expected, a way to draw readers back into Maura's world. This reader would like to know why Maxwell and Caelyn made the decision, seventeen years ago, to keep his status unknown to Maura. Can vampires in this world create other vampires via a bite? In other words, will Maxwell transform the woman he loves, Caelyn, into a vampire now that their daughter is learning of the existence of vampires, so they may finally find some happiness together? Caelyn asks if Maxwell is in danger, now that he has presented himself to his daughter... why is he in danger, who is after him? This book was not an exciting read (too many pages of Maura's life being presented as tedious), but it was an interesting read (the unanswered questions above, as well as a few more this reader did not list) help place this book squarely into a single thumb's up and likelihood of purchasing the next book in the series. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on May 21, 2016. **

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