Guest Review: Nightshade by Michelle Rowe

Posted January 31, 2011 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Berkley, Penguin


Mary’s review of NIGHTSHADE by Michelle Rowe.

Jillian Conrad never believed in vampires. But she’s just become a living, breathing weapon against them. Attacked by a desperate scientist, she is injected with a serum that was supposed to act as a deadly poison to vampires. And when the scientist is gunned down in front of her, his secrets die with him.

Declan Reyes is only half-vampire, but he hates them with all his heart. He knows that the poison in Jillian’s veins could finally destroy the undead kingdom. The serum also makes her blood irresistible to all vampires—including Declan, whose bloodthirsty traits are driven into a frenzy by her.

Driven by duty to protect her and by instinct to crave her, Declan takes Jillian into his shadowy world of blood and battle. But he soon realizes his increasing need for her may be a different kind of hunger…

For a girl who just learned that vampires exist, is injected with a viscous black goo that will change her blood to vamp poison, and is puking her guts up like she’s about to die (and actually might), Jillian handles her change of circumstances quite well. She was a great character—a little vulnerable, sure but she sticks up for herself, isn’t willing to just sit back and let circumstances carry her down the river. I like how she’s fighting to figure out what’s going on, doesn’t trust people just because they seem to be the “good guys”, and looks beyond circumstances of birth and appearance to judge a person

Declan, on the other hand, wasn’t my favorite. I think it’s because he’s drugged through most of the story. Sure, there’s a reason for it—to keep Declan’s base vampire instincts in check (according to his adoptive father and the scientists who work with him) but it makes him completely unemotional. So, I had a hard time liking him.

However, Jillian changes all that. The first time, she trades his serum for their lives and he feels lust for the first time. But he freaks out, thinking he’s going vamp and losing control, and goes back on the juice as soon as he can, returning to an emotionless automaton state. While I can appreciate his long battle with the drugs, since he’s been on them since he was little, it really slows down the connection between the two characters. I would have liked to see him drop the habit earlier in the story, just because I couldn’t connect with him and wasn’t really rooting for him and Jillian until the last quarter of the book.

NIGHTSHADE can be read as a stand-alone but I believe that it’s the first of two books (possibly more?), which would explain Declan’s slower evolution into a feeling character. I really liked the more scientific approach in this novel and the government’s involvement in the vampire “problem”. It’s a bit different than many of the vampire books out there. Interesting worldbuilding, including that of the vampires. All in all, a well-written, action-packed story.

Rating: 3.75 out 5

This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here and here in e-format.


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