Book Review: Facade: A Vampire Love Story (Immortal Memories #1) by R.M. Webb

Guess who is back! I finally got my computer back from the repair shop. Turns out that the DC jack had basically separated from the battery and they had to order the part and solder everything back together. I'm glad it was an easy fix and not a reason to replace this laptop.

Moving onto a book review! First one in a while and the first one of the New Year.

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Facade by R.M. Webb is a great first book from this author.

I usually struggle a lot with vampire books. I think Twilight and that whole fiasco sort of turned me off books that are centered on vampires but this was really well written.

It follows the story of Claire, a young woman who, due to some unfortunate events, can no longer do the one thing she loves most: ballet. Instead, her friends dance while she plays piano for them, never really being able to look up from the keys. She only remembers the last 7 years of her life and she cannot connect with people easily like others seem to.

So Claire puts on a brave face and tries to mimic as best she can. She seemed like she was half a step behind with her reactions to things that normally wouldn't faze people at all. Laughs a little late, takes an extra second to figure out what emotion or reaction she should have. She feels extraordinarily lost and vacant among her friends a lot of the time.

Then, William enters the picture. He is strong. He is demanding. And he knows all about her past and wants to help her in any way that he can. What follows is a whirlwind adventure with revenge, betrayal, lust, love, confusion, and blood. This is not an easy road but it is what it will take to make everything right again.

I felt so sorry for Claire at the beginning. It is difficult to be in her position. I know how it is to watch all your friends do what you love and you are physically unable to participate anymore. It is heartbreaking. It kills you slowly and people will still try to be nice about it but it feels like a huge chunk of you is ripped out.

So she is already feeling lost without dance then add onto that not knowing anything about her past and she is looking at a lot of loneliness. I can't imagine what that must have felt like. Clair is a strong character though and she is remarkably resilient. Her friends don't get how depressed she is and they act like nothing is wrong. Josh is clearly all about her but he doesn't step up and assert himself.

William steps up though and shows her what she truly is. Unfortunately, her best friend Josh gets wrapped up in this whole thing and he suffers the consequences. It was hard not to sympathize with him throughout the book because he friendzoned himself real bad. Poor lamb.
The conflict in this book was compelling as well. There is nothing as juicy as revenge really.
Facade has helped heal this rift I have with vampire books.  I usually find them whiny and over dramatic with that whole prey/predator-but-I-love-you thing. But since this is the story of two vampires who love each other and eventually figure things out, it works better. There is no "I'd die for you but I can't die unless someone really wants to kill me and oh, there is someone that wants to kill me" crap that tends to ruin vampire books.

It was a unique plot line throughout and there were freaking consequences for their actions.  People die. Bad things happen.  And nobody fucking sparkles.

Overall, a solid read.