A Life

Rising Tide: Dark Innocence by Claudette Melanson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Title: Rising Tide: Dark Innocence
Author: Claudette Melanson
Publisher: Smashwords Edition
Pages: 394 pages (paperback edition)
Published date: May 2014

Could Maura's life get any worse? ...turns out it most certainly can.

Isolated and sheltered by her lonely mother, Maura's never been able to make friends. She seems to drive her classmates away—except for the odd times they pay enough attention to torture her—but she doesn’t understand why. Maura considers herself to be a freak of nature, with her unusually pale skin and an aversion to the sun that renders her violently nauseous. Her belief is only worsened by the fact that almost everyone around her keeps their distance.

Even her own father deserted her before she was born, leaving Maura alone with her emotionally distant mother, Caelyn. Even though Maura is desperate for answers about her unknown parent, Caelyn remains heartbroken and her daughter can’t bring herself to reopen her mother’s wounds. Or is there a more sinister reason Caelyn refuses to utter a word about her long-lost love?

When a cruel prank nearly claims Maura’s life, one of her classmates, Ron, rushes to her rescue. Darkly handsome & mysteriously accepting, Ron doesn’t seem to want to stay away, but Maura is reluctant to get too close, since her mother has announced she’s moving the two of them to Vancouver…nearly 3,000 miles away from their hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

If life wasn’t already challenging enough, Maura begins to experience bizarre, physical changes her mother seems hell bent on ignoring, compelling Maura to fear for her own life. Vicious nightmares, blood cravings, failing health and the heart-shattering loss of Ron—as well as the discovery of a tangled web of her own mother's lies—become obstacles in Maura's desperate quest for the unfathomable truth she was never prepared to uncover.

Sure to become of the Books to Read of the year, Rising Tide: Dark Innocence isn't the usual tale of vampire erotica. This novel is a YA Vampire Romance that is certain to become one of the classic books of its time. Maura doesn't live in Castle Dracula in Transylvania, but she must still discover the bloodlines constructing the creature she is destined to become.

Review

First of all, thank you to "eBook Miner" on Goodreads and the author, Claudette Melanson, who provided the ebook version of this novel. I've been curious about the book for some time.

"Rising Tide: Dark Innocence" follows the story of Maura, a shy and quite girl who is about to move with her Mom. During the few last weeks before her move, Maura meets Ron, a boy her senior who is very sweet and is Maura's saviour when she is being bullied. But with her constantly changing body and her move to Canada, Maura worries that she is falling in love at the wrong time.

I feel like this novel is the equal part to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but only to the part where Hagrid broke into the house and told Harry that he is a wizard. Yeah, while a lot of things are going on in Maura's life (her change, moving to Canada, falling in love, etc etc), very little happen to the story.

The love story was ok. It wasn't all over the top, but nothing special for me either. The long-distance relationship posed some challenges to Maura and Ron, but it was easily overcame. I think I didn't dig their romance because I couldn't feel their longing. Was it because the jumpy and (overly) simple + linear naration? Or simply Maura's lack of emotion?

Also, I expected a vampire story with, well, vampire in it, but nope. Didn't get that.

I am still intrigued by the second book. I wonder what will happen to Maura and why did her father leave her? I also wonder if there is some kind of twist with Ron.

Overall, I recommend this book to YA and vampire lover, and for you who are looking for an easy read.

This book is for the following reading challenges:
- 2015 Young Adult Reading Challenge
- 2015 New Authors Reading Challenge
- 2015 Lucky No. 15 Reading Challenge


View all my reviews