Hearts at Stake - Review

Hearts at Stake (The Drake Chronicles #1), alternate title My Love Lies Bleeding

By: Alyxandra Harvey

Published: December 22, 2009 by Walker Children's

257 pages

Source: Owned on Kindle app

(Goodreads / Amazon)

Summary: 

The Drakes are rather different to your usual neighbours. They are vampires and some of the members of the family date back to the twelfth century. One of the children, Solange, is the only born female vampire known and, as such, she poses a direct threat to the vampire queen. Her best friend Lucy is human, and when Solange is kidnapped Lucy and Solange's brother, Nicholas, set out to save her. Lucy soon discovers that she would like to be more than just friends with Nicholas. But how does one go about dating a vampire? Meanwhile, Solange finds an unlikely ally in Kieran, a vampire slayer on the hunt for his father's killer.

Can one book really have that many different types of vampires?  In the beginning there was a lengthy description of definitions of all the different types of vampires and that almost made me not want to read anymore.  Books that have a glossary of words typically turn me off if the story isn't strong enough to keep my interest.  I really don't want to have to look back to see what a word means in the fictional world being created by the author.  However, this story picked up quick enough for me not to think too much more about it, except when one of those vampire words would come up again.  I pretty much just glossed over those words without thinking too much about which vampire group was being talked about.  Choosing not to dwell on those terms did not make the book any less interesting to me so I don't feel that I missed something.

I found this to be a quick and fun read.   I wasn't blown away but I enjoyed it and  I will read the next in the series.  3.8 stars.

Favorite quote:

"It was a little distracting...to hear her heart beating and smell the warmth of her blood...and disconcerting to know...blood now tasted better than chocolate."

Have you read the first book in The Drake Chronicles?  Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought.