A Novel with Thoughts and Ponderings

AMERICAN VAMPIRE

Author: Jennifer Armintrout ISBN: 9780778328780 3/2011 PARANORMAL Publisher: MIRA

American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout
Buried in the Heartland is a town that no one enters or leaves. Graf McDonald somehow becomes its first visitor in more than five years…and he was only looking for a good party. Unfortunately, Penance, Ohio, is not that place. And after having been isolated for so long, they do not like strangers at all.

Jessa's the only one to even remotely trust him, and she's desperate for the kind of protection that only a vampire like Graf can provide. Supplies are low, the locals are ornery for a sacrifice and there's a monster more powerful than Graf lurking in the woods. New men are hard to come by in this lonesome town, and this handsome stranger might be Jessa's only hope for salvation.

Even if she has to die first…

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS: 4 Rose Read

In a rare moment for me, at least as far as romances go, I didn't want the main characters to get together in this book.  It's not that I didn't think they suited each other—they did in a weird way—but I wanted to see more of their fighting and bickering and awkwardness.  By the end of AMERICAN VAMPIRE, I was left feeling vaguely disappointed by the turn of events.

First, the characters themselves.  Graf was an unrepentant vampire.  Forget brooding in the darkness and agonizing over feeding off humans; he quite succinctly points out to Jessa that while he may feel some remorse, he just doesn't CARE.  It's the way he is, and that's that.  Throughout the book, he doesn't change that stance; just because he falls for Jessa doesn't mean he's suddenly a vegetarian.  All that really changes is how he would feel if he fed off Jessa in particular.

Jessa, meanwhile, was a shrew, though one can't really help but feel bad for her.  Stuck in a Podunk town that thinks owning an I-Ching coin means you're harboring Satan in your heart, she's at her wit's end.  A drawback to Graf being so up front and open about being a happy vampire is that she spent a good chunk of the book intensely afraid of Graf.  Even when she felt safe, she never quite lost the edge of fear in her heart.

Having never lived in as small a town as Jessa, I can't quite fathom how quickly the townspeople all turned on each other.  You'd think the town had been stuck together for fifty years, not five, from the way they were all suspicious and ready to call foul.  Actually, it was quite chilling the reception that not only Graf received, but also Jessa. 

The last quarter of the book is when a lot of the action occurs—resolution to what happened to Derek's family, Graf and Jessa's relationship, and the mysterious beast prowling the town.  This is all explained, in a somewhat haphazard fashion, as Graf makes a very important decision. 

As I said earlier, I wish this could have been drawn out a little more, to build up their relationship a bit more.  The ending is serious stuff, and I don't feel that Armintrout gave enough time for the consequences to run their course.

Alexandra Cenni

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