Other Side of Night: Bastian & Riley by S.L. Armstrong & K. Piet
I liked this book very much since it made a paranormal romance almost “normal”; Bastian is a newly made vampire, but he is so new and unprepared to the event that he is almost trying to convince himself it didn’t happen. Sure, growing an allergy to sun and long fangs don’t help him. And the drinking blood issue neither. But Bastian is still hoping it will go away, especially now that he is falling in love with Riley, and he wants to enjoy this new love like any other college kid.
The first part of the story is really sweet, from what I gather Bastian and Riley spent 10 months just “courting” each other, with nothing more sexual between them than a goodnight kiss. Riley is trying to go over a very bad past experience with an abusive boyfriend, and Bastian is trying to understand how to be in love with Riley without hurting him.
If I have to find a fault to this story is only one point, the reaction of Riley to Bastian’s revelation. My impression of Riley was of a spoiled kid, more worried about himself than their relationship. One example? Bastian has just told him he killed a man as soon as he was turned, and Riley almost doesn’t take notice of that. But as I said that is only a point, and maybe it was part of Riley’s character, something that well bond with how he will behave at the end of the story, and by the way it’s also something that gives deepness to Bastian’s character: more we find little faults in Riley, more it’s possible he will be able to accept Bastian and his changes, otherwise if Riley was really perfect, he would have been too uptight for him.
As I said, even if this is a paranormal story, it was mostly sweet and very much like a college romance. Actually Bastian could have been simply “ill”, allergic to sun, and his and Riley’s story would have been nice the same. I love the meetings in the coffee shops, the dinner and cinema dates, and even the first friends night with them ending playing a card game… it was all very young and pretty and yes, even a little preppy, but I really loved the whole thing.
http://www.stormmoonpress.com/books/Other-Side-of-Night-Bastian--Riley.aspx
Amazon: Other Side of Night: Bastian & Riley
Amazon Kindle: Other Side of Night: Bastian & Riley
Paperback: 190 pages
Publisher: Storm Moon Press, LLC (September 23, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1937058255
ISBN-13: 978-1937058258
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle
Cover Art by Nathie