Secret Vampire, from L. J. Smith (Night World #1)

Good night and hello again! I’m sorry for the weird timing of my posts lately, it’s just that I’m at my uncle’s place and I don’t have my own computer, haha! I had left some programed posts, but apparently, not enough, oops! Now I’m depending of the good will of my relatives to have a computer – so far, my older cousin and my dad, for that matter. This post is being written from my dad’s laptop, thanks, dad!

Anyway, I’m here to talk about Secret Vampire, the first book in the Night World series, by L. J. Smith! Let’s go 😀

from my Instagram ❤

The Story

Poppy was a regular sixteen-year-old girl that found out about a pancreas cancer on her first day of vacation from high school. As the disease was in a terminal instance, there was nothing that the medicals or anybody could do for Poppy.

Anybody human, that is.

James, Poppy’s childhood best friend, is a vampire. He can save her and make all the pain go away. But can Poppy accept him for who he truly is and leave the world that she has always known behind?

Can Poppy survive the Night World?

The Analysis

Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂

I had the mass-market paperback edition with the three first books in one for a while now, but only this year I brought myself to read it. And you know what? THIS BOOK WAS AWESOME! I’ve read it on Christmas, literally. I began it on the morning of December 25^th and finished it at night, haha! But I don’t know why I was hesitant to read it, as I love The Vampire Diaries books and Night World follows a very similar style of writing and interpersonal relationships between characters. Mysteries of life, right? Haha! Five stars with pride!

As I’ve read The Vampire Diaries in high school (a re-read is in order in 2016), and on a translated version into my native language, I didn’t remember how fluid and nice was Smith’s narrative. It was a good surprise, as my Night World collection is in English. Smith did the narrative in my favorite way: third person with alternating points of view between Poppy, James and Phil, Poppy’s twin brother. AWESOME. BRILLIANT. I LOVED IT.

Ahem. Ok, I’m under control again.

The plot wasn’t simple, but not that complex either. There were some mysteries, some uncertainties and twists, it was cool. The end was predictable, but in a good way, in my opinion. I hate books with unhappy endings, judge me, haha! This childhood friendship that grows into something more plus the supernatural element worked very well for me and if you like those two elements combined in a romance, just read Secret Vampire ❤

The characters were a blast. But who is surprised, as this is the same mind that brought us this:

(if you are new here, just to clarify: I obssess over three general things in life: books, Ava March and Damon Salvatore, LOL)

But back to character’s analysis. I loved Poppy! I usually hate female heroines from young adult books, but she surprised me due to the reality of her situation: a) she dealt in a very realistic way with her cancer discovery even before she learned about James condition; b) she didn’t suffer of instantaneous love, James grew up with her, so their connection made sense and it was very cute; c) she was a strong woman with the worries of a teenager, so she had her moments of bravery and then broke down because of silly things. I could see my 16 year old self in Poppy and that was very nice, haha!

Now, the boys. OH, THE BOYS. I love Smith’s boys, haha! I fell in love with James and his je ne se qua air in scene one and he only made me love him more in the end, haha! He and Poppy had the best dialogues ever, I laughed hard in several parts. They just had this connection, I guess. I also liked Phil, Poppy’s brother. He could be a little dense at times, but sounded so cool and beautiful, haha! I wouldn’t mind dating him at all. And there is Ash. I wanted to hit him with a hard rock while I kissed him. Does this even makes sense? Hahaha!

Ash’s personality reminded me a lot of Damon’s, only that he fools people into believing that he is actually nice, while Damon takes the other way around. I can’t wait to see more of Ash and his schemes on Daughters of Darkness, the second book in the Night World series and my current read. Well, one of my current reads, haha!

Bonus point: besides the boys, that are hotness all over in the book, I thought that Smith’s way of portraying cancer was awesome. Even with the supernatural element on it, the theme is not spoken of lightly, as a mere excuse for the vampire romance. I loved it 🙂

That’s it, thanks for reading! I loved reading and reviewing this book, haha! Have you already read Night World?