This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by Acozine. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the YA Romance category.

Here is Acozine's review:

Teen vampire Della Tsang doesn’t have time for love. She’s too busy clearing her father’s name. But the charge against him – that he stabbed his own sister to death years ago – connects Della’s human family to her secret vampire community, especially her handsome bondmate Chase. So Della is forced to probe her own heart as she works to prove her father’s innocence.

Many things keep Della and Chase apart: Della’s continuing friendship with her ex-boyfriend, Steve; Chase’s loyalty to Della’s vampire uncle, whom Della suspects of being the real murderer; the political rivalry between the Vampire Council and the Fallen Research Unit (a supernatural FBI); the complication of the bond Chase forged with Della when he gave his vampire blood to save her life, transforming her into a Reborn vampire. But through it all they can’t deny their interest in each other.

The plot rattles from one cliffhanger to the next, especially in the second half of the book. As the trial in the old murder case looms, current crimes by a supernatural gang suggest that old motives and grudges are far from dead. The victims’ ghosts appeal to Della for justice and share their muddled death-scene memories in an attempt to communicate clues. And the hunt for the truth about the murders, old and new, takes the reader around many a hairpin turn.

Author C. C. Hunter ratchets up the emotional tension and portrays the adolescent characters’ inner lives in a believable, relatable way. Della struggles to connect with her family while keeping her vampire nature secret. Chase wrestles with jealousy and navigates among competing loyalties – to Della, to the man who raised him, to the cause he believes in. Both question their feelings for each other and their places in the wider supernatural society.

Hunter creates a different take on the supernatural romance, drawing a nice contrast between Della’s two suitors, vampire investigator Chase and shape-shifting medical student Steve, without setting up an Edward-or-Jacob rematch. We know from page one where Della’s heart is. Following Della’s thoughts as she explores why she feels the way she does and how far to trust that feeling is the best part of the book.

The supernatural world in which Chase and Della’s romance unfolds is interesting but ultimately unsatisfying. Fae, shape-shifters, Reborn vampires, ordinary vampires, warlocks, weres and witches mingle in an otherworldly multicultural society that could provide the backdrop for dozens of tales. Human lawyers and doctors work alongside supernatural judges, researchers, prosecutors and medical examiners who serve the shadow society by covering up evidence of non-human activity.

Unfortunately, their powers and limitations and histories are never detailed. Why are weres and vampires particularly at odds? Are witches and fae born or created by transformation? Half-shape-shifter and half-were characters suggest inter-species romance, but if humans are raising half-supernatural babies, how secret is the supernatural world, really? On the other hand, if most supernatural kids have at least one non-human parent, then why are young vampires and witches sent to Shadow Falls Academy, the boarding school masquerading as a juvenile reformatory where Della is a student? The world-building basics were probably explained in the earlier volumes of the series, but this volume could have brought new readers up to speed, and drawn them into the world of the series, much better.

The same goes for Della’s backstory and the rules of vampire life. I figured out that Chase was turned into a vampire to save him from dying in the plane crash that killed his human family, but I never understood how or why Della transformed from a human to a vampire, much less from a vampire to a Reborn vampire. This would have been less confusing if the book hadn’t flouted the usual rules for vampires repeatedly, without explanation. Della doesn’t use her vampire ability to fly when it’s sunny out – because she doesn’t want to blow her cover. What? Don’t vampires burn up in the sunlight? Chase nearly dies from wounds inflicted by weres. What? Aren’t vampires indestructible except by sunlight or a stake to the heart? The more I read, the more the unexplained rules pulled me out of the story.

Once I realized that the traditional vampire rules didn’t apply, I had trouble buying Della’s worry that being a vampire makes her a monster. True, ghosts are drawn to her because as a Reborn vampire she can see and hear them. But that’s at worst a threat to her secret identity and at best a professional advantage for an investigative agent. In exchange for some poltergeist action, a little sleep disruption, and the occasional headache, Della gets a victim’s-eye view of crime scenes. Sure, she has to put up with a low body temperature and a taste for O-positive instead of baked goods. But that doesn’t cramp her style or shape her thinking. Della tries to hide her fangs, but only out of fear of others’ judgment – she’s never even tempted to slake her thirst in a way that harms anyone. She can fly, she’s super-strong, and she can smell and hear better than any human. What’s monstrous about that, for the teen vampire or her human family?

Although being a vampire (and being with a vampire) doesn’t feel threatening here, there are other scary thrills and plot points to appeal to rebellious types in this read. Della and Chase confront the supernatural criminal underworld and break the rules, individually and together. The story includes mild cursing, a moderate machismo-vs-feminism theme, and an anti-meet-cute opening scene where Chase tracks Della down in a restaurant women’s bathroom.

My usual taste in romances leans toward a pot of tea, a fruity cocktail, or a tumbler of single malt Scotch rather than a Thermos of warm blood, and this book didn’t give me a thirst for more supernatural romances. The final resolution of the romantic storyline resonated emotionally. However, the flimsy background and sub-plots detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book. Fans of teen romances with a dark streak may rate this series A-positive, but the closing volume tasted more like AB-negative to me.