Review by Jenn S Gligoric
24 April, 2007

If you are in the mood for an old-fashioned romance novel with a gothic twist then Valerie Hoffman’s new novel “Vampire Royalty: The Rebellion” will be right up your alley. Set in the near future, Ms. Hoffman’s book takes us into the world of American politics, intrigue and horror.

Ms. Hoffman has created an interesting plot and her twist on the modern vampire is that, unlike traditional stories, these characters suffer from the blood disorder porphyria rather than supernatural influence. This is not to say that the porphyria symptoms in the book are textbook; because they aren’t, as the lead characters still get to take advantage of preternatural strength, long life spans, and have mental telepathy prowess.

As in all romance novels, the characters are beautiful, lusty and eager but I was itching to see more in the way of character development and the exaggerated atmospheric details that are the staple of the genre. More than once I felt that Ms. Hoffman’s dialogue and erotic storyline were cut short in order for her to explain the next plot turn. This gave me the feeling that part of the story, and the passion, was missing in places. All romance novels have to balance the story with the love scenes and I hope that Ms. Hoffman’s second installment in the “Vampire Royalty” series will give her a chance to spend more time with the relationship development of the characters. I believe that political plot might have been a little ambitious for a first novel, especially in this type of book. There were just too many important characters and not enough pages for readers to truly get into their heads.

This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did. In fact, I have a sick infant and still managed to be excited enough about the outcome of the book to read it in one day. Not an easy feat. All the male leads were especially delicious and many female readers will enjoy the raw power and sexuality they exude. The main female lead however needed to be rescued one too many times for this reader, so I hope that in the next novel the women will be as bold and daring as the men are in this one. Told from both the human and vampire standpoint, “Vampire Royalty: The Rebellion” is a fun Sunday read and a refreshing change from the usual gothic tomes out on the market today.