Could Maura's life get any worse? ...turns out it most certainly can.

Isolated and sheltered by her lonely mother, Maura's never been able to make friends. She seems to drive her classmates away—except for the odd times they pay enough attention to torture her—but she doesn’t understand why. Maura considers herself to be a freak of nature, with her unusually pale skin and an aversion to the sun that renders her violently nauseous. Her belief is only worsened by the fact that almost everyone around her keeps their distance.

If life wasn’t already challenging enough, Maura begins to experience bizarre, physical changes her mother seems hell bent on ignoring, compelling Maura to fear for her own life. Vicious nightmares, blood cravings, failing health and the heart-shattering loss of Ron—as well as the discovery of a tangled web of her own mother's lies—become obstacles in Maura's desperate quest for the unfathomable truth she was never prepared to uncover.- Goodreads

This read was not as enjoyable as I wanted it to be. Maura whines... a lot. Her voice in whiny. Even when nothing is happening and she is just going through the motions she has that whiny, "but mooom" tone. It is rather annoying. 

Maura also did not have a backbone and attached herself to the first boy that showed her interest. I was not enjoying that. For me, she didn't have a real personality other than the fact that she did everything she could for her mom to not feel as if they were struggling or if her mom wasn't being a good mom. I wanted more of Maura and even if her loneliness was supposed to be the biggest launching pad in the book, it doesn't mean that she couldn't be a developed person. 

But beyond that my biggest issue with this read is, the author tries so hard to not tell you or show you, before the ending, what Maura's issue really is. It comes off as forced and it feels stretched. Do not get me wrong you know Maura is not human from the beginning but what you don't know until closer to then is what exactly she is. There is predictability, so I am sure it can be figured out but if not the conclusion was lack luster. 

I also wish that there was more to Maura's relationship with her mom. There was love but it felt more overprotective I don't really talk to my daughter even in the littler for her to not always feel some type of way relationship. It was hard to really enjoy the book because the mom played a huge part and their relationship seem more like a burden. 

This book wasn't doing anything new. A parent hiding a life and world changing secret from the world and her daughter is nothing new. But I picked this read in hopes that it would be different. But unfortunately, it feel short and cliche. 

Overall, 

1 Pickle

I received an advance copy of this via Netgalley and Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this but I didn't. I thought some of the change up to the vampire mythology was good, kudos for that inventiveness, but overall I just couldn't bring myself to finish which is a shame.