The immortal twin - D.B Woodling

DNF! Well I made it to chapter 6 and gave up. Couldn’t get into it at all. The narrators voice is monotone and boring.

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
This was bad, it's like the author wanted to write several very different books but instead wrapped it all up into one. Finishing this was torturous, there was no building to the climax, no character development, no excitement. Things just happened, for no apparent rhyme or reason. I would not recommend this to anyone.
So far my worst book of 2022.

This one just was not for me. I haven’t actually read (or listened to) a vampire book in a while and I thought this one would be good. The idea behind it sounds like it would be. Something was missing and just didn’t seem to pull me in.

The Immortal Twin (Kindle Edition)
by D.B. Woodling
A unique twist of the vampire lore. Vampires being part of history, is not new. But that the stories twist is that sometimes they are not the bad guys. These vampires try to protect humans from other vampires that use humans as prey. Adopting two kids from a tragedy caused by the rogues this family changes the story. The characters show the love of human nature, and how you learn to stand up to evil, as a team. The audible version adds to the drama. Bringing out the longing of the characters, and how much the tragedy of the humans can change their world.

This book is just not for me. Everything such as character to pace was too young for me I can't get over the narrators voice because of this I did not finish the book and feel no desire to read it at all

Nope.
This started out interesting, but I still had trouble getting into it.
The narration was devoid of emotion, and made it difficult to stay focused (and awake).
As the story progressed it took a weird turn and became less interesting.
I think it might have been better in print, but we will never know.
Thanks (?) to NetGalley and CamCat Books for my audio.

The book was fine but nothing groundbreaking, it definitely had influences from twilight.

I really wanted to like the book as I enjoy vampire stories, but I found the narrator made it so hard to enjoy. There was no definition between dialogue and narration which makes it very hard to follow and I kept getting lost in what was happening, or who was supposed to be talking.

I would suggest trying the ebook as I really could not get on with the audio version.

Title: The Immortal Twin
Author: D. B. Working
Format: Audio
Narrator: Jamie Lynn
Genre: Paranormal romance, Vampire, YA/NA, suspense, politice
Standalone: yes
Part of a Series: no
POV: Celeste
Steam Level: minimal - some reference but nothing explicit
3.5/5

This book is okay. I wanted to like it more than I did. Maybe it was characters, maybe the narrator but I got a little bored at times. Although I was entertained by the vampires’ stories of historic figures of the world. Overall I found that The Immortal Twin dragged on at times but wrapped up too quickly.

I received this audiobook for free from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

As always I want to thank the publishers, netgalley and the author for allowing me an audio ARC of this title. I also want to say I really did want to like this book and it does have it’s moments but in the end I think it just wasn’t for me.

The story follows twins and the trials and tribulations they face. Celeste Torok is our main protagonist and she could not be more different from her twin brother Nick. Celeste is considered introverted and quiet, Nick is charismatic and a bit of a trouble maker. The only things they have in common is their parents and they are mortal. Their adoptive immortal parents ensured they remained mortal.

When Nick’s rebellious ways place Celeste in danger, she is forced to move to the Midwest. Added to this familial alienation she is further tormented by her forbidden love for Tristan, the supreme warrior of her parent's coalition,the Realm. With her past all but shattered and her future uncertain she turns to follow the footsteps of her biological father and join law enforcement.

As a lead investigator on several bizarre child abduction cases, Celeste soon discovers that bullets will not stop these criminals. Her past starts to catch up with her as she realizes a war is brewing between the Realm and a cell of renegade vampires. Celeste rejoins her family, Tristan and the rest of the Realm to destroy these renegades once and for all.

On the face of it this sounds like it could be great. Unfortunately for me it falls a little short. I just could not learn to like Celeste. She often comes across as whiney and spoilt and seems to have little idea, although her adoptive parents are supposed to have educated her, on what is going on and the rules of the Realm. I won’t spoil things but early on she makes mistakes, errors and selfish choices then whines and bemoans the state of affairs as if she didn’t know it would happen. I just couldn’t understand her choices, even with grief clouding her judgement and found her reactions afterwards more irritating than anything.

On top of this a lot of plot seems to be linear but also choppy. I was able to follow the plot but it did lack. Again avoiding spoilers but there is one character who is threatening Celeste early on. Nothing is said by her to her parents and a short while later the parents simply state the threat is now gone… The characters are very one dimensional and we don’t see much of their personality evolve within the story. The narrator, unfortunately, does not seem to help this since they often sound bored or just reading the lines with no real effort put in.

I do think this would potentially be a good bridge between middle grade and young adult in the paranormal genre but I feel that it may be a let down for higher young adult and new adult due to the style.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Honestly, I had a hard time really getting into this book. Normally I like a good paranormal romance but this one flowed odd and was hard to connect with the characters. It was really hard to follow the book even at a slow speed but, I would love to try to read it in the near future to see if maybe reading it would make it easier to follow possibly.

I received a free audiobook of this novel from Netgalley! In exchange for an honest review. I am a huge fan of vampires and I also happen to have a twin sister so this book automatically caught my eye! First, I would like to say that the plot was interesting, but it did start to become confusing. I think Celeste was naive and made poor choices. While her twin brother Nick was more likable. Nick is the bad boy, but of course, he just wants to be loved and accepted. I won't spoil anything but I think this book needed to slow down and give a tad more backstory. With that being said I would give it a shot, but I don't know if I would read another book by this author.

This book had so much potential. Everything was there in the description: Romance, Vampires, Action, Rebellion. What I read though was confusing, slow-paced, unclear, and a forced romance that did not make sense.

Celeste and Nick are twins who are adopted by vampires who caused their parent's death. Celeste has very low self-esteem and keeps comparing herself to her brother constantly, thinking that he is the charismatic and better twin while everyone in the book tells her that they like her better. Big Bella from Twilight vibes, she is the prettiest girl in the room but doesn’t know it, Celeste rarely does anything on her own even when she becomes a cop that is because her dad was a cop and her brother wanted to be one but couldn't. That was not the life she wanted for herself, she doesn’t have any agency over her life and has others save her.

As for the romance… what romance. Tristen the "forbidden desire" did not talk to her and just stalked around her. There was no building of friendship or anything. Celeste just thought that he was hot and boom, we were supposed to believe that they were in love. We are told rather than shown why they cannot be together but they do it anyway and it gets tiresome by the end.

When finishing, everything seemed to end up too perfect. It all works out with too nice of a bow, there were no real struggles or repercussions for the choices that were made. Overall, it was hard to finish because of the things Celeste says about the people around her and how she views both them and herself.

Final thoughts - Way too much happening in this book and not in a good way. Nothing was able to be explained or made sense, no character development to make it worth the read.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's always interesting to see an author recommend one version of their book over the other. For some odd reason, I didn't even think about it until now. After listening to the audiobook that left me dazed and confused.

From the very beginning, I was intrigued by what was going on. I didn't know much about anything or anyone and was looking forward to the adventure. Unfortunately, it all went downhill pretty quickly after that. The plot was honestly really hard to follow. Certain time jumps didn't make sense to me and the characters decision making skills frustrated me too.

It also didn't help that the narrator didn't really add anything either. Well, in a way, it added more fuel to my frustration fire. Other than that, Celeste, Nick, and Tristan were interesting to a point. Again, things didn't really make sense to me. So, I couldn't get invested in them or the overall story.

In the end, the synopsis seemed like it had potential. A lot more than I actually got. I just feel like if things flowed more easily, and the connections made sense, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. Instead of ending up confused.

Thank you to NetGalley for this audio ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I'm not sure where to start with this book. It had so much potential but just fell a bit flat for me. I requested this book because the plot sounded so interesting. However, there was so much going on that it was hard to decipher what the main plot point of the story was. Celeste did not make sense as a main character because she was just so oblivious to what was going on around her. I think the book would have been better if it was told from another perspective, like Nicks, who was a much more interesting character.

The romance also did not make sense. The interaction between the love interests was minimal but when we did get to see it, it was rushed to the point that I found believing the two characters were in love was unrealistic.

All the characters, with the exception of Nick, were repetitive and very one dimensional.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but unfortunately I didn't. However, I did enjoy the narrator.

First of all, listening to this on audio was a mistake. The narrator had terrible inflection and sounded wooden. If you want to check this out, read the ebook instead.

Second, I could not really follow the plot. There are half a dozen time jumps which held little purpose. Why do we need a month to go by? It felt like lazy writing and the author just wanting to get to her main points and skip boring stuff. All I got out of this was Celeste is in love with Tristan who's a vampire. For reasons I didn't really understand, Celeste and her brother Nick are supposed to remain human so she can't be with Tristan. She moves away, becomes a police officer, and investigates some rogue vampire killings. The end lol

I didn't like the characters and the back and forth romance. I couldn't tell if Celeste's vampire parents were good or not and thought the story was choppy. The book just wasn't for me I guess.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley for the copy

not something i would usually go for but was entertaining and makes a great young adult fantasy fiction, the descriptions are rich and vibrant and along with the narrator transports you to the paranormal world.

First audiobook I've ever listened to ... it has been an amazing experience !
I don't know for sure if it was only the plot or the calming voice of the narrator, but this book caught me completely, from the very fist sentences !!
It was a paranormal romance where mortals and immortals coexist and try to balance their life without ever meeting.
The story of Celeste and her brother Nick is unfortunately mixed with that of a vampire couple, acting as their parents after a terrible tragedy..
This is a story about family and love... about growing old and the inevitable meeting with death... about whether is worth it, sacrificing immortality for something more ...
I loved listening to it and there definitely were some characters who I fell for, more than others ...
Tristan, for example, is ... well I guess "mysteriously handsome and attractive" would be the right choice of words.
The plot in itself was easy to follow and despite some surprises here and there, there were some quite predictable decisions made.
I enjoyed every minute of it and I'd surely recommend it for every lover of paranormal action and maybe even a little bit of spice!!!!

I typically love books with paranormal aspects to them, but I simply could not get into this book at all. From the second the narrator begins to speak, she already sounds disinterested, that in and of itself doesn't help this book any.

The author throws every adjective possible into each and every sentence, for me, this is a huge turn off while reading. It makes it seem like the author is trying way too hard to capture the audience's attention, when it seems to do the opposite.

Nothing fully felt like it was followed through with, making the book feel a bit lackluster and disjointed.

I wish I could have enjoyed this book, but it is not for me.

I have mixed emotions on The Immortal Twin. It's a bit all over the place. It feels disjointed. However, I enjoyed the story and the characters. For the most part, I agree that it's a YA novel, but I personally wouldn't have listed it as primarily a paranormal romance. It's definitely paranormal and there is romance but that didn't feel like the main storyline to me.

I want to begin that I can definitely see myself recommending this book to those whose interests and reading preferences better-fit the book than mine. I enjoyed the narrator's voice in this audiobook version, and I found Celeste's thoughts believable for the most part. With that said, I found the romance to come a bit late in the narrative. The first half of the book has very little tense, romantic moments, and I had anticipated more based on my past experiences with paranormal (vampire) romances.

And while I enjoyed the fast pace of the plot, there are moments I wish had been slowed down or depicted more thoroughly at the beginning of the story to help ground me in Celeste's world. There was so much emphasis on prom, for instance, but then we do not actually get to see it happen. All in all, these criticisms would not deter me from recommending the book for avid paranormal fiction fans!