Forbidden by Amy Miles book #1 Arota series

[Dark Angel74]

OVERVIEW: Roseline Enescue escapes from the frightening brutality of her husband Vladimir Enescue in Romania by running away to the United States. She begins a new life as a high school student, but meets a young man named Gabriel, to whom she finds herself irrestibly attracted. How can this be? Where did her self control go? How can a mere human so captivate her attention? The answers trace back to her homeland and the life she left behind.

COVER/GRAPHICS/MAPS: The cover is simple and looks to be professionally done. Interior format was downloaded on the kindle app for iPad, there were no format issues or spelling. Paragraphs average length, no difficulty with vocabulary or sentence structures genre very acceptable for young adult to adult. All names were easily pronounced and accessible, since the story takes place, in a modern context. places are recognizable. The price was reasonable.

HERO/HEROINE: Roseline Enescue is a bit of a enigma given the terrible ordeal described in the prologue to this story, it's reasonable to expect a degree of hardness and an aloof attitude from this character in general, people like their protagonists to be strong and Roseline certainly projects inner strength and mental toughness. She's described by other characters as kind and loving but she acts more like a streetwise and vigorous force to be reckoned with, rather than a sweet gentle female.

Gabriel Marsten, the boy that captures Roselines heart, and captain of the football team I expected to be just another dumb jock, mindlessly interested in conquering opponents on the football field and girls in the social arena, but he evolves as the story progresses, from an athlete into a decent, intelligent caring young man. He becomes the boy that a father would be proud to call his son, only to transform into something else entirely not knowing who his father truely was as he starts to gain incredible strength and unknown tattoos that speak of a prophecy.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS: Sadie and William Hughes are siblings who live next door to Gabriel Marsten. They maintain an annoyed but loving teenaged tolerance for one another throughout the story. Though William plays in the story is less then significant than that of his sister, Sadie befriends Roseline though the two appear to have nothing in common. Nicolae, a mysterious exchange student from Romania, transforms from a creepy kid into something very different as the story goes on, I felt that a little more platforming of his background early in the story would have made a smoother character arc near the end of the story.

VILLIANS: Roseline's husband, Vladimir occupies a menacing role that exists mostly on the periphery of the story, except for the very beginning and the very end. A lot of the conflict is internal with Roseline herself. I was effectively kept in suspense about the danger of her powers throughout the story.

FLAT CHARACTERS: like Claire Scofield -- Gabriel's girlfriend in the beginning of the story -- and Oliver -- Gabriel's jock friend -- serve as antagonists and provide the occasional comic relief there's a scene involving Claire using Gabriel's leg as an erotic dancing pole twerking that had me laughing.

PLAUSIBILITY OF STORYLINE: there's a degree of disbelief that every fantasy story must be given and is certainly true for this story, but there were scenes and behaviors such as Roseline's frequent disappearances, which did very little to advance the plot and probably could have been cut or modified without impacting the overall story, high school students making travel arrangements and departing the country without parental approval raised my brows a bit, as it would any adult working for a airport. Bu this story is for young adult readers and would likely be unfazed by that detail.

I give this story a 4 star rating the author Amy Miles has written a Vampire story that defies convention in many ways, the story retained my interest throughout, and I actually found myself enjoying the characters, particularly Roseline and Gabriel as their love evolved. I hope to read the rest of the series from the author.