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Shades of Gray

Shades of Gray

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Modern-day Vampire Love Story
Review: Alexi-Bound by chains of silver, the vampire had slept for 100 years, locked in a world of pain and hunger, until the seductive scent of one woman's blood recalled him to ravenous life. Marisa- Unnerved by the sight of the carnival's captive "vampire," she stumbled from the tent-into the arms of the most striking man she'd ever seen. Mesmerized by his supernatural embrace, she believed him when he swore all he desired to drink were her kisses. Grigori- Lost in darkness, Grigori found new sustenance in the light of Marisa's love, and new purpose in his life. Only he could protect her from the evil that stalked the night. Now, hungering for her bittersweet caress, he vowed to show her that not all the undead were monsters, and that somewhere between the black and white of damnation and desire lay infinite...Shades of Gray. I was under the impression when I bought this book that it was a historical romance. The cover is misleading. But it is a good read. I think it could have been more action-packed. It had all the wonderful workings of a great love story but there was something lacking toward the end, but I did enjoy the story. If you love vampire stories this is a pretty good book.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: i thought this book was good but disappointing at the end.
Review: coming from someone who has read a lot of vampire romance books, i thought this was a pretty good book but i found the ending to be disappointing. edward gets turned into a vampire and it is not a big deal. marissa throughout the book is repulsed by the thought of sucking blood and never again walking in the sun yet at the end she decides to become a vampire-how shocking. this book is great until you get to the end.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Believable, Thurst quenching, & Satisfying
Review: Don't let some things you hear discurage you from reading this book. Yes there are page fillers in there but that is what makes this book well read. It personalizes the charecters. It pulls you into the book. One moment you are on the edge of your seat the next you are wormed as if it was a blistering sumers day. THE MIXTURE OF PRESENT DAY, TIME TRAVEL, & PARANORMAL QUENCHES ALL THURSTS. You really get to know all the charecters not just the main ones. Ashley has done it again. THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ALL ROMANCE READERS.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Worth It
Review: Ghades of Gray was the first book I ever read from Amanda Ashley and I wasn't disappointed. Most vampire books tell of the hero as love-less and ruthless and by the end of the novel understanding and excepting love. But this one made him charming and caring and wanting love. Loved it, Bought it, And proud of it baby. So take my advice, if you like vampire romances you definatly have to read this one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Kind of silly
Review: Good Things:
The romance was sweet, the kind of fairy tale thing you want to have when you are twelve.

Bad Things:
The contradictions in characters behavior, as other reviewers have pointed out.
The pages of meaningless filler like the ordering chinese food bit and what to watch on TV.
It seemed kind of silly, the way Grigori always bought expensive things for Marisa, and this seemed to be a large portion of her attraction to him.
The dialogue was beyond stupid.
If you told the plotline to anyone, they would assume you were joking and ask what B-movie it came from.

I did give it two stars because it is not the worst I have ever read and my one star rate is saved for absolute crap.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great read!
Review: Grigori is a lonely vampire whose determined to protect the woman he loves! I read this book for the first time last year and it was my first of this genre. I still pull this book back out to read from time to time. I enjoyed reading it so much that I immediately begin searching for more. I would like to recommend it to the Historical Romance readers.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good book unfortunately ruined by an anticlimatic ending
Review: I absolutely hated Ashley's A Darker Dream but the premise of Shades of Gray sounded too interesting to pass up. I must say, the author has definitly improved.
Marisa Richards is an ordinary woman. She never would suspect that attending a road-side carnival would put her life in danger. The carbival's main attraction is Count Alexi Kristov, a dormant vampire of terrifying power. The scent of Marisa's blood awakens the count from his centuries long slumber.
Fortunately, Grigori Chiavari has been tracking Alexi for some time so he may take revenge on him for killing his children and turning his wife into a mindless puppet. Grigori decides to protect Marisa at all costs. He doesn't plan to come to love her. Following Grigori and Alexi, Marisa also gains professional vampire assassin Edward (a common name among vampire hunters) Ramsey as a protector. But will it be enough to stop the deranged monster?
The book had a great start. Grigori was an intriging hero because he's not a 'life-is-a-curse' type which can spoil a book for me. The first half is riddled with great conflict, the anomosity between Edward and Grigori, Marisa dealing with the fact that Grigori is a vampire, and even Grigori being torn between his wife (who he wants to free from Alexi) and his budding love for Marisa.
It's not until after the heroes return from their time-traveling quest that the book starts to drag. The suspence element that exsisted earlier is gone while Alexi licks his wounds. Things get mundane as Grigori and Marisa prepare for their wedding.
Sadly, the nose-dive is the climax or what tries to pass for one. Instead of a big fight scene, Alexi ( who is portrayed as the super-powered mega-evil until this point) is pathetically easy to beat. Edward gets turned into a vampire, says 'I guess I'll be going now' and leaves as if he where going out to fetch the paper instead of being tranformed into what he hates. It's like Ashley decided she needed to wrap everything up in the last thousand words.
Despite it's problems the first half of the book is strong enough to make it feel like it was worth the time and money you put into it. While a feel cheated by the ending, I enjoyed it enough to recommend it others with a word of caution. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Story
Review: I collect vampire/lycanthorpe books and have quite a collection. Because of this, I have quite a few Amanda Ashley novels. I consider all of her novels very light reads. The characters usually do not have enough depth for me to give her books 4 or 5 stars, but if you re looking for a good quick vampire romance, that is a quick read, then I would recommend. Marisa attends a carnival one night and sees an attraction to meet a real vampire. She meets Alexi who is surrounded by chains. On her way out she cuts herself and bleeds. Alexi smells the blood and gets the strength to break free. He decides that he must have Marisa. Grigori is a vampire who is hunting Alexi. While hunting Alexi he meets Marisa and there is an instant attraction. Also hunting Alexi is a vampire hunter, Edward. He also meets Marisa and is attracted to her. Soon it will take both Edward and Grigori to keep Marisa alive. This was a decent story. This is actually one of the few Amanda Ashley books that I would give 4 stars to. I would recommend. (If you enjoyed this story and are looking for a continuation of the characters, pick up Amanda Ashley's After Sundown).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Big Thumbs Down
Review: I found this book to be comparable to a low budget movie. Both the characters and the story line are weak. The strongest character is Alexi; the villain of the story. I also found that the story was choppy and didn't flow smoothly. I found many of the passages to be unimportant to the story and felt that they were 'fillers'. Ex. on page 127 there is a discussion on what kind of Chinese food to order for dinner. Edward asks Marissa if she wants anything in particular and she answers, "No.Well, some sweet-and-sour chicken maybe." Page 148 is Marissa having a mundane conversation with her boss that is so unimportant to the story...a filler. On one of the last pages (389), Edward; who's quest in life is to destroy all vampires, is made into one. Once he realizes this he says, "Well, I guess I'll be going.", as if this life altering experience was meaningless.

I really went out of my way to get this book and was so excited when I finally received it. ! I am very disappointed and give it a big thumbs down.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An absolute must-read for all vampire romance fans.
Review: I have read all of Amanda Ashley's vampire romances and loved them all. If you love reading vampire romances, you have to read her books. She is the best writer in the field of supernatural romance.


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