Undertow:
Death’s Twilight
By Claudette
Melanson
The cover art of this book is so beautiful, once I received
my copy I just simply admired the artwork on the cover for a bit. There was a
lot of work that went into that beautiful cover!
Personally, I have been a long time waiting for this book.
Which let me add, if you haven’t read the first book, you might not be able to
follow along as well as the rest of us. The two books flow together as “Forrest
Gump” says: like “Peas and Carrots!”
Maura, thanks to her mother Caelyn, grew up with a big
family secret. She is a Vampire and didn’t know it until she became a full
grown adult and moved abroad, and finally met her Father, which she met only by
what seemed to be by accident. However, her Mother planned on informing her and
explaining everything and what not, but unfortunately Maura then, had an
accident-so to speak.
But again, that is from the other book. Her Father Maxwell
as you may notice was not in her life as a Child, and now they are attempting
to make it as a family. They want to try to be the family they never were. But
once they start working on their family unit, tragedy seems to follow. It’s
like something always has to ruin the good things, you know?!
While still trying to work on her family, Maura is also
trying still working on her love life with Ron. So she uses Christmas to
reunite with him and bring her family in closer.
Caelyn is still trying to deal with the Vampire lifestyle
of her daughter. She truly hoped that this might not come to pass, you could
just tell, deep down, she didn’t want it to be.
Thankfully, while everything is going up and down, and up and
down, all these changes, Susie is here to listen and offer a listening ear.
I found this story so … heart wrenching, I screamed in my
twitter at Claudette. I have always been in love with Maura and Ron, no offense
I have insider secrets, and Maura and Ron remind me of Claudette and her
husband. And they just can’t fall apart. So I’m reading this, and I scream. My
dogs look at me. I grab my cell and scream at the writer. No, this is not
happening. THAT is all I am saying because I get in trouble for being a spoiler
blower.
As for my review, I personally have a problem with Maura
calling Maxwell “Dad.” The Dude wasn’t in her life, I mean, maybe it wasn’t all
her fault, maybe it was also Caelyn’s but still. He wasn’t there. To call him
Dad from the beginning bothered me. But that’s just me.
I also had a problem with her Mother keeping a secret like
that from her. (The vampire part!) Yeah we keeps secrets from our Children like Santa and the tooth
fairy, and where the presents are hid. But what about when she became a teen
and you gave her the safe sex talk? Why not tell her then?
But as we all know, this is the choice of the writer, and so be it...
I dearly loved both of the books, and how close they are.
They are wonderful and you need to read them both. The first one was called: “Rising
Tide: Dark Innocence” and it can also be found in this blog as well. (Search on the left side of the blog.)
This book, just like the last one, which is five stars. I truly
enjoyed it. It pulled me in, making me feel everything. I cried, I screamed,
and I wanted more, and I became involved. I could see and imagine the
characters and their feelings. They are a wonderful family, and they deserve to
work things out, all families do. And you want what is best for everyone, trust
me. And you will want to read this, all the way through. And you will not be
able to put it down. But make sure you read both books! They belong together!
They are amazing! And you will be glad that you have read them, and you will be
a fan of Claudette just like I am, trust me! I give this book five stars! Now
go buy your copy!
My
questions for Claudette:
1. Who designed the beautiful cover? Rachel Montreuil from
Montreal, QC in Canada. The covers were hand painted. She can do anything! We
are going to be working on a children's book together starring my Holland Lop,
Butters, in the coming months. This is her Deviant Art page: http://rasherusuzie.deviantart.com/
.
2. Any pictures of
Maura, Ron &/or Maxwell you can share or even describe how they look? Well,
the Maura on the cover of the Rising Tide book is exactly how I've always
pictured her in my head. I don't know how Rachel did that, lol. I do have a
visual board on Pinterest that has pictures of how I see them: http://bit.ly/1pTacsv
There is also a rendering Rachel did of Ron,
and she is going to be doing all the characters:
This is a picture of the REAL Ron, my college
boyfriend, who I originally based the character upon:
3. Will there be any more of these books?
Oh yes! The third book in this trilogy will be
coming out early in the year. It’s half written now. I’ve discovered there is a
lot more to Maura’s story than I thought, so there will actually be a series of
trilogies focusing on a particular element. This current trilogy is about
Maura’s transformation. I think the next will focus on her and Ron. I also plan
to write the backstory for her parents meeting and even take it back to when
Maxwell first turned, back in the 1600’s. There is much more of Maura to come J
4. What are you working on now?
Right now I am working on Riptide, the third book in the
Maura DeLuca trilogy. I’m also starting to put the bunny children’s book
together. I also have a love gone wrong story and one about my time living with
an utter psycho in Vancouver. I do a lot of editing for other authors and that
has gotten so busy, I need to force time to write. I’ll be cutting back on that
somewhat in the new year to make sure I have more time to work on my own books.
My editing site can be found at: http://bit.ly/cmeditor .
5. You are the writer that has bunny rabbits running around
the house like me, right?! How are they? (If not disregard- but I think you are
lol)
The bunnies are very good. Getting ready for Christmas. We
have two Holland Lops, Butters and Beckett. Beckett has some Lionhead in her,
so she has interesting hairdos, haha. Tegan and Pepper are full-sized rabbits,
English Spot mixes. They have their own room off our living room in our house
and have more toys than you could even imagine. Very spoiled rabbits, but they
deserve it, as most of them came from abusive homes or bad situations. They eat
all organic, so I’m hoping all of them will be around a VERY long time.
6. How is hubbies band doing?
Hubby’s band is doing good. They didn’t get to play on the
Fan Fridays for the Blue Jays this year—budget cutbacks. But they have a gig
this Friday night (tomorrow, December 4th) at the Linsmore Tavern in
Toronto.
7. Tell us again how you came up with this/these great
stories!
Well, I’ve always written everything that went on around me
inside my head since I was a little kid. Maura I dreamed about so many times
and the dreams started to put a whole story together in my head. It just grew
and developed from there. A lot of things come from dreams or even real-life
experiences. Or other books or shows will inspire an idea. I just LOVE stories
and it’s never hard for one to come to life inside my imagination J
8. Who are/is your favorite Author(s)?
My favorite author is Stephenie Meyers, and I am in love
with the Twilight novels. I think everyone forgot how much they loved that
story when those books came out after the horrible first movie, but they were
truly magical for me. I grew up with Stephen King and Grimm’s Fairytales—the
real ones that are more gruesome. Maybe that’s where my flair for the macabre
comes from. I love the new wave of Indie Authors. TS Dann is fabulous. Adam
Booth’s The End is so fresh and deep, especially for a zombie novel. Sherri
Wingler and Tima Maria Lacoba rock. There are just too many to list! Oh and one
more traditional book…if you haven’t read You by Caroline Kepnes, do…now! She
is a phenomenal writer. That book was perfectly executed and I was overjoyed to
find out there would be a sequel.
9. What do you suggest to someone wanting to write their
first novella?
A novella is a good place to start. Develop your characters
and hire an editor. The biggest problem with Indie books come from the ones
that aren’t professionally edited. And keep writing. The only way you can fail
is to give up.
10. Please provide for us your info to follow you & all
your work:
Website: http://bit.ly/1DVaL7x (www.claudettemelanson.com)
Book Gorilla Author Page: http://bit.ly/1BfSp0L
11. Anything to add?
Thank you for doing
this review! I really appreciate it. Best of luck to you and warmest wishes for
a very Merry Christmas and Spectacularly Happy New Year to you and all your
readers!
Undertow: Death's Twilight by
Claudette Melanson
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
The cover art of this book is so beautiful, once I received my copy I just simply admired the artwork on the cover for a bit. There was a lot of work that went into that beautiful cover!
Personally, I have been a long time waiting for this book. Which let me add, if you haven’t read the first book, you might not be able to follow along as well as the rest of us. The two books flow together as “Forrest Gump” says: like “Peas and Carrots!”
Maura, thanks to her mother Caelyn, grew up with a big family secret. She is a Vampire and didn’t know it until she became a full grown adult and moved abroad, and finally met her Father, which she met only by what seemed to be by accident. However, her Mother planned on informing her and explaining everything and what not, but unfortunately Maura then, had an accident-so to speak.
But again, that is from the other book. Her Father Maxwell as you may notice was not in her life as a Child, and now they are attempting to make it as a family. They want to try to be the family they never were. But once they start working on their family unit, tragedy seems to follow. It’s like something always has to ruin the good things, you know?!
While still trying to work on her family, Maura is also trying still working on her love life with Ron. So she uses Christmas to reunite with him and bring her family in closer.
Caelyn is still trying to deal with the Vampire lifestyle of her daughter. She truly hoped that this might not come to pass, you could just tell, deep down, she didn’t want it to be.
Thankfully, while everything is going up and down, and up and down, all these changes, Susie is here to listen and offer a listening ear.
I found this story so … heart wrenching, I screamed in my twitter at Claudette. I have always been in love with Maura and Ron, no offense I have insider secrets, and Maura and Ron remind me of Claudette and her husband. And they just can’t fall apart. So I’m reading this, and I scream. My dogs look at me. I grab my cell and scream at the writer. No, this is not happening. THAT is all I am saying because I get in trouble for being a spoiler blower.
As for my review, I personally have a problem with Maura calling Maxwell “Dad.” The Dude wasn’t in her life, I mean, maybe it wasn’t all her fault, maybe it was also Caelyn’s but still. He wasn’t there. To call him Dad from the beginning bothered me. But that’s just me.
I also had a problem with her Mother keeping a secret like that from her. Yeah we keeps secrets from our Children like Santa and the tooth fairy, and where the presents are hid. But what about when she became a teen and you gave her the safe sex talk? Why not tell her then?
I dearly loved both of the books, and how close they are. They are wonderful and you need to read them both. The first one was called: “Rising Tide: Dark Innocence” and it can also be found in this blog as well.
This book, just like the last one, is five stars. I truly enjoyed it. It pulled me in, making me feel everything. I cried, I screamed, and I wanted more, and I became involved. I could see and imagine the characters and their feelings. They are a wonderful family, and they deserve to work things out, all families do. And you want what is best for everyone, trust me.
And you will want to read this, all the way through. And you will not be able to put it down. But make sure you read both books! They belong together! They are amazing! And you will be glad that you have read them, and you will be a fan of Claudette just like I am, trust me! I give this book five stars! Now go buy your copy!
View all my reviews
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