Review: Almost to Die For by Tate Hallaway

Book Description:

On her sixteenth birthday, Anastasija Parker's present winds up being the shock of a lifetime. When her mom referred to her absentee dad as a deadbeat it was actually half true -- he's a vampire. And a king, no less. A king who wants his daughter to assume her rightful position at his side. But, thanks to Ana's mother, the blood of a witch also runs through her veins....

Too bad vampires and witches are mortal enemies.

With her parents gearing up for an all out brawl over her destiny, Ana's about ready to scream. But things get even crazier when a male witch and a brooding bad boy vampire start vying for her affection. Then the barely leashed tension between the vampires and the witches starts to boil over, and Ana has to figure out once and for all if she wants to become heir to her dad's throne. And deciding your eternal destiny is a pretty big deal for a girl who just wants to get through high school.

Source: Won

My Thoughts:

When I picked up Almost to Die For, I expected a collision of two worlds: the vampire world and the witch world. But I didn’t expect these two worlds to exist in such a chaotic and intriguing mesh of magical bonds. The story world that Hallaway crafted was mesmerizingly charged with tension and hatred. The vampire mythology was magnificently tied with the witch mythology. Two well-known races of the supernatural world had their history as one filled with a deep hunger for power and for supremacy.

Ana was very likable. Her humor lightened up the story and opened a door to her mind, revealing her sentiments in a way that was very youthful. I found myself thinking of the same things that she thought of. A bit impulsive while maintaining a sense of logic, she discovered the world of her father and of Elias – a vampire sworn to protect her – and still found the time to date Nikolai, a hot True Witch vampire hunter.

The story revolved on the destiny of Ana. As a half-witch and a half-vampire, her destiny could be tied to either race. The only problem was that witches and vampires don’t exactly get along. In the midst of the tug-of-war between her dad and her mom, Ana learned that there was more to the story. Moreover, she has found out that the sinister reputation of the vampires could just be the product of a misinformation. The truth about her hybrid blood was unravelled with the help of her nerd-self and her blood-thirsty tendencies. In the end, she was neither witch nor vampire but both – a better creature with a stronger magic. I loved how Ana has come to realize who she really was and how she managed to use her knowledge and tested her theory about her identity.

Almost to Die For is the collision of vampire and witch mythology, a highly entertaining story with chockfull of humor, surprise, romance and a funny heroine.

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