Almost to Die For (Vampire Princess of St. Paul Series #1)

great young adult urban fantasy

In St. Paul, Anastasija Parker has known for a long time that her mom is a witch; she has doubts about being a chip off the mother block. On her sweet sixteenth birthday she learns the truth about her dad; whom Ana thought was a deadbeat loser.

As she now knows the first part of the compound word deadbeat sort of applies to her father. He visits her demanding she join him in her rightful spot next to the king of the vampires, dead undead dad. Her mom pleads with her to inherit only her bewitching half while her dad claims her blood flows royally albeit tainted. As she struggles with high school, two boys sort of want her. One is a witch; the other is a vampire.

Mindful of the Jennifer Scales series by MaryJanice Davidson and Anthony Alongi, the first Vampire Princess urban fantasy is a great young adult thriller. Ana is wonderful holding the opening tale together as she learns the truth about her DNA and the war between the vampires and the witches in an up front and personal way as her parents are preparing for open combat as are two male teens who want her as their respective girlfriend. With an amusing tongue in cheek biting story line, readers will enjoy Almost To Die For as the beleaguered heroine muses high school was hard enough before learning she is wanted as a royal hybrid.

Harriet Klausner

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Almost to Die For

ALMOST TO DIE FOR, by Tate Hallaway brings you the best of two worlds, witches and vampires. And don't forget royalty. Anastasija Parker is used to not being normal, she has been raised a witch, with just one problem.her magic has never worked. There are few True Witches but Ana is supposed to be one.well when she fails Initiation in the Coven where she can be a full True Witch. Things get confusing because enter Vampires. Her father is a vampire, and to top it off, a prince. Hallaway brings you on a rollercoaster ride of family fighting, temporary BFF's and of course boys!

I love vampire stories and I love witch stories, combining the two?! You cant keep me away. I was drawn to the book by the girl, Ana on the cover with two different colored eyes. I read the back and absolutely had to read it! Hallaway has such a strong voice in this novel. She really gets into Ana and how she feels and responds to becoming a vampire and not being able to harness magic she knows is there!

I was amazed reading about how Ana's father was a prince of vampires and she gets sucked into this world while her mother is prepared to do absolutely anything to keep her out of it. She soon learns that she is a product of a gone awry treaty between witches and vampires. Her father, the prince of all vampires and her mother, surprisingly the queen of all witches banded together for a short time to try and create peace.Ana came out of it and peace never did. It is an all out war between witches and vampires.

Ana finds herself falling for a True Witch named Nikolai, whose destiny is to be a vampire hunter! But he can stop himself from hurting her because he may very well be falling in love with her but he may not be able to stop himself from going after Ana's second love interest that happens to serve the prince of vampires. His name is Elias, and he is a vampire but totally hot!

I found that I was instantly in love with this novel. It has it's up's and downs and Hallaway captures Ana's voice flawlessly. This book would suit anyone who likes vampires or witches. I really can not wait for the next novel in the Vampire Princess series!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

You have got to read this book!!!!

First off, I have to say Cudos to Tate Hallaway for writing this book! I truely loved reading it. I had a hard time putting this book down. This book kept me on the edge from the beginning of the book to the end. What a total love triangle! Here you have Anastasia "Ana" (Half Witch/Half Vampire), Nikolai (Definately part of the Witch coven), and Elias (Definately part of the Vampire Guard). When you are in love with one person, the world is your oyster, but when two men are involved; and they would do anything to protect you and give you anything; then it is mind-blowing.
Who will she choose? This love triangle is totally compelling..Nikolai and Elias are sworn enemies and Ana is smack dab in the middle. She is intrigued with Nikolai and wants to hang out with him, but when Elias walks into her life, she is captivated by this man and is intrigued by how much he cares about here. You see Vampires and Witches are mortal enemies so the plot thickens.
This book is well written and the plot is very entertaining. I truly loved the characters! This book will have you on the edge of your seat. There are many twists and turns! Definitely a must for someone who loves reading Love triangles and stories of Witches and Vampires.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Loved it!!

This series has the potential to become one of my favorites!! I'm an adult but i still like reading young adult books and while most of them can be corny, Almost to die for was mature enough for me to love! The characters are great and the love triangle is captivating, leaves you wondering what is going to happen. I only wish there were more of these books out already so i don't have to wait to keep reading about Ana, Elias and Nikolai. Usually all the vampire books are the same but Tate Hallaway has created a new type of vampire, which i found very refreshing, excited to read more!!!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Bridget's Review

I love to read about love triangles. Especially when it involves two men who will risk everything for the woman they love. Even if it means living the rest of their life with a broken heart. That's Ana's situation and she is your typical teen with some atypical problems. The plot is entertaining and the writing is crisp. Young Adult readers everywhere will swoon for this book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Cute YA paranormal

I’m going to start off by saying that I LOVE Tate Hallaway but unfortunately this is not my favorite work by her. I absolutely loved her Garnet Lacey series, which was an adult paranormal series filled with vampires, witches, goddesses and other magical beings! Almost To Die For is her new YA paranormal series, and while I really liked the premise, I felt the book was too short and rushed.
It’s Ana’s 16th birthday, and this doesn’t just mean sweet 16 parties with giggling girls and birthday cake, because Ana is also a witch. Turning 16 is an important age in Ana’s coven, and it is her turn to take her initiation test and finally join in the inner circle. The test is pretty simple and a basic spell would be easy for any young witch, except Ana has a secret…..she can’t do magic…nadda…none.
Things get a little more complicated when her long lost father shows up. Ana’s mother promptly freaks out and cast a spell on him that would be deadly to any human. She soon learns the shocking truth…She has vampire blood running through her veins, and they are the witches’ sworn enemy. Ana is now torn between two worlds. One she was raised in and one she didn’t even know existed.
Ana goes back and forth between her mother’s world and her father’s world in the book, and the reader gets a glimpse of both. While I loved the characters I wanted more detail in both the raising action and the climactic battle at the end. I was very interested in the vampire’s world. Every paranormal author likes to put their own twist on the classic blood suckers, and I love reading what they come up with. Hallaway is no different. She made an underground world where vampires sleep during the day in humid recessed wall cubbies….in the nude, no less. Descendants from the underworld they became slaves to the witches long ago. While Ana father is the king of their world now, not every vampire wants to serve him. Some still believe they should do the witches bidding and are rising against him. This means they are also coming for Ana.
While Ana tries to sneak around her mother’s watchful eye, dodge rebel vampires against the king, and figure out as much about her heritage as she can, she is also crushing on a rather hunky member of her coven….Only he hunts vampires!
I really want to read the next book in this series and hope the story is not only longer but evolves more and offers more details on each side of Ana’s life.

Jazzkike:could not put down

I loved that this is not a typical vampire story. It has a surprising twist! If you are tired of all that vampire and romance crap, then you would enjoy reading a vampire story with a surprising twist.
Human+witches+vampires+royalty equals one captivating book. You will not be disapointed. Left wanting more.

Sample

The sample was great. Th only thing that i wished was that it wasn't long enough.

Blah!

Waste of money. It takes like half the book to get to the next day.

It was pretty good!

This book was a very easy read and i finished it in a day. I was surprised that this book was actually interesting. Ana has a good seance of humor which kept me laughing ( a little too loud) and made my mom worry. Not only does Ana have cool powers but she has not one but two hard to get guys all to herself. Did i mention that those guys are hot? well, now i do: The guys are hot. If you like romance, fantasy, and a touch of comedy then this is one book you will not forget. Over all, it was pretty good!

Totally LOVE IT!

You have to get this Book! it was so edgy, romantic, and a little sad for me. the mom and dad never got along because they were diffferent. anna's mom was the queen of witches, and her dad was the king of vampires. i loved this book! :D I was not able to get my eyes of of the book. i got in trouble because i was so fixated on this book. so please don't get into trouble. but it is fantastic, amazing, wonderful.

A must read

loved this book it was a page turner i would have finished it in one night but my mom stoped me

Really Good

I found this book so interesting that I couldn't put it down till I finished it. Tate Hallawaye has flawless wrriting.The descriptions were captivating and it felt like I wwas actually there. The characters were also put together beautifully, with a herion tthatt is both strong, but alsoy has her flaws but that, to me adds more to the story. Then you have two handsome boys to add two thee plot. Both of them are different in many ways and add more depth to thee story. You also have the fact they are both frorm different clans, one with witches and the other with vampires. The war between the clans also adds more to the store. Each page will make you want to read more and the ending even brings a twist. I can' t wait for the second addition continuing the story of Anistajia and her struggle of being half vampire and half witch. Anybody who loves a story with a love triangle and action will not be disappointed about buying this book.

amazing!!!

i really liked this book. it had a good love triangle and a good amount of suspense and action. her personality was great, i loved it. if you like paranormalcy, love triangle and action you're sure to love this book!

Awesome First book

I was very suprised by this book and how it held my interest the whole time. This book centers around Ana Parker and her dual life as a vampire and witch. See her parents are both very powerful beings in their own realms, and poor Ana is stuck in the middle. She has a witch ceremony that she totally bombs, but in the end she meets up with the very dashing Elias who starts treating her like the princess that she is, of the vampire realm. But her mother is not having anything of it and she tries to compel her daughter to stay in the witch coven. Events transpire through out the book that make you tingle with excitement and you really will not believe the final chapters of the book. I know I really loved the romance that is brewing between Ana and Elias, but there is also Nikolai, the cute boy in her class who also happens to be the son of a vampire hunter(so not good for a relationship, to be hunted by your crush) so you can picture all sorts of love triangle moments if this book series goes on.
I happen to love this book and if I had to put it in a category, its very much a mutt book. A little fantasy, a little vampire, a little romance all thrown in together. But on does not overpower the other so its great for a girl who loves vampire romance, but also likes bits of the fantasy realm.

Fun, YA Read!

I have to say the first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover. The two different colored eyes definitely caught my attention. Then -- "vampire". As soon as I found out it was about vampires, I had to get it to see what it was all about!

I hate to say that Ana's voice narrating the story took a few (fifty or so) pages to get used to. I understand writing first person POV like an inner monologue, but some of it was a little too immature for my taste. However, once I could look past that, I actually found her voice and made up words endearing to her character.

The other characters were well fleshed out and fun to interact with in the story. The bad guy was a douche, as expected. The best friends stayed friends, though there was definitely some tension in the story - as there is in real life with some friends some times. I have to say that I was a little surprised with Nik's reaction to vampires, especially after he seemed bitter at first to know he had to follow in his father's footsteps. So, when he went all anti-vampire, I was a little baffled. I loved Elias and can say nothing wrong about him - though, like Ana, my feelings for him conflict with Nik's. as I heart them both equally.

I'll have to say that the climax was a little anti-climatic for me. I thought it was good, but the author spent so much time building up the story to that point, it seemed very rushed and short. almost like an afterthought. I like more action in my climax - more airtime. However, this is the first book in a series, so maybe this book is just building to even more awesomeness in the next? I sure hope so!

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