Reborn (A Goddess of Night Novella: Book One) [NOOK Book]

I really liked this story, it's a great teaser for a series

Lily is just turning 18, when she will receive her full power. Lily lives in a time where witches and vampires don't get along, they are better known to hunt and kill each other. Lily has been raised by her aunt Trudy since her parents were killed when she was a baby because they married. But now it is time for Lily to go out and learn about her powers.

At the same time, a power full witch, Samuel, has been taking powerful witches and having vampire Nathaniel turns them into vampires. The idea is that they will be more powerful than the regular vampires and will make the perfect army to eradicate vampires. But something is going wrong and most of those turned don't survive.

Lily has gone to Kensington University where she meets Wendy, a girl from her dorm. But she starts seeing visions of Wendy being attacked by a vampire. She also stumbles upon her cousins that were waiting on their missing family that has been guarding Lily. Then Lily has a vision of her father, alive and in the cabin with the vampire that attacked Wendy.

I really liked this story. There was a great plot and action that sucked me right in. The only negative thing I can come up with is I wish it were longer. But no matter, I cannot wait to read other stories from Ley Mesina. This is a great young adult story.

The Continuing Obsession with Vampires and Witches

In REBORN: A GODDESS OF NIGHT NOVELLA BOOK ONE Ley Messina has begun what from the cover of this book appears to be a series of stories along the lines of the immensely popular 'The Twilight Saga' of Stephenie Meyer and the innumerable films and television series such as True Blood based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris. But the difference is that Messina's book is indeed written for the YA (Young Adult) audience instead of the twenties-something audience. It is not a challenging read, but it is brief and well structured and not too grisly for youngsters to absorb. About to turn eighteen, Lily Westbrook, raised by her Aunt Trudy (an we hear all about the lineage of Lily's blood line from the 1600s to the present), discovers that she is an example of the impossible crossbreeding of a witch and a vampire - traditionally incompatible to the max lines of 'people'. This first volume celebrates her transformation of coming into her powers as a witch and she moves to her generations long place of origin in Cedar Creek, Massachusetts to attend college. But it is here in this active 'netherland' atmosphere that she grows to understand the peculiar combination of traits she represents, and the lines of further stories are well laid out for the reader. While many may wonder if we really need another run for the money series about vampires and witches, the audience is out there and Ley Messina is wise to tap into the younger age group to bring them into the obsession with these concepts. She writes well enough to pull it off. It would be more interesting if she delivered a book of short stories or a novella about some other topic to fully evaluate her skills as a writer, but maybe that will come. Incidentally, the cover art is uncredited (probably a wise move). Grady Harp

Reborn by Ley Mesina

I enjoyed reading this, but I also have a few issues with it. There were quite a few grammar mistakes, and it was a little distracting at times. I was able to look past that though especially since it's self-published. There were also times where I felt the writing was rushed. A lot of things were summarized quickly when I feel they could have been described and talked about more. I think I would have gotten a lot more into the story if more time had been taken to describe everything that happens. I also felt that the ending was very abrupt. I'm pretty sure that went along with the summarizing a lot though. It just seemed to end at a weird spot for me. This is a novella, but I really think it would have worked better as a novel. There needed to be more room to explain things and go into detail.

Now that I've gotten all of that out of the way, I do want to say that I enjoyed reading this. I found the characters and the mythology to be really interesting. I really want to read the next book and see what happens to all of the characters.

I loved reading a story that focuses on vampires and witches since that's not a combination that's seen too often unless you throw in some other creatures too. I'm not a huge vampire fan, but I love reading about witches. I think the mythology in Reborn was awesome. The Goddess of the Night was also a really interesting idea.

Even though I had a number of problems with this novella, I found it very interesting overall, and I look forward to any future books in the series.

A good attempt, but .

There are several things I absolutely loved about this story. Ley Mesina took an old lore and added her own spin. She attempted to retell a story that is very popular at the moment and she almost made it.

Reborn has a lot of potential. It's a story of vampires and witches, yet, it's mainly a retelling of the origin of Nyx - Greek goddess of the night.

The idea that witches and vampires are on different sides isn't new, these stories have been around for a long time. The story of the goddess of the night isn't new either. I liked the way Ley Mesina took those elements and created a slightly different story.

Lily is a lovable character. Xander and Drew felt a little flat, but I think in time they will be fleshed out. The story moved quickly and while I appreciated the pacing, I wished certain parts were slower and more detailed. Sometimes it felt as though I was reading about a list of events, as opposed to the events themselves. There were also a lot of issues with tenses, I wasn't sure whether it was the copy I had or if this was the final piece, but the narrative jumped from past to present so much that I was constantly jarred out of the narrative. This book is self-published so I think that some of these issues might be due to not enough editing. If there was a good editor attached to the story, I think it would be great.

Very unique book - check it out :)

A half witch and vampire is something I have not come across before. And this novella did not exploit either part of Lily! Ley Mesina made this work and that's what I love about the book. It's definitely unique to me.
Mesina gave the reader enough background and 'facts' of how being half of each came about and how it all works. Lily is one of the few that actually are half.
She is a great character. She was realistic enough, despite her supernatural abilities. She was even going to go to university!
However being half witch and vampire proved to be troubling those of the night. When Lily turned 18, her powers are fully matured, meaning she could be more powerful than any witch or vampire. There are people out there to protect her and help her find her way, and others are set out to destroy her.
What I liked about this novella is that there was enough controversy and mystery to keep you reading! The only problem is there was sort of a lack of development of characters, such as with Xander and Drew, who are vampires, but I didn't really feel anything for them.
Hopefully I will loove them in the next instalment and I do recommend this book to you! Great light read :)

Reborn

Reborn by Ley Mesina
Reviewed by Moirae the fates book reviews.

Lily Westbrook discovers that being half witch and half vampire is more of a challenge than she thought. When her powers mature on her eighteenth birthday, she unlocks a mystery that many witches thought was a legend. After moving back to her birthplace in Cedar Creek, MA to attend Kensington University, Lily is instantly pulled deeper into the world she was kept from-the world of witches and vampires-uncovering the truth about her past and discovering who she is meant to be. (Synopsis provided by amazon)

I really enjoyed this novella. I loved how some of the chapters began with diary entries, I always find that fascinating since it's a look into a character that the reader would not otherwise see.
I liked the originality of Lily being half vampire half witch (Which is unique since in Mesina's world vampires and witches are enemies.)
I found Lily to be a strong character and I loved Roxy! My one complaint about this novella is how short it ends which makes the ending happen several pages before I wanted it to. I think this story has a lot to offer and I look forward to the next installments.

Overall rating **** 4 out of 5 stars
Cover art I like it, I really like the necklace!
Obtained I received a copy from the author for review. Thank you.

Highly Recommended!!

I LOVED reading this book! Well, novella. But still, it's really good. Following Lily, as she matures both as a witch and a vampire, and not to mention as a person as well, is exciting! Mesina has given us a different view on vampires and witches. One where only certain ones can walk out into the sun, where being a female witch & vampire makes you the Goddess of the Night, where you don't know what's going to happen next. I really liked not being able to predict the outcome, let alone wondering what Lily will do next.  I am going to patiently wait for book 2! Well, at least I hope that I can be patient!

Awesome!

Reborn is an awesome first novella! Reborn follows Lily, a half witch half vampire(how awesome!), trying to find her parents that are supposedly dead while learning how to control her powers.The first couple of chapters were confusing character wise. We were introduced to many different characters in a short amount of time and at times I had to stop and think who this character was related to. Lily was great but I wish I would have gotten to know her feelings better but I think as the series progresses she will as well. I loved Aunt Trudy, she was the type of motherly person everyone wants in their life! I'm also excited to see how the romance between Roxy and Drew, and Xander and Lily progress!I wish that the book would have been longer, but it's a novella so it's supposed to be short! It's perfect for the vampire/wizard lover!My overall rating is 4 stars!

Awesome Story!! A Must Read!!

Reborn is an amazing novella. It's strong and deep story line including vampires, half-vampires, half-witches, and witches, is very unique. It all starts with a forbidden love between Nathaniel, who is half-vampire and half-witch, and Claire, a full witch. They're trying to hide from Samuel Charleston-the Leader of the High Council of Witches. After Claire gives birth to Lily, Nathaniel takes her to live with Claire's sister, Trudy, for protection against Samuel who wants to kill Nathaniel and Claire. Trudy raises Lily, and on her eighteenth birthday, Lily comes into her full power. Soon Lily will be a Goddess of Night, because of her vampire/witch heritage. Lily discovers the truth about her parents and teams up with two vampires, Drew and Xander, and also Roxy, a witch, to find their parents that High Council also has imprison. A romance begins between Xander and Lily, and also Drew and Roxy. I wish there was more of a romantic theme for these two couples, but I can see that the author wants their relationships to develop slowly, so I'm okay with waiting for the next story to see where she takes it. I will say at beginning of this story, I got a little overwhelmed with all the characters and backstory. But I'm so glad I kept reading because it's fantastic how Ley Mesina pulls it all together. I will definitely be waiting impatiently for the next book in this series, but I ask for one favor, more romance! lol Got to have my romance fix. I highly recommend Reborn! It is an amazing story!!

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