The Rest Falls Away (Gardella Vampire Chronicles Series #1) [NOOK Book]

Unexpected, unique escape!

After two weeks of trying to find a good paranormal romance series that does NOT have a hot full-on sex scene in the first 10 pages of the book with hardly any story behind the two characters and a main character that does not annoy the crap out of me, i have found it!! One of the reasons-besides the ones i have named-i like The Gardella Vampire Chronicles is because they're very unique. The author takes us back to 19th century London where there are vampires and Venators (Vampire-hunters) where Victoria (New Venator) has the duty to kill vampires while at the same time have a romance that she must never let cross. The story is unpredictable and the romance is very sweet and realistic unlike most romance novels i have TRIED to get through and failed. If you liked the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost you will most certainly like this one as well. With two chapters left of this book, I have not even finished reading and yet here i am typing away a review!

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Love this series

This is one of the best series I have ever read. A different take on the vampire craze. Love the play between Victoria, Max, and Sebastian. A definate must read.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great Victorian Age Paranormal Romance!

Great story, think Buffy the Vampire Slayer in Jane Austen's world. Keeps you intrigued and guessing from the first chapter, unpredictable. A great read for vampire fans and Jane Austen lovers...

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great Series

This series has orginality. The characters were great and not predictable. They aren't like every other vampire series, which that in itself makes it awesome. The stroy line is great and unpredictable as well. Most stories you know where the main characters will go and where they will end up, but not with this series. Definitely a series worth reading.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

terrific vampire slayer historical romantic fantasy

Her debut season was delayed for the last two years due to first the death of her grandfather and then the death of her father. Now Victoria Gardella Grantworth looks forward to attending the galas and balls. That is until three weeks ago when she began dreaming of killing vampires. Turning to her elderly eccentric Aunt Eustace for guidance, Victoria learns about her family legacy in which she is this generation¿s venator, killing vampires. --- While her aunt oversees her killer training and her mother oversees her get a ducal spouse training, Victoria worries about that first kill that is the vampire not a husband. She has nowhre to place the wooden stake until Eustace explains what garters are for. At her coming out party, her two worlds blend when she meets Lord Phillip de Lacey and senses a vampire that she must kill. She excuses herself from Phillip, not easy to do since she is attracted to him and him to her. She almost stakes the chief vampire executioner Maximilan Pesaro though she makes split second mid-course correction to stake a female vampire as her first kill. Now Victoria understands the double life she must lead as Phillip courts her while she practices to become a vampire executioner extraordinaire. --- Buffy goes regency with this terrific vampire slayer historical romantic fantasy that will have readers craving more Gardella adventures. Victoria is a wonderful nineteen years old heroine, as she lacks confidence yet at the same time believes she can do anything required of her. The story line is filled with action that uses the activities of the Ton to set the time and place and the trials and tribulations of the newest venator struggling to keep her two lives apart with one being top secret (mindful of Silver Age Superman). This fun opening gamut in the Gardella saga has cross-genre appeal that fans will enjoy. --- Harriet Klausner

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Easy read.

Good book, little suspenseful. I am looking forward to reading the next in line.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Very good book!

Fast paced along with great character development. Surprisingly the author pulls off the idea of a victorian era buffy the vampire slayer. I cant wait to tead the rest of the series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Surprisingly GOOD!

I hesitated reading this book but pick it up anyway. Though the story happen in the time when women wear pouffy dresses, with bee hive hair and men were...well, lets say that men are like that anymore! The plot, the characters, and the writing, all were excellent. I was very surprised that I liked the book. I agree with the previous review: If you love Jeaniene Frost, you will like this one too!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great Book

This book and the series over all is very good. Though parts of this book really makes me mad I really did like it there was a great plot and it was very differnt from what I have read lately. But it makes me so MAD it what happens. It is a must read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Rest Falls Away: The Gardella Vampire Chronicles by Colleen Gleason

I was very intrigued by this book when I discovered it. From the minute I picked it up to read, I was ensnared! It has a unique, fresh storyline and characters that are realistic. Victoria was an awesome, real heroine and vampires in Regency England was great! I could not put down this book, nor could it release me until I had read the last page. There was no offensive content in this book. I am very eager to read the next in this series. I love vampire romances and can never get enough of them. I highly recommend this book and have told others about it. This is a keeper.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Extraordinary novel

This is one of the most intriguing, well-written, best-conceived, and at times heart-rending of the paranormal romances I've read of late. At first glance, the plot and situations might seem familiar, perhaps even a touch cliche to avid readers of the romance genre. But then, perhaps, that is the beauty of the finely-crafted book: nothing is as it seems. Victoria Gardella Grantworth is a likable, high-born debutante progressing through the expected life of a young woman of her class in 19th Century London. But amidst the formal courtships and the glamour of balls and parties, Victoria is a Venator -- a vampire hunter. Social callings are difficult enough with the constant duty of dashing off to kill vampires, but when Phillip de Lacy, marquess and the most eligible bachelor on the scene, falls in love with her, and her with him, matters are escalated. More players enter the equation, Victoria's secret grows ever more difficult to conceal, and she must learn to choose -- between the normal life she craves and the higher calling her bloodline demands. The reversal of noble hero and damsel in distress, evident throughout the book, makes it rather unique. The handsome hero, Phillip, who of course fell for Victoria's heady ways and beauty like any good hero of a Harlequin title might, is actually the one who must skulk about to undermine the protection of his love -- a calling which usually falls to the 'meek' heroine. I was slightly apprehensive when I began this book that it might have turned out a clone of famous 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. However, and it is only because I know the danger of its 'similarity' has been breached several times, I must say that they are very different in atmosphere, and in characters even moreso. The side characters are exceptional, three-dimensional. Her aunt, who serves somewhat as a device for informing both Victoria and reader on the 'universe' in which the book is set, is still likable -- a personality in her own right. The two foils for hero Philip, 'bad-boy' Sebastian and the cold, stoic Maximilian, Victoria's assistant in slaying, are likable in their own way, and I'll be curious to see more of them in the next book of the series. The one character I'd have liked to have seen fleshed out a bit more, villainness Lilith, will perhaps become more layered in future books. 'The Rest Falls Away' truly has an excellent plot -- I read the entire book in less than a day it was so compelling. Gripping is a proper word here. A warning, however, to the fans of light-hearted romance -- this is a heavy novel. Excellent, a compelling read, and touching on deep levels, but heavy and at times grim. A beautiful, well-researched and real world, this is a believable and bittersweet novel I'd recommend to any fan of the paranormal genre. 'The Rest Falls Away' is one of the best thought-out novels I've read recently.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Unique

I really enjoyed this book because the book was not a carbon copy of other vampire books. The book displayed a witty sense of humor and it had taste. I have read the rest of the series that is out and I recommend this book to those who enjoy vampires, a historical setting and romance.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Great Start to a New Series - Vampire Chronicles

I loved this book about Victoria - a chosen vampire slayer in 19th Century England. Victoria finds help sneaking out of the house at night when she finds her maid believes and knows all about vampires. Then there is Max, another vampire slayer, and Sebastian, owner of the bar, The Silver Chalice, is he friend or foe? Victoria falls in love with Phillip, and is engaged to marry him and of course that creates another set of problems for her. I read this book from start to finish and I started the second book in the series, Rises the Night and I am really enjoying it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good Book

I really liked this book. Very inventive and a different turn on vampire series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Vampires and Corsets

The Rest Falls Away is a good start to what I¿m sure will be a great series. Being set in 19th-century England a lot of people will want to compare it in general terms to Jane Austen, I¿ve already seen several reviews online claiming this to be a cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Pride and Prejudice. There are some comic social scenes in this book that reminded me very much of Jane Austen given a modern twist. But in the end it is completely the creation of Colleen Gleason with twists and emotional hurtles all her own. /// Victoria is the perfect heroine. Smart, sexy, and tough while remaining vulnerable, she is the reason I love this book. Secretly I¿m dying to be her, including wearing the fancy dresses and kicking undead butt. Even though Victoria is a very modern heroine for the time period, she works well with the rest of the storyline. Max is another great character, with brooding good looks and full of mystery there is a lot in his past that I will enjoy reading about in future novels. Then there is Sebastian, but trust me you will want to read about him for yourself.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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