Welcome to the Aurora Sky Blog Tour!
If there is one thing eighteen-year-old Aurora Sky wants, it’s to get off the iceberg she calls home. Being kissed before she graduates wouldn’t hurt either.Then a near-fatal car wreck changes everything. Government agents step in and save Aurora’s life in exchange for her services as a vampire hunter. In Alaska. Basically she’s a glorified chew toy. All thanks to her rare blood type, which sends a vampire into temporary paralysis right before she has to finish the job… by hand.Now Aurora’s only friends are groupies of the undead and the only boy she can think about may very well be a vampire. And if he’s a vampire, will she be forced to kill him?
If there is one thing Aurora Sky delivered, it's all the angst and reality of a teenager, who wanted to start a new life in far, far away from her town of birth, suddenly thrust into an unknown life filled with blood-sucking monsters. Death would have been preferred if it means avoiding being a chew toy for vampires as much as possible, no matter how beautiful your blood connoisseur is.
Here we have Aurora Sky, counting the days till she could go to college and get out of town, when suddenly her world turned upside-down when the military injected her with all the parasites, viruses and whatnots that makes someone a vampire making her, not a vampire exactly, but someone equal enough to withstand the assault of one. I was really surprised of the military leanings of vampire eradication. Most of vampire literature portrays vampire hunter associations as separate entities operating independently with few associations with the church. But making this a paramilitary joint with all the rules and rigidness of boot camp then we add a whole new plot point into the story.
Here's where I insert my concern about Aurora's mother. I get it that she was so anxious about Aurora's life or death situation when she was in the accident-that-changed-her-life-forever and signed away all the documents that gave the military a lot of liberties and she was not in the mood to think things through but it didn't really sit well with me at that time of reading. It was like selling your body to the highest bidder, signing away your freedom. But as I read and thought it through, I guess that I would also choose to live even if in exchange I would be battling vampires for the rest of my life - just that I won't let them drink me even if my blood would paralyze them.
So, Aurora embarked on a vampire-hunting spree for the rest of her life... which didn't settle well with her either. She basically went on a downward angsty spiral, trying to get a grip on her life. All she wanted was get to college and out of town, you know? Is that so much to ask? *pats Aurora's shoulder* There, there. Now, she's stuck since the vampires are all coming and congregating in Alaska so the military asked her nicely to stay put, train and hunt them. Okay then. But Aurora, honey, losing your virginity that way was sort of... was that it? But in the grand scheme of things, losing one's virginity is not really a priority when you've just become vampire hunter.
But here's the clincher: Aurora fell in love with a vampire. Does the military hunt all the vampires or just those really bad ones? Do they know about those vampires who are tame, quite civilized and want to live peaceful lives coexisting with humans? *sigh* What's a vampire hunter to do when Fane, I-thought-he-was-a-typical-goth, was a vampire? Jefford introduced another conflict point which I think would be explored in the sequel.
If there is one thing Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter delivered, it's a whole new approach to YA vampirism. There were times when some things were somewhat predictable, it makes up for it later in the story. And you know what? I'm looking forward to reading the sequel particularly when this line was said:
What if the antidote had failed? What if I’d lost too much blood and somehow the virus had kicked in?
Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt. She is the author of the Spellbound Trilogy and upcoming Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter series. Nikki married Sebastien, the love of her life, while working as a teaching assistant in France. They now reside in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands, 70 miles northeast of Forks, Washington.
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