Review: Thirst (Ava Delaney #1) by Claire Farrell

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Ava Delaney calls herself a hybrid - a living, breathing human who happens to have vampire poison running through her veins. The only thing greater than her thirst for human blood is her capacity for guilt. She does her best to avoid the human world, for everyone's sake.

When Ava accidentally enslaves a human while saving him from a vampire, she realizes she has to look for help setting him free. Despite her misgivings, she expands her world but finds herself dragged into a possible vampire civil war. With the help of some new friends with ambiguous loyalties, she tries to find a way to keep her human, and herself, alive.

My Thoughts:  I'm not quite sure what to think of this book.  My waffling has nothing to do with the writing or the story and everything to do with Ava's grandmother.  I'm not going to lie, when a parental figure hands over her ward to have the devil beaten out of her she becomes unredeemable in my eyes.  I had a tough time with her.  I don't care how much she's "changed" or how she's spent 7 years hunting for the granddaughter she drove away... I found her vile and repulsive.  This may be the mom in me rearing her mama bear instincts, but you don't do shit like that.  Ever.

My problem with that one character aside, I did enjoy the book.  Yes, I did think that Ava's craving for her grandmother's approval was squicky, but I understand that she still looks to this woman as a parent.  Sometimes family trumps common sense.  Anyway.  I liked the worldbuilding.  I liked that the vampires weren't sexy or beautiful.  I liked that I had questions as to how certain secondary characters fit in to the larger scheme of things.  However, I don't know how I feel about a certain revelation at the end about Peter.  The idea of Carl as a mindless minion who was willing to hurt himself to give Ava what she needed was a little disturbing.  Which is the point, I guess.

I wrote all this up and I still don't know how I feel.  The horrible grandmother got under my skin.  Ava's willingness to pursue a relationship with her after she was basically abused as a child gave me the willies.  But... but I read the book quickly and it left me wondering where Ava is going to go next.

So, there's that.

More books by Claire Farrell

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