Risen

Cole Gibsen

Mar 2018 · Entangled: Teen

About this ebook

Fans of Vampire Diaries and Twilight will be thirsting for this latest vampire addiction...

My aunt has been kidnapped by vampires, and it’s up to me to save her. Only...I had no idea vampires existed. None. Nada. I’m more of a reader than a fighter, and even though I’d been wishing to escape my boring existence in the middle of nowhere, I’d give anything to have it back now if it meant my aunt was safe.

Then there’s the vampire Sebastian, who seems slightly nicer than most of the bloodsuckers I’ve run into so far. Yes, he’s the hottest being I’ve ever come across, but there’s no way I can trust him. He swears he’s helping me get answers, but there’s more to his story. Now I’m a key pawn in a raging vampire war, and I need to pick the right ally.

But my chances of surviving this war are slim at best, when the side I choose might be the one that wants me dead the most.

Ratings and reviews

Charlie was hiking in the woods with her dog Jax, when suddenly Jax starts acting suspiciously; he seems on high alert, but Charlie hears nothing, literally. She’s been seriously bored recently, living with her Aunt Rachel Keegan in their small cabin near the woods. But all that was about to change. Shortly after Charlie returns to the cabin, Rachel starts talking of monsters, then two strange men arrive and take Rachel away. A third stranger, Sebastian, is introduced and told to dispose of Charlie and to look for proofs that Rachel’s son is dead. And the monsters? They’re vampires! When a couple of seemingly innocent, though inexplicable events occur, Sebastian realises that Charlie might be useful to him with a quest of his own. He will ensure her safety, he will let her live, if she agrees to help him. She doesn’t quite have a choice, does she? Cole Gibsen had me enthralled from the very beginning of RISEN with the exceptional atmosphere she created: so eerie and dark, with this talk of monsters, vampire wars. I was all in! I totally identified with Charlie and her sarcasm, even under pressure; she sounded, acted, and talked like any normal almost-eighteen year-old. The dialogues are brilliant, tailor-made to suit every character. RISEN is super fast-paced, the action starts almost right away, and hints at mountains of secrets to look forward to were dropped like breadcrumbs along the way: what is the farm? Who are the Anima and Mentis clans? What does it have to do with Charlie? I just couldn’t wait to see what would happen next! Plot twists abound in this action-packed novel, and I really liked the author’s worldbuilding; familiar, yet not entirely. RISEN has some fabulous secondary characters: Opal, a vampire hunter, the redoubtable Delaney, and the irresistible villainess Queen Seraphina, who nearly stole the show; I couldn’t help picture Charlize Theron playing her. The only little glitch, in my opinion, was the romance. Thankfully, it doesn’t get in the way of the plot, it is not the prominent feature of the novel, but it didn’t work for me. I loved both Charlie and Sebastian, I thought they made a solid team, great friends but I never felt the chemistry between them. I think the seeds might have been sowed too early, because at the very beginning, Charlie found herself attracted to him because he is model-gorgeous while at the same time she’s terrified; I know bad boys are a popular sort, and a vampire is an ultimate bad boy, but still. It felt a tad too convenient, and the attraction could have developed later one, when some trust had been really established. Or it could have been the fact that Charlie is not quite eighteen and Sebastian described as possibly “early twenties”. He did sound noticeably older than her; there was a bit of an ick factor there, at least as far as I’m concerned. I feel that a YA novel really succeeds if it can appeal to readers of all ages, which RISEN accomplishes, and I also think fans of Twilight, among others, will enjoy RISEN. The war has just begun! I give 4 ½ stars

I'm not a reader but I love this kind of book easy read

Risen

About the author

Growing up, Cole Gibsen couldn’t decide what she loved more—dogs or books. Rather than choose, she decided to devote her life to both! Dog trainer (wrangler) by day and author by night, she’s the author of more than ten books with more on the way. www.colegibsen.com