Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: The Calling
AUTHOR: M.D. Neu
PUBLISHER: NineStar Press
LENGTH: 366 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 1, 2018
BLURB:
Being a nobody isn’t Duncan Alexander’s life goal, but it’s worked for him. He has a nondescript job, a few good friends, and overall he’s content. That’s until one fateful trip to San Jose, California, where he is “Called” to meet the mysterious Juliet de Exter. Juliet is a beautiful, wealthy, powerful Immortal who is undertaking The Calling—a search for a human to join her world of Immortals. Inexplicably, Duncan’s calling is more dangerous than any of the Immortals, even Juliet, ever thought it would be.
There is more to this nobody, this only child of long-deceased parents, than anyone thought. When Duncan experiences uncontrollable dreams of people he doesn’t know and places he hasn’t been, Juliet and the other Immortals worry. Soon, his visions point to a coven of long-dead witches. The dreams also lead Duncan to his one true love. How will Duncan navigate a forbidden romance with an outcast Immortal? How will he and the others keep the balance between the Light and Dark, survive vicious attacks, and keep the humans from learning who they truly are? More importantly, who is this implacable foe Duncan keeps seeing in his dreams?
REVIEW:
Wow, this book was such a pleasant surprise! I love paranormal stories, that isn’t a surprise at this point, and I’ve read my fair share of vampire novels. That being said, its so nice to find an author doing something different with the idea of vampires in some way! In The Calling, an immortal by the name of Juliet de Exter has decided that she finally wants to, well, find and sire a baby vampire of her own basically. Not exactly an unusual concept, right? Well, here’s where things took a turn for the different. Juliet undertakes something called The Calling which brings a group of people who would be complimentary/compatible to Juliet together for her to find the one individual that would be offered the chance to become immortal like her.
What followed was an interesting blend; Duncan is used to being just an ordinary, overlooked guy with nothing special about him but now he’s suddenly the center of attention as he goes through the trials necessary to see him changed from a human to a vampire. Add in a surprising, yet enjoyable, amount of vampire politics and some great worldbuilding and I was hooked on the story before I’d even gotten to the heart of the book. There was an unexpected depth to the book and several things that had me completely off guard (in a good way!) and I just adored the book from start to finish. I was drawn in quickly and easily into the world the author has created here and found myself wishing that all politics were as interesting as what I’d read about here. lol
This book was just really, really good! Despite there not being a series listed for this yet, the author has confirmed he is working on a sequel so I’m super excited to see what he comes up with next. If you enjoy paranormal stories and are looking for something a bit different from the norm, I’d highly recommend you check this one out!
RATING: 
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