A Review of the Gardella Vampire Chronicles Written by Colleen Gleason

I read a lot of vampire fiction and I was looking for new books and found a great site devoted to vampire romance novels, VampireRomanceBooks.com . It was there that I discovered the Gardella Vampire Chronicles but had not yet got around to reading them when Colleen Gleason came to town for a book signing to promote the third book in the series - The Bleeding Dusk.

I love catching a series in progress because I can read the books all at once and not read the first one then have to wait 6 months to a year for the next book to come out.

So when I went to the book signing and met Colleen Gleason in person I felt bad that I had not read the books yet. So when she was personally introducing herself to everyone at the signing I fessed up that I hadn't read the books but they had been on my to-do list. Colleen was wonderful, very outgoing and friendly and said she was happy that I came to the signing. She walked around the room and made sure she talked to all her fans. While she was signing I even had a chance to discuss the writing world with her and what it's like to be a writer.

That night I started reading the first book in the series, The Rest Falls Away. I was immediately hooked. Victoria was instantly a compelling and interesting character who learns on the eve of her coming out into society that she has been chosen to carry out the family legacy of being a vampire hunter, a Venator. Victoria is a society girl in Regency period London that now carries the burden of a secret identity and secret life that only a trusted few know about. Her mother forces her into society to find a suitable husband and she does against what all the other Venators believe. Victoria has to juggle fighting evil with society functions and parties while wearing ball gowns and trying to find clever places to hide her wooden stakes.

Three beautiful though suspect men are introduced in this book, one becomes her husband, one is her Venator fighting partner, and the other, well it is not quite clear what he is other than highly seductive.