REVIEW: HOUSE OF CARDS

HOUSE OF CARDS BY ILANA WATERS

Published March 17th 2013 by Ilana Waters
**eBook provided by the athour in exchange of an honest review**

Eighteen-year-old Sherry has just begun her newly independent life in Paris when she is kidnapped by a group of vampires. They hold her hostage in the House of Cadamon, their catacomb lair beneath the city, ruled with an iron fist by a leader known as “the Master.” The only thing keeping Sherry alive is her ability to tell vampire fortunes through tarot cards, a task she is forced to perform night after night. She finds an unlikely ally in Lucas, a four-hundred-year-old reluctant blood drinker who is as much a prisoner of Cadamon as she is. 

Things get even more complicated when Sherry and Lucas begin falling for each other—hard. Will they be able to keep Sherry alive long enough for them both to escape the House of Cadamon? Or will the Master and his band of evil minions succeed in controlling the lives of the young lovers—by whatever means necessary? 

With its breathtaking Parisian setting, fast-moving plot, and strong-willed heroine, this paranormal romance will keep you spellbound!

House of cards is a short captivating read. Ilana Waters can really bring Paris to life in it's pages, the good, the colors and the dark and mysterious catacombs that lie just beneath the surface. 

Sherry is living on her own in Paris as a Tarot reader, when one day a group of people get her attention and she reads the fortune on one of them. Later, when she's going back to her flat she's kidnapped by them and taken to their lair as food to their Master.  

With the help of Lucas, The Master agrees to keep her alive for as long as she can entertain them.

I really enjoyed Sherry's strengh. She is a tarot Reader and even when she's not sure of where she wants to go she knows what she doesn't want and stands up for herself, or sometimes she also knows when is better to keep quiet and obey the vampires. 

Lucas is the sweetest guy she ever met. He brings her present daily and makes sure she has everything she needs. We see a part of him, of his past and how he came to be a vampire, however there could have been so much more to his character. 

The relationship between Lucas and Sherry develops slow, because they both know what they can lose but you can see the insta-love right away.

One thing I think would have been better is if it was on a first person POV. As a reader you can only read about Sherry even though the book is told from a third person's POV. It would have been more richer if using the third person's POV, we'd had more insight to the rest of the characters inner workings.

The House of Cadamon is a beautiful mansion inside the catacombs where the vampires live. And it's occupants are all very interesting, with different backgrounds. I'd have love getting to know them more, why they did what they did and what they all wanted. 

The Tarot element was a nice twist for this kind of story and I really liked that part. 

House of Cards develops in a slow pace but has exciting or important element just in the right places. 

ABOUT ILANA WATERS

I'm a freelance writer who lives in New Jersey. When not creating content for websites, I work onfiction—as well as nibble string cheese. I once pet-sat an electric eel, and enjoy walking in circles around the park for no particular reason.

My first book—The Adventures of Stanley Delacourt: Book I of Hartlandia—is a middle-grade fantasy. It's available NOW at Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords, and Barnesandnoble.com. You can find my short story, "Paying Piper," at those sellers as well (it's FREE on Smashwords and Kobo!). And my novella Castles in the Air is available exclusively at Amazon. 

I'm currently writing Book II of the Hartlandia trilogy, due out in 2013.