ARC Review: Vesper by Jeff Sampson

Title: Vesper

Author: Jeff Sampson
Series: Deviants
Book #: 1
Release Date: January 25th 2011
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 304


Emily Webb is a geek. And she’s happy that way. Content hiding under hoodies and curling up to watch old horror flicks, she’s never been the kind of girl who sneaks out for midnight parties. And she’s definitely not the kind of girl who starts fights or flirts with other girls’ boyfriends. Until one night Emily finds herself doing exactly that . . . the same night one of her classmates—also named Emily—is found mysteriously murdered.


The thing is, Emily doesn’t know why she’s doing any of this. By day, she’s the same old boring Emily, but by night, she turns into a thrill seeker. With every nightfall, Emily gets wilder until it’s no longer just her personality that changes. Her body can do things it never could before: Emily is now strong, fast, and utterly fearless. And soon Emily realizes that she’s not just coming out of her shell . . . there’s something much bigger going on. Is she bewitched by the soul of the other, murdered Emily? Or is Emily Webb becoming something else entirely— something not human?


As Emily hunts for answers, she finds out that she’s not the only one this is happening to—some of her classmates are changing as well. Who is turning these teens into monsters—and how many people will they kill to get what they want?

This book was part of the werewolf-vampire craze that has been happening since Twilight. The thing I enjoyed about Vesper was that it wasn't "Oh my, that person is so weird...there must be something strange about them". This was just a normal, geeky girl, who started doing things out of the ordinary for her the same night one of her classmates died. The story about murder mixed in with high school drama was interesting...but maybe a little too predictable.

Emily was not the usual protagonist, and I liked that about her. She wasn't a special, popular, beautiful person, she was just a normal sixteen year old. She made the story more believable and realistic. At first, I thought Emily was like me: she likes to read, watch movies, and she isn't the most talkative person with everyone at school. My connection with her was frayed a little when the story twisted and turned, but because of the initial connection, it made me more interested in the story.

The plot was pretty good, but as I said before, it was a little predictable for the most part. However, their was a part of the plot that I did not see coming. Throughout the novel, Emily was searching for something, but she didn't know what or why. When she finally found it, I was shocked. It was the best part of the story, for me.

Overall, the main storyline was average. The entire book seemed to be setting up for the next book, but I'm not sure I'm tempted enough to bother reading it. I have given this book a rating of three masks.