Sally Bosco

Author of Dark Fiction

Huguenots and vampires are a great literary mixture.

8 Comments Posted by on July 11, 2012

This is a book review of Immortal Faith: A young adult novel of vampires and unholy love by Shelley Adina

Sixteen-year-old Sophie Dupont lives in Minuit, Idaho in a Huguenot community. She follows all of the conventions expected of her until she meets a handsome eighteen-year-old boy who has been working in the community and was recently baptized into the faith.

Sophie falls head-over-heels for the dashing and exotic Gabriel. So have all of the girls who generally only have their own home-grown stock from which to choose. But the difference is that Gabriel loves Sophie back. They get to know each other through delicious and illicit midnight rendezvous. Her mysterious beau does everything within his power to protect her. But as a result complications pile up. I won’t go into any more detail in order to not spoil the plot, but Shelley Adina deals with some difficult and topical issues within the course of this novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were engaging. Even though Sophie has been brought up to be obedient, she proves that she is plenty capable of thinking for herself and standing up to any conflict that might arise.

Sophie possesses a refreshing honesty. In fact, she remains honest even when it’s against her best interest to do so, so strong are her religious convictions. Yet, the religious aspect of the book is never heavy handed.

Though the subject matter seems incongruous, when you think about it, a Huguenot community would be the perfect place for a vampire to hide. This book took those reasons to their logical conclusions.

Shelley Adina is a skillful writer who knows how to develop suspense in order to hold an audience’s attention. I always find it interesting to read about traditional American cultures, and I love paranormal tales, so this was a perfect read for me. I’d highly recommend Immortal Faith as an entertaining, fast-paced read.

Amazon Kindle edition

Amazon Paperback

Read Adina Senft fascinating blog, the City Girl’s Guide to Plain Living

Also take a look at Shelley Adina’s steampunk novels.

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8 responses to “Huguenots and vampires are a great literary mixture.”

  1. lexacain's avatarlexacain July 11, 2012 at 7:46 am

    I love the idea of a heroine in the Amish community. Witness was one of my favorite movies. It’s hard to picture a vamp there, though. What about all those midday barn-raisings and Sunday morning church services? Guess I’ll have to read it to find out. 🙂

    Reply
    • Sallybosco's avatarSally Bosco July 11, 2012 at 8:53 pm

      Thanks for your comment, Lexa! This vampire was able to go out in the daytime. The mythos is that they’re weaker in the daytime, but they can go out. Nice way to get around it, right?

      Reply
  2. Matt's avatarMatt July 11, 2012 at 8:21 am

    Good review. I’m glad you mentioned the religious aspect–my biggest complaint is when writers make the book fit around the religion, rather than the other way around. Sounds like Shelly’s done it right (not that I’m surprised).

    Reply
  3. Leslie Davis Guccione's avatarLeslie Davis Guccione July 11, 2012 at 10:51 am

    Intriguing review. Intriguing writer! Have loved Shelley’s work since her first.

    Reply
  4. Jenny A's avatarJenny A July 11, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    I also enjoyed this book greatly. Adina is a very good writer…I’ve never been disappointed in one of her books. Nice review, Sally.

    Reply

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