Dance until Dawn (Immortals of London #1) by Berni Stevens

Title: Dance until Dawn (Immortals of London #1)

Author: Berni Stevens

Pages: 356 (print)

Formats: 
e-book: 2.40£  
paperback: 7.99£

Where you can buy it: Amazon.co.uk

Plot summary: At twenty-five, West-End dancer Ellie Wakefield should be having the time of her life. The only problem is, ever since waking up in a leaky cellar belonging to three-hundred-year-old vampire Will Austen, she's been very much dead. And to make matters worse, she's since found that an aversion to blood and a fear of the dark aren't very helpful—especially when you're a fledgling vamp.
William James Austen has fallen hard. He's spent the last year loving Ellie from afar, and now he's finally able to be truthful about who and what he is. As the most powerful and revered vampire in London, he's used  to getting what he wants.But this time, Will might just have bitten off more than he can chew.

Fact: I haven't been reading vampire novels or romances for about 6 years.

Another fact: This book might just have reminded me why I used to love such novels so much.

All right, let's start writing some sort of proper review.
 

Will and Ellie were fantastic!

Okay. This isn't a proper review. Wait.
Let's start over...

 

 

 Do you Believe in Love After Life?

"Dance until dawn' starts off with Elinor (Ellie), a dancer, turned into a vampire by the  vampire elder of London, Will, who has been besotted with her quite a while and refuses to let her die. So he turns her.

" I’d have given a kidney to live there. Of course I realised undead kidneys might not be too useful, when all is said and done, so there was another money-making option out of the window."

Ellie finds herself suddenly undead, thrust into a world she doesn't understand, full of intrigues and games of power. I found Berni's writing style clear, fresh, well detailed but at the same time very easy-to-read.
The characters were well characterized and everyone had her/his specific voice.
As you might have already understood, I liked Ellie and Will very much.They were good on their own but together they were even better.And oh, boy...the sass, the sass! More often than not I was laughing my arse off.

‘I understand that this is rather a lot to take in,’ he said. ‘But I would appreciate it if you would stop referring to me as either psychotic or perverted.’ ‘Well I’d appreciate not being kidnapped and shut in this filthy hole.’ ‘Touché.’

 
One thing I particularly liked was how each chapter included both Ellie's and Will's PoV. I really need to praise the author on how she skillfully managed to actually make the reader feel the difference of centuries between Ellie & Will, a woman of the 21st century and a man born in the 18th.
Talking about Will, I really loved how he respected Ellie and her choices in everything he did. I also appreciated how he wasn't perfect and how as powerful as he is, in the end, he still needs Ellie and her help.

Overall, I loved how Ellie's and Will's relationship was based on reciprocity and mutual respect and how Ellie doesn't immediately throw herself at Will (because he's oh-so-sexy). I always love it when a writer takes time to build a relationship*thumbs up*

"She is the only creature on this earth who is vindictive enough to instigate revenge two centuries on.’ ‘She needs to get a life.’ I muttered. ‘Or another death.’"

I greatly appreciated how Berni Stevens didn't present the transformation into a vampire as easy-peasy. The fact that Ellie's actually struggles with her new situation, with the feeding etc. made the novel feel very "realistic".
"Dance until Dawn" reminded me of some of the best classic vampire; the sass just made everything better. In fact this book was lush, decadent but also ironic and funny...a perfect mix.

Rating:

 3.70 blossoms

A little note (because I'm quite picky): There were some mistakes concerning the use of the Italian language in the book. Khiara, to be an Italian name, should have been spelled Chiara. "Cara" should have been "caro" because it was directed to Will and he's a male..."cara" is used when addressing females. And so on. BUT Italian is a difficult language and the grammar mistakes didn't prevent me from enjoying the book.