Short story that gives a quick peek into the Gardella Vampire Chronicles. ( )

Short story that gives a quick peek into the Gardella Vampire Chronicles. ( )

Victoria Gardella: The Vampire Slayer by Colleen Gleason is a free sampler short story which serves as an introduction to the writing, setting and characters in the 5 books comprising the Gardella Vampire Chronicles. As such, it fulfills its purpose, but I did come away feeling somewhat short-changed by its short length.

I found Ms. Gleason to be a skilled writer, especially providing wonderful descriptions of 1820 masquerade ball fashions. Although not much happens in this sampler, it's enough to make me want to read more of our gutsy heroine, Victoria and her vampire-slaying adventures.

I fully understand why many Amazon reviewers felt misled with this "book". I did wonder myself about the marketing decision that gives us only 25% of the Gardella story followed by 75% previews of 4 other books (2 by Colleen Gleason, 1 by her writing as Joss Stone, and 1 by Tina Folsom). If the percentage of story vs. previews was reversed, I'm sure I would have rated this "book" as 4 Stars.

As it is, I'll look forward to making my way through the Gardella Vampire Chronicles and enjoying the full stories about Victoria and her exploits in Regency England. ( )

This is a prequel story for the Gardella Vampire Chronicles by Gleason. There are five books in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles. This was a fun short story read that convinced me that I should definitely check out the rest of this series.

Victoria Gardella is just your typical Victorian lady, well kind of, she is also a Venator sworn to hunt down and slay vampires. In this story she is attending a masquerade ball dressed as Mary Antoinette. While there she must try to win the affections of an attractive eligible bachelor and hunt down unwanted vampire guests. All in a Mary Antoinette costume that is absolutely impossible to hide weapons in. Ends up she has a bit of competition in the vampire slaying business in the form of the Max Presario an insufferable and gorgeous fellow Venator.

This was a fun introduction to Victoria. Definitely a lighter read. Victoria is funny and witty, there is wonderful banter between the characters that was entertaining and just plain fun.

Gleason has created a Victorian world full of vamps that while, not completely unique, is still a lot of fun to read about. If you love stories set in Victorian times with a bit a of humor and some good vamp fights this is the read for you. It kind of reminded me of Buffy but set in the Victorian era.

The action scenes are well done, the love triangle set up nicely. There are a number of mysterious and gorgeous men introduced in this book; I wanted to learn more about all of them. All in all I thought this was an excellent intro to a world I want to learn more about.

Overall a fun read. Victoria is a wonderful character and the men who inhabit her life are mysterious and intriguing. Reading this short story made me want to learn more about Victoria as well as the Venator lable and exactly what it means. If you love humorous Victorian stories studded with wonderful fight scenes and mysterious characters you should give this story a read through to see if you want to read more. Personally I am sold on this series and want to start reading it ASAP. ( )