Destiny's Call

Arianne Brasov is young, beautiful, smart, and half vampire. Before she was born in Romania, her mother was turned into a vampire, thus passing on some of her tainted DNA. A loving aunt comes to Arianne and her older brother Michael’s rescue, kidnapping them, and eventually separating them for their own safety. Growing up, Arianne knew she was different and has dedicated her life to studying medicine and finding a cure for her vampirism. But time is running out. She and a colleague have made giant strides in working with DNA, but then Dr. Brewster is murdered. While trying to save herself, Arianne must deal with Brewster’s death, a ghost sent from her father to convince her to go to Romania, and her mother Emelia who will stop at nothing to reunite her family; there's also the really cute homicide detective looking into Brewster’s death.

Scarlett Dean tells an epic tale in Destiny’s Call, spanning several continents, two generations, covens of vampires and the secret warriors trying to rid the world of those vampires. This book had a lot of backstory, which was necessary to introduce Emelia and Vladmir Von Tirov, their struggle to deal with the vampirism and the loss of their children. On the other hand, I felt that the relationship between Arianne and David Spears, the homicide detective, could have been better developed. It seems almost as if it was thrown in as an afterthought. In addition, another portion of the book, Arianne’s reunion with her long-lost family is also glossed over. Yet the murder investigation and development of the antagonists, the ex-priest warriors (called the Jen-Ku) are all very well written. Although I wish there had been more in the romance department between Arianne and David, I enjoyed Destiny’s Call and if you like stories of vampires, you will too. !

Reviewed by: Trang