ARC Review--Sacrifice by Laura Burns & Melinda Metz

Gabriel and Shay are convinced that they can make their relationship work. Knowing that Shay is half-vampire, Gabriel thinks that his coven will embrace her as one of their own, but instead they view her as an abomination, a thing that doesn’t belong in either world. And they want her dead. Now Gabriel must make the ultimate decision - watch his love be killed by his coven or defy the people closest to him, the people he has spent centuries with to save her.

I received this e-ARC from S&S Galley Grab for review

When I saw Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz's Sacrifice in Galley Grab's July's issue, I shouted with joy! Having read Crave not too long ago and it ending with a cliffhanger agonized the reader within me! So since I saw it available over a month early I was super happy.

PLEASE NOTE IF YOU HAVEN'T READ CRAVE YET (and you really should! Click here for my review) THEN PLEASE DO NOT READ FURTHER FOR THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

We pick up immediately where we left off with Gabriel and Shay receiving a not-so warm welcome from Gabriel's family. In fact, Shay was hauled off and called an abomination. They know that she is the daughter of Sam--their once brother vampire--yet they don't care really for her mother is human. She is locked away while Gabriel has a much more confusing welcoming. 

Gabriel is upset by his family's reaction. Since he loves Shay, he assumed his family would look past their judgement of humans and welcome her. Not only is she part human, but she's also part vampire--hence the abomination. Gabriel soon realizes that he must get Shay out of his family's home or else very bad things were going to happen. For nobody messes with a member of this vampire family and lives. The family plans to get their revenge on Martin and use Shay as bait. And then kill her afterwards of course.

It was kind of agonizing to read for awhile (and I did get this done in 1 day! Whoohoo!). Not because it was bad, but because the suspense was killing me. So in a way that's good! Suspense is good! I just wish I could read a lot faster sometimes! We don't ever get to know if Shay and Gabriel will be okay. Things just keep happening and keeping them apart. And with the talk of Ernst and the others wanting to kill Shay as much as Martin, Gabriel is torn between the two. And having such strong confliction between wanting to help the person you love and the family that you love can be very trying on a person, be they vampire or human.

And even as I'm enjoying the exiting beginning, I was so not prepared for the book to just keep getting better and better! There was literally never a dull moment for me. Sure there were some more "downtime" moments where the action wasn't as high, but the tension was still rising. The middle was awesome and the last quarter of the book held me riveted! I didn't want to stop reading at all! Was so psyched to have finished it in a day as well. It was truly wonderful! 

The ending was both shocking and surprising! Sure I was expecting something big to happen, but you're still never really prepared for how big it will be. Even if you make a guess it still comes as a shock. At least for me! So yeah, big shocking, surprising ending! Things get tied up rather nicely so I'm not sure if there would be another book or not. There doesn't seem to be an loose plot threads that stood out to me. Of course there's always room for more development, only time will tell I suppose.

Overall rating 5/5 stars

Sacrifice releases September 20, 2011