Infinite Days, by Rebecca Maizel

Title: Infinite Days (Vampire Queen, #1)
Author: Rebecca Maizel
Release: August 3, 2010
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Book It Forward ARC Tours

Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish. Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?

Wow, vampires. How original. Though that may be your first thought, it is pretty wrong. Infinite Days is so different than any vampire book I have ever read and probably different than any book I will ever read, vampire or not, because it was about an ex-vampire.

Lenah was a great protagonist. I actually felt like I was adapting to this new world with her. She was so used to being an animalistic vampire from centuries ago that when she awoke as a human in the twenty-first century, she had no idea what was going on. Her friends she meets along the way were great. They progressed as much as they could throughout the book and some enemies even became friends.

But not all of them. Her old coven was always out to get her. They were always in the back of her, and your mind, but were mostly in the background as they weren’t always in pursuit.

This debut is written very, very well. I actually felt like I was watching a movie in my head. Everything was crystal clear and not once did I feel lost. When it went into flashbacks, I felt like the story was slowing down, but I was never bored. Plus, that information was critical to understanding the story.

I loved living in this world for the few days that I got the chance. I am surprised to hear that this book is the first in a new trilogy because that ending was WOW. I am not sure how there can be more books, as some very large twists happen towards the end, but I am willing to read anything else put out by this new author because she obviously knows what she is doing.

This sparkling debut that is different from any vampire story I have ever read is great for many reasons. With it’s strong and believable characters, exciting story, and clear writing, this book never leaves your bored. But it does leave you wanting more. And yes, the vampires sparkle in the sun.