Title: Vitality
Author: Crysta Levere
Genre: Fiction/ Romance/ YA/ Fantasy/ Mystery/ Vampire
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 1/5

Favourite Quote: ‘Ava looked out and away at everything and nothing as she contemplated. “It’s a weird feeling, being numb – you think you’re empty, but you’re not. It’s all still there. The anger is still beating away with such a force that you can still hear it, and the loneliness still lingers there, yet like a shadow. It’s all still there – affecting you, tearing apart your soul, but you’re just detached from it. You’re so detached from it that you don’t understand it anymore, how to calm it, how to soothe it, how to even find it. It just haunts you as it hollows you out..’

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.*

(NetGalley Synopsis)

A violent passion. A dangerous bond. A nightmare that will change everything.
To Ava, love is about as real as fairytales. But it might be that fairytales, myths, and magic have some truth to them after all – as well as the monsters that lie in the shadows. Or she could just be completely out of her mind.

After a mental breakdown and a move to a new town, everything changes when Ava clashes with a stranger with eyes as black as midnight and a terrifying sinister air. Her wishes to feel something again become granted. But Ava soon learns that not only is he as cold as he is beautiful, but he brings something out of her, stronger than ever, like fuel to fire – something she’s desperate to bury. He haunts her dreams and waking life, and staying away becomes harder than she could have ever imagined, risking her life, her humanity, and the people that she cares about. Not to mention the fate of the world.

She’s fighting for life. He’s fighting for death.
What does it take to live? What does it take to love?

I haven’t had the best of luck with books lately. Everything I pick up I can’t seem to finish because I can’t get into the story. This one in particular, I have to say, I hated the writing style. There was so much I didn’t like about this story, the characters were unrelatable and there wasn’t enough build up to really care for them, the plot failed to have the spark I expected for a YA fantasy romance and the whole writing style was difficult to read thus making it hard to follow at times. I had no idea what was going on half the time during Ava’s mental breakdowns, whether this was the point to expose the difficulties of mental health I don’t know but frankly I couldn’t get my head around it. I put the book down so many times that in the end I didn’t end up finishing it.

The story itself is told from both view points of Ava and the mysterious Layton who she discovers in a secret underground party. I appreciated both perspectives as it did help to bring some of the story together, and I felt some relief reading Layton’s point of view which, although his character is very detached from being an old bored emotionless vampire, at least it made sense. Sometimes the writing was beautifully written in his perspective which increased the distinction between them.

‘He remembered that since long ago, people have been mesmerised by the pure of heart and the unbent or unbroken. He’d never understood that. It was the souls painted, shattered, and broken like a million stars in a galaxy that he found mesmerising. And even more beautiful still was the quilt they managed to manufacture after it all, which wrapped it all up with the kind of softness that still produced love somehow, and in ways others didn’t know how to. They were stars that still shined to us millions of years after they’ve burnt out. She was magnificent. He’d watched her break into a million pieces every time she’d gone into her room alone, shining in the dark, and then build herself back up again.’ 

In comparison, whenever I read anything from Ava’s perspective I just felt lost and half the time I had no clue what was going on or why. I felt like I was reading something from Alice in Wonderland, not knowing whether or not she was living in a dream world or reality. I really tried to get inside her head and ended up re-reading quite a few parts, but I just couldn’t. It’s a shame because Ava herself had a really interesting backstory, being abandoned by her mother as a teenager, living on the streets with a group of friends. It doesn’t explain why she ended up finding the funds to suddenly have a rich roommate and going to college to start fresh and leaving her friends behind, with the flashbacks we were given, there wasn’t enough to fully understand what she had gone through – then again, I didn’t finish it so maybe it was towards the end where we discover more.
I understood her need to be alone because she doesn’t trust herself to be around others, it doesn’t help that her ‘new friends’ are incredibly needy and want to spend every waking moment with her which makes her snap and look like the bad guy often – which then only plays more on her insecurities. I appreciate all of that, but I still couldn’t bring myself to like her or follow her way of thinking.

I have to give credit when it’s due, and that is definitely the way the author was able to set the scene. The details that were created in each setting were enough to make me continuing reading for the most part, whether Ava was sitting on the back porch overlooking the landscape with a warm drink in her hand, decorating her new room full of unique furniture, sitting at the top of the library’s bell tower at night, or exploring the underground tunnels to reach Lithium. It was pleasant to read the descriptive settings around the characters that really brought the book to life for me.

‘The four of them stood at the mouth of a gigantic, cavernous space lit with thousands of candles. Changing lights shone over the people dancing below. It was a subterranean world of colour so vibrant under dark pigment it seemed electric and dangerous. It’s inhabitants moved around in over-stylised outfits, some without many clothes at all, some only in body paint, even some in masks: masquerade masks, Greek theatre masks, homemade masks. They wore wigs and patchwork makeup. An item of clothing from every era was found throughout. There was no rhyme or reason to it.
No limits. No rules.’

Overall I have to say, the book had so much potential, but it wasn’t for me. I really don’t like giving bad reviews because it’s purely on my own personal perspective, not a criticism towards the author. Other readers may truly enjoy this story and writing style and I would still tell them to give it a chance if they enjoy YA vampire romance.

Goodreads Review:
She’s fighting for life. He’s fighting for death.
What does it take to live? What does it take to love?
To Ava, love is about as real as fairy tales. But it might be that fairy tales, myths, and magic have some truth to them after all — as well as the monsters that lie in the shadows. Or she could just be completely out of her mind.
After a mental breakdown and a move to a new town, everything changes when Ava clashes with a stranger with eyes as black as midnight and a terrifying sinister air. Her wishes to feel something again become granted. But Ava soon learns that not only is he as cold as he is beautiful, but he brings something out of her, stronger than ever, like fuel to fire — something she’s desperate to bury. He haunts her dreams and waking life, and staying away becomes harder than she could have ever imagined, risking her life, her humanity, and the people that she cares about. Not to mention the fate of the world.
A violent passion. A dangerous bond. A nightmare that will change everything.