Animal Review

ANIMAL
Series: Standalone
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: February 28th 2015

Book Length: 552 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace
Source: Author (Thanks Nikki), Goodreads 
Review: 3/5 *Full Review Below.

Blurb:
Ava has spent her life running from the monsters that lurk in the shadows, always the prey. She finally thinks she can settle down, have a normal life, and work on not being so scared of the world around her. That is until she runs into her worst fear. 

He has finally found the potential family he has always wanted. All he has to do is make his little bird sing. Will Ava escape with her humanity intact?

Well.. This was terrifying!

Ava survived the fire that killed her parents; their job was to help vampires blend into human society. She knows that vampires started the fire and since then never stays in the same place for long. Ava and Toni her cousin move from place to place, always looking over their shoulders and never go out alone at night. Ava loves animals and gets a job at the local pet store. After getting settled in her new job, Evan & Michael (vampires appearing human) enter and ask advice on purchasing a bird. Little does Ava know that Michael has been searching for her for a long time and does not intend to let her slip through his fingers again… days later he has his human servants kidnap Ava.

This book is seriously all kinds of dark and twisty and a bit frightening to read without the addition of vampires. Michael is a cruel villain; he has his mind set on exactly how Ava ‘his pet’ should act, he ensures this by the use of positive and negative reinforcement... trust me the punishments for her indiscretions is brutal. 

Ava proceeds to play the docile pet and creates a very convincing façade that she truly wants to make Michael happy and be apart of his family all the while plotting ways to escape. Evan wants to help Ava escape but Michael has the power to force him to do his bidding through mind control so instead he is left to clean and tend to Ava once Michael is done with her.

This book turned out not to be my cup of tea, at 500+ pages it was much too long for this plot. Due to it’s length it failed to hold my attention for long and I found myself skimming chapters, also I would have loved a romance element to the book. The ending for me was a little unfinished as I was left with soo many questions.

I would recommend this to lovers of dark paranormal and vampires as it’s full of traumatic events that take pieces of with you it. I am new to Rae's writing so although I wasn't the biggest fan of this book I do look forward to reading more of her work.