Alisha Derby

Growing up in Budapest, I’ve always been interested in vampire folklore. So, I was both excited and honored to learn that my dad was writing a “new” adult (for the 20-30 year old age group) vampire story set in eastern Europe and dedicating it to me. I knew this wasn’t going to be your run of the mill romantic vampire novel – my dad loves a good horror story. You should see his Stephen King collection.

From the first sentence, this story caught me off guard and, in doing such, completely consumed me. The protagonist, Ethan, guides the reader through his personal journal entries, from present to past (and back again). You are introduced to his witty best friend, Attila, and his devilishly sexy, otherworldly, love interest, Natasha. You follow them through their extreme highs – partying, love, lust, and sex; and their extreme lows – darkness, violence, and murder. Infusing Ethan’s inner dialog with a self-deprecating humor works well at keeping the character real, and my dad had me rooting for him from the beginning, even if it was from inside a maximum security prison cell. This is a book that I didn’t want to end. I hope this story isn’t over.

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Alisha lives in West Village (New York City) and is an advertising account supervisor at Magnani Caruso Dutton.