Product Description

In every generation, a Gardella is called to accept the family legacy of vampire slaying, and this time, Victoria Gardella Grantworth is chosen, on the eve of her debut, to carry the stake. But as she moves between the crush of ballrooms and dangerous, moonlit streets, Victoria's heart is torn between London's most eligible bachelor, the Marquess of Rockley, and her enigmatic ally, Sebastian Vioget. And when she comes face to face with the most powerful vampire in history, Victoria must ultimately make the choice between duty and love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144353 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-02
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A promising, enthusiastic beginning to a new paranormal historical series, Gleason's major label debut follows the adventures of a conflicted young vampire hunter in Regency England. Victoria Gardella is a young upper-class lady on the verge of her debut; however, just before her society introduction, she learns that she is the last in a long line of vampire hunters—Venators—and must soon choose whether to embrace her destiny. Her decision is complicated by a reunion with her preadolescent love, Phillip, now marquess of Rockley; her desire for romance doesn't mesh well with her new training schedule, much less with her moonlight patrol duties. Matters are made more difficult by the arrival of the queen of the vampires, Lilith, who seeks a mystical tome that will put a demonic army at her disposal. Though it might seem familiar to fans of Teresa Medeiros's Regency vamp series, Gleason quickly establishes an alluring world all her own. Her Buffyesque lead (Gleason has acknowledged the inspiration) is similarly afflicted, but the change of setting makes an intriguing, witty and addictive twist. (Jan.)
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Customer Reviews

Buffy in a dress and corset.
Set in 19th century London, Victoria Gardella Grantworth is the latest in the Gardella family line to be called to slay vampires. On the night she is to debut in London's society she is to not only get the attention of possible suitors for future husbands, but she is also to slay her first vampire. With the help of her great aunt, the last of the family line to take the mantle of slayer, Victoria is trained in the ways of fighting and weapons and after her first kill is given the choice of remaining a slayer or returning to her old life.

To do the latter means giving up all of the knowledge and skills she has learned and that she was born with, to have them passed on to the next generation, multiplied by the number of people who gave them up, including her it would be three generations.

To do the former means that while she would have more freedom than women her age know, but her life would be very dangerous and she would not be able to marry and live a normal life. Or at least not without quite a bit of lying to her husband.

I liked this book, it reminds me of Buffy and what the slayer of then must have had to go through. The author admits to liking Buffy and that it was one of the things to inspire the series and her question of what it would have been like to be a girl of the 19th century when all you're really expected to do is marry rich and pop out a few kids and be called into this.

I first saw this book at work and picked it up to read while on lunch, the first thing that drew me to it was the cover. I love vampires and I love the Victorian style of dress and corsets. The cover is of a young woman wearing a laced up corset holding a stake behind her back.

Bad buffyverse fanfic
One of the reasons I'm posting this is because there was a vote on a review discussion website that rated this as a best book.

I had several major problems.

First, in spite of some obviously well researched parts, the overall tone just didn't ring true for me. I suppose if you have vampires, I shouldn't worry about accurate historical tone, but it constantly blew me out of the story.

I didn't like the heroine, and without spoilers, I want to say that as far as I'm concerned this doesn't belong as being marketed as "genre" romance.

The whole premise (vampire slayer) also seemed very derivative. I'd rather have seen a more original worldbuilding.

Excellent start to an exciting series
The Rest Falls Away
Colleen Gleason
2007

This is one of the most intriguing, well-written, best-conceived, and at times heart-rending of the paranormal romances I've read of late.

At first glance, the plot and situations might seem familiar, perhaps even a touch cliche to avid readers of the romance genre. But then, perhaps, that is the beauty of the finely-crafted book: nothing is as it seems.

Victoria Gardella Grantworth is a likable, high-born debutante progressing through the expected life of a young woman of her class in 19th Century London. But amidst the formal courtships and the glamour of balls and parties, Victoria is a Venator -- a vampire hunter.

Social callings are difficult enough with the constant duty of dashing off to kill vampires, but when Phillip de Lacy, marquess and the most eligible bachelor on the scene, falls in love with her, and her with him, matters are escalated. More players enter the equation, Victoria's secret grows ever more difficult to conceal, and she must learn to choose -- between the normal life she craves and the higher calling her bloodline demands.

The reversal of noble hero and damsel in distress, evident throughout the book, makes it rather unique. The handsome hero, Phillip, who of course fell for Victoria's heady ways and beauty like any good hero of a Harlequin title might, is actually the one who must skulk about to undermine the protection of his love -- a calling which usually falls to the "meek" heroine.

I was slightly apprehensive when I began this book that it might have turned out a clone of famous "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". However, and it is only because I know the danger of its "similarity" has been breached several times, I must say that they are very different in atmosphere, and in characters even moreso.

The side characters are exceptional, three-dimensional. Her aunt, who serves somewhat as a device for informing both Victoria and reader on the "universe" in which the book is set, is still likable -- a personality in her own right. The two foils for hero Philip, "bad-boy" Sebastian and the cold, stoic Maximilian, Victoria's assistant in slaying, are likable in their own way, and I'll be curious to see more of them in the next book of the series. The one character I'd have liked to have seen fleshed out a bit more, villainness Lilith, will perhaps become more layered in future books.

"The Rest Falls Away" truly has an excellent plot -- I read the entire book in less than a day it was so compelling. Gripping is a proper word here. A warning, however, to the fans of light-hearted romance -- this is a heavy novel. Excellent, a compelling read, and touching on deep levels, but heavy and at times grim.

A beautiful, well-researched and real world, this is a believable and bittersweet novel I'd recommend to any fan of the paranormal genre. "The Rest Falls Away" is one of the best thought-out novels I've read recently.

8.5/10