Title: Infinite Days
Author: Rebecca Maizel [Website] [Twitter]  [Facebook Fan Page]
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Format: Paperback
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Advisory: sex, violence, drugs, alcohol

“I gasped, though my throat was so dry I made an unearthly animal sound.  Three heaving breaths, then a thump-thump, thump-thump — a heartbeat.  My heartbeat?  It could have been ten thousand fluttering wings.  I tried to open my eyes, but with each blink there was a flash of blinding light.  Then another.  And another.”

Summary (from the publisher):
After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah Beaudonte, with the help of the handsome Rhode, has been able to realize the dream of all vampires — to be human again.  Now, as a raven-haired, sixteen-year-old, Lenah believes her greatest challenge is fitting in at her new school.  But the challenges have only begun. The vicious coven Lenah once ruled is threatening the new found pleasures of her human life, including the one guy who makes her feel most alive, Justin.  Can this ex-vamp survive in an alien time and place or will her past come back to haunt her….forever?

Opinion:
First.page.WOW!

Yup, this was one of those rare books where I read the very first page and I was hooked.  So very very hooked.

In a market flooded with paranormal and vampire novels Maizel has created a stunningly original story in Infinite Days.  Sure, she’s got vampires, vampires galore in fact, but what is amazing is that instead of watching a beloved character turn into a creature of the night we get to watch this amazing transformation as Lenah Beaudonte transforms back into a human.

Bravo! Kudos!  Awesome! Cheers!

Maizel did a spectacular job of writing sixteen-year-old Lenah as a girl who was really a woman wise beyond her years.  Having already “lived” at least a hundred years, she struggled to reign in everything she already knew about life so she could experience it anew as a wider-eyed sixteen year old. Though she hid it well, the impossibility of previous experience was not insurmountable.  It naturally separated her from her peers while still making her all the more appealing to potential romantic entanglements.

The love affair between Lenah and Justin wasn’t any big surprise.  You knew from the first time they met that the lion’s share of the romantic angst would come from them.  Having said that ,Lenah was not without a past.  She’d loved and lost before.  Those elements brought a wonderful complexity to the burgeoning attraction between she and her new suitor.

Character development is definitely Maizel’s forte.  Outside of the fact that Lenah is amazingly intricate there is a series of secondary characters exhibiting equal complexity.  Case in point, Tony the artsy BFF.  He’s Lenah’s main support structure and just an all around good guy.  Oh, but wait, there’s more.  Lenah’s coven.  BAD ass!  A group built with such awesome diversity.  Seriously, they were like the musketeers of vampirism.  Too cool for words.  Each member had their own strength and weakness yet they were all drawn together in their quest to serve and protect Lenah.  Even after her transition from vampire back into human their number one goal was to bring her back.  Oh, and that was the crux of the conflict too.

Conflict there was!  A plenty.  Well conceived and written conflict.  I wouldn’t say it’s the most original aspect of the book but dang did it work for me.  Truly, liked it a lot.  This as definitely some adversity I wanted to see Lenah overcome.  I won’t speak to whether that actually happened since I don’t want to spoil you but I will say the ending was a risk-taking and phenomenal experience that opened the door for the second in the series.  A book I’m eagerly awaiting.