Review: Turned at Dark by C.C. Hunter

Author: C.C. Hunter

Pages: 32

Publisher: Free e-book novella from St.  Martin’s Griffin

Series or Standalone: Book #0.5 in the Shadow Falls series

Genre: YA Paranormal

Reading Level: 13 years old+

Dominant Themes: Vampires

Independent and strong-willed Della Tsang hadn’t believed in ghosts until she saw her dead cousin darting into the shadows of an alley. She hadn’t believed in vampires until in the dark of that same night she is turned into one. Introduced to a strange world of supernaturals, she struggles to accept this new reality. Unfortunately, the boy she loves senses something different about her and can’t accept her. Should she follow her vampire cousin’s lead–walk away from everything she’s knows and loves—and fake her own death? Or should she set her pride aside and ask for help from the camp leader of Shadow Falls—a camp where supernaturals go to learn how to cope with their powers. Either way, her life as she knows it, will never be the same.

This is a very short novella about Della Tsang, a main character from Born at Midnight, but takes place before that and shows us how she came to be what she is in Born at Midnight. St. Martin’s Griffin gave this away as a free e-book on the same day that Born at Midnight was released.

Turned at Dark was a very quick and interesting read, and I recommend it to anyone who has read and enjoyed Born at Midnight. It gives us more insight into Della as a character, and the reasons why she acted the way she did in BaM. We also get more insight into her cousin Chan, who made a brief appearance in BaM. I liked him very much, and I hope he makes a bigger appearance in the rest of the series.

In this short story, we get to see how her life was before she was turned, how she interacted with her family and the pressures put on her by her father to be perfect. And then we see her transformation into a vampire, which also gave us some first hand insight into how it works to be turned into one, in case anyone was confused from the description in Born at Midnight.

Overall, it was a good little story. Anyone who wants a little more of the Shadow Falls world before Awake at Dawn comes out, this is the perfect thing for you.