Book Review: Judgement of Souls by Margarita Felices

Judgement of Souls follows the story of Rachel, one of the Kindred, or 'vampire' for us main-streamers. Treading the lines of familiarity she is a blood drinker - fast, strong, and naturally adverse to any and all confrontations with daylight. Rachel defines what we have mostly come to expect from this genre, a strong female lead, determined, and of course, sexy.
Introducing Daniel, night club owner and mortal. He is thrown into Rachel's world by chance, their first encounter spilling over into an attraction unshakable and clearly predisposed to fail. Their rapid relationship is soon tested by sour roommates, ex-lovers, murder, and a constant barrage of lies. Rachel must hide what she truly is from Daniel, but unfortunately secrets can be dangerous, and chance is often predetermined by fate.
Death finds Daniel's nearest and dearest, forcing him to uncover the secrets of his past, question his loyalties to the girl he's only just met (Rachel), and weigh the value of his life against what he considers to be right. Embarking on what soon appears to be the remnants of a treasure hunt, Daniel is paired with more Supernatural elements than he can poke a stick at. Swallowing what logic dictates, he decides that avenging death and protecting the girl he has fallen in love with seems to be the best way to compensate for his lackluster skills as a mere mortal.
For me Judgement of Souls was an enjoyable read. Admittedly I did find a lot of the initial interaction between Rachel and Daniel forced and semi-unbelievable. Not to mention the interaction with some of the incessantly questioning housemates wary of Rachel's hidden agenda somewhat unnecessary and at times, lengthy in its irrelevance to the story. Unfortunately there was also a lot of 'typos' within the novel, almost one every few pages which was quite often distracting.
With that being said, as author's we all make little mistakes like this and I was not going to let that stop me from enjoying the written word.
On the up and up, the language and dialogue between the characters was quite good, and the imagery was just enough to give you detail and layout without inducing yawns. I was held captivated by moments of history, the description of ancient relics, and of course, the tie between the Knight's Templars and the origins of vampires, the book of Cain, and the church's perceptions. It was very clear that the author had done her research and was passionate about it.
The highlight?
The violence! From about ten chapters out, this book got really exciting. At this point romance was pushed to the side, enemy lines were drawn, and the vampires got their vamp on! Vivid imagery was created here and no boring bits were permitted to let the mind wander. Sword fights, decapitation, torn jugulars, and fiery deaths were on the agenda. From this point on I could not put the book down. The author allowed every sequence to flow together, she concentrated on the important information, took the reader on a journey, and finished the whole novel off with a bang.
Or should I say a fang?
Anyway, I'm going to give this book three out of five stars and wish the author much encouragement for future endeavours.


Synopsis: Judgment of souls is a Gothic horror in which a naive pure-blood vampire is tossed into the mortal world. Rachel meets Daniel, a nightclub owner and his group of friends and after Daniel's best friend is Murdered by Max, becomes embroiled in the search. Rachel tries to fight off her feelings for Daniel, even siding with her vampire friend Arun to think again about Daniel's involvement, but he's her love and she's going to protect him, no matter what.