RELEASE DAY REVIEW: Before the Edge by Kallysten

And now

Continuing with the party

I bring to you

The review of the story

That started it all

Before The Edge

4 HEARTS

The Blurb

For Lisa, The Cliff was just one more bar to visit, one more competitor to gauge on her way to opening her own club. The verbal abuse unleashed on her by a patron is unexpected, but not entirely unusual: as a vampire, she has been called worse than ‘killer’ or ‘thing’ before. What is new, on the other hand, is the intervention of the bar’s owner. Lisa isn’t used to humans trying to protect her, and she finds Brett strangely endearing.

For his part, Brett isn’t all that comfortable being around a vampire, but now that he has thrown out the lout who was insulting Lisa, he can hardly ask her to leave. After getting to know her a little, however, he starts seeing the woman beyond the fangs, and when she returns the next night he’s ready to share a dance with her… or even a little more…

Before The Edge is the "prequel" to Kallysten's On The Edge series. Having read the original On The Edge trilogy - On The Edge (review HERE), Over The Edge (review HERE) and Walking The Edge (review HERE) - I knew all about Lisa, Brett and Leo's relationship. Those stories were mostly about Leo's integration into Lisa and Brett's lives. Because Lisa and Brett were already an established couple in those stories we never knew how they originally hooked up. In Before The Edge we finally learn how they got together.

In Kallysten's world, Haventown is probably one of the most vampire friendly towns that there is. This really isn't saying much though, as biased behavior towards vampires still ran rampant. Though vampires were legal citizens and it was illegal to discriminate against them, many still did. We see this right away in Before The Edge when Lisa, a female vampire, is confronted by a bigot in a bar. Thankfully, the bar's owner, Brett, threw the offensive man out but when it was time to face the vampire he found himself tongue-tied. He'd never been that close to a vampire. Though he had no idea how to act at first they soon found themselves chatting away.

As I said earlier, I knew what lay in Brett and Lisa's lives. Having that knowledge in no way diminished the reading experience. In fact, Kallysten put some conflict into this story to counterbalance that knowledge. It was just a small issue in reality but it did take me by surprise. It gave a freshness to a storyline that could have easily been stale.

One thing about this story that really struck me was the insight into Lisa that we got. Now, I have nothing against here, but forming a connection with her has been a little difficult in the past for me. I've always seen her a somewhat detached. In Before The Edge we get a little "glimpse behind the mask" and I was able to understand her a little more. Especially her wistfulness for a friend that she'd left behind.

Lisa and Brett fit together nicely in this story but I totally missed Leo while reading this. Though it's obvious to me that Lisa and Brett can be perfectly happy together, it's just as obvious that they're not really "whole" without Leo. I think Kallysten did an excellent job portraying that. It must have been hard to write 2/3 of a relationship but she's pulled if off without a hitch.

Before The Edge is an excellent addition to the On The Edge series. Learning about how it all began was a blast for me. Whether your new to this series or an old acquaintance, you'll really enjoy this story.

Hotness Rating

3.5 out of 5

Read excerpt HERE

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