May 9, 2011

{Review} Cameo by Dawn McCullough-White

Cameo the Assassin by Dawn McCullough-White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE: Dark Urban Fantasy
THEME: Zombie/Vampire
RECEIVED: From Author
AUTHOR: Dawn McCullough-White Blog
PURCHASE: Buy on Amazon
BLURB: 
The Kingdom of Sieunes is rife with taverns, dirty streets, and clay pipe smoking citizens all toiling to feed their families and keep themselves in something little better than rags. With a foiled revolution just ten years prior still burning in the hearts of many, the royals enlist the aid of assassins to keep things in order. The townsfolk entertain themselves by dreaming of better times to come and regaling in stories of the undead said to walk the graveyards at night... and of Cameo the killer with corpse-like eyes...
Scarred and jaded Cameo is one of the most effective assassins in the employ of the Association, moving from one mission to the next as long as the alcohol keeps flowing. Her acceptance of the murder-for-hire lifestyle is thrown into doubt when she meets a local highwayman with a penchant for fine clothes and women, and then she begins to think about breaking with the company but no one ever breaks with the Association under good terms.

REVIEW:
I was pretty surprised when I read Cameo; it was a different style from the normal PNR and Urban Fantasy that I normally read. The beginning was brilliantly written with immediately putting the reader into this horrible scene where our lead character is dealing with a pretty extreme situation. The first bit was intriguing, introducing a dark mysterious character that makes Cameo into an intense and interesting assassin.

Cameo is a very sad character to me, something horrible happened to her and it seems as if she goes through each day emotionless. She does her job and moves on to the next like its nothing, she is definitely a feared person to people who don’t know her.

The story had its ups and downs the beginning was fascinating and really pulled me in. The middle I felt lost its pace for a while but soon picked up with some excitement.  This book is very much a “Dark” Urban fantasy with violence happening a lot through out, but it’s an assassin story, what do you expect?
White wrote some very fun lively supporting characters, my favorite being Opal. His character is a fashionista male who is also great at fighting, a lot of the time along side Cameo. I loved every scene with Opal and Cameo; it wasn’t the same when they were apart. I also enjoyed Opals pal Bel who had lots of humorous conversations with Opal that gave a happier tone to the dark story.

There are two characters that I’m dying to know more about because they are so mysterious and you only get to know a bit about them. Haffef and Edel, I’m hoping to read more on them in the second book.

This was an interesting book and I mean that in a good way. I did have problems with the pace here and there and sometimes got little overwhelmed with all the characters introduced. I felt overall it was a great read and had really well thought out characters that I can’t wait to read more about. I recommend this novel to fans of Dark Fantasy and Urban Fantasy, anyone who likes some dark mysterious awesomeness.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is an adult novel, a lot of violence and horror type scene occur through out this book. Fans of Dark Fantasy like Jenna Blacks Morgan Kingsley series or Adrian Phoenix The Song Maker series.


Check out the trailer for Cameo and Look out for the 2nd installment thats available now! CAMEO AND THE HIGHWAYMAN


View all my reviews


3 comments:

  1. Hi, stopping by to let you know i've got 3 book giveaways going on so stop by to see if any interest you and sign up. love this blog background pics

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  2. Never heard of this title. Cameo seems like an interesting read.


    -Mocha from A Cupcake and A Latte.

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  3. Great review, Kristen! You'll really love the second. It's so awesome.

    Jennifer @ The Bawdy Book Blog

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