Review: Vesper by Jeff Sampson

by April (Books&Wine) on January 18, 2011

Vesper, Jeff Sampson, Book Cover

Vesper

When the lights go down in the city, Emily Webb becomes a different person. She turns more badass and less movie-geek/ book worm. Vesper by Jeff Sampson begins with a confidential interview of someone codenamed Vesper 1 by another person deemed A. Savage. What ensues is Emily’s story and several little mysteries. I almost don’t know whether to call this a paranormal or a mystery. However, I do know that I quite enjoyed Vesper.

I suppose one big reason is because this book is not all, I LOVE HIM EVEN THOUGH I MET HIM LIKE 10 MINUTES AGO BUT WHO CARES IT IS LURVEEEEE. No, dude. The main focus isn’t even the romance. The main focus is wtf is going on with Emily Webb. That is awesome. Also, again, I am on a roll with these non-triangle-y books. No one is fighting for the affections of Emily, because she is a normal girl who is average in the looks department. Plus, you know, in real life, triangles don’t exactly happen like in the books.

I found Emily really easy to relate to. I mean, unlike her I actually am terrified of horror movies. However, many of her nights are not spent partying which reminded me of high school (Def not the greatest time of my life FYI), as I was not a partier either. Plus she’s got a giant stack of books in her room. She is a movie fanatic and she even has her movies alphabetized. Urm, my movies were pretty much the same way when I was her age, and I too had a computer list of all my owned films. Anyways, she’s consistently dropping pop culture references. For some people, that grates. For me, it is AWESOME. I like it when characters can also inhabit my world and don’t always live in some kind of bubble where they don’t watch tv, read books, or do homework. Plus, Emily is very sarcastic. SO YAY CHARCTER I FIND ENDEARING.

Also, I totally had no idea WTF was up with Emily and did not guess what a Vesper was until it was basically laid out for me.

I think Vesper by Jeff Sampson was a great book to cycle in among all the grown-up books I’ve been reading lately, as it didn’t contain any of the stuff I got bored with in YA. No triangle. No so obvious from the first page-ness. No insta-love. Characters with real interests.

AND IT’S GOT MYSTERIES. AND IS PARANORMAL.

Disclosure: Received For Review.

Other Reviews:

The Book Whisperer
Moonlight Book Reviews
Throu The Haze

Amazon/ Barnes & Noble/ Better World Books/ The Book Depository/ IndieBound

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– who has written 1074 posts on Good Books And Good Wine.

April is 24 years old. She is an educator. In her free time she can be found reading, working out, or eating junk food. She often wears her sunglasses at night.

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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

Melissa January 18, 2011 at 11:01 am

I’m glad to see a positive review for this! I’ve been wondering about it a lot, and the premise sounds awesome!

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April (Books&Wine) January 19, 2011 at 1:19 pm

The premise is pretty good, however, I will say that he takes something that has already been done and does it in a completely new, different awesome way.

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Cat @ Beyond Books January 18, 2011 at 2:27 pm

I love mysteries steeped in the paranormal! I will have to check this one out. I was worried it was all romancy.

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April (Books&Wine) January 18, 2011 at 2:28 pm

It’s got some romance elements, but none of the annoying ones that seem to pop up all the time. Plus, the romance is more like a side factor, not the whole book.

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Liz January 18, 2011 at 2:44 pm

I’ve been a little dubious about this one, but I’ll definitely give it a chance now. The MC sounds great. Thanks for the review!

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April (Books&Wine) January 19, 2011 at 1:19 pm

Liz, it is SO worth giving a chance, especially because I am pretty sure you like awesome MCs.

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Pam January 18, 2011 at 4:06 pm

This sounds like my kind of book!

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April (Books&Wine) January 19, 2011 at 1:15 pm

Well if you like heroines who don’t suck, then yes, this is totally your kind of book.

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Miss Remmers January 18, 2011 at 6:44 pm

this book looks fantastic! I love the book trailer!

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April (Books&Wine) January 19, 2011 at 1:14 pm

I haven’t seen the trailer yet, but may have to check that out soon!

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Jamie January 18, 2011 at 11:42 pm

This sounds like the type of book I want to pick up! You know I’ve been getting bored with the same things so this might be a good one for me! I haaaate the OMG I MET YOU TWO SECONDS AGO AND WE ARE GOING TO MARRIED AND HAVE BABIESSS.

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April (Books&Wine) January 19, 2011 at 1:12 pm

Good lord do I hate that baby fever. I do think Vesper would be a great choice for you!

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Aylee January 19, 2011 at 12:21 am

Love Emily already from your description.

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April (Books&Wine) January 19, 2011 at 1:12 pm

She’s quite awesome and totally a character I would not mind hanging out with, both Good Emily and Bad Emily.

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Musical instruments January 25, 2011 at 10:13 pm

Too bad I can not wait to hit the library. But I will probably buy it simply because I like the sound of it.Vesper has a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde feel too it with the Daytime Emily and the Nighttime Emily. During the day she is shy, but at night her stomach starts to cramp and she turns into a thrill seeker.

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April (Books&Wine) January 26, 2011 at 9:29 am

I never even though of the Jekyll and Hyde comparison, but that’s a lot better than what I came up with!

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Redhead Heroines May 12, 2011 at 2:47 pm

Vesper was super interesting and original, but I had a hard time with the pacing of the novel and how it ended. I felt like I just finished a different book than I started reading… if that makes sense!
- Alyssa
Book Review of “Vesper” by Jeff Sampson

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