“A Violet Fire” by Kelsey Quick introduces an intriguing premise: a world where magical abilities are tied to the element of fire, and a young woman discovers she’s more powerful than she could have imagined. However, despite its promising start, the execution ultimately falls flat.

The pacing of the book is uneven, with long stretches of slow, repetitive dialogue that fail to propel the plot forward. While the magical system is fascinating in theory, the world-building feels underdeveloped. The reader is told more than shown about the magical rules and its limitations, leaving the world feeling shallow and lacking in detail.

The protagonist, while sympathetic, struggles to stand out. Her internal conflict is compelling at first, but it quickly becomes predictable. The relationships around her, especially the romantic subplot, feel forced and lack chemistry, making it difficult to care about the characters' motivations.

Though the book does feature some moments of suspense and action, they are too few and far between. There’s potential in the premise, but it never quite reaches its full potential. Overall, "A Violet Fire" left me wanting more — more depth, more excitement, and more character development. For those who enjoy YA fantasy with a magical twist, it might still appeal, but it’s a bit of a letdown for anyone looking for something truly captivating.

I liked the creative aspects of this novel. It takes the vampire genre to a whole different level. With the addition of humans, it made A Violet Fire even more intriguing.

This was a good slow build scfi-vampire book. It wasnt very fast paced but the slow build defn apid off in the end. I enjoyed that the characters didn't have that fast attraction and hook up bc that gets too repetitive in books today. This author phenomenally wrote beautiful scenes and I super enjoyed it

Fantastic, provocative read. Well written, really enjoyed.the characters and plot. Felt the pacing was good and the characters quite believable.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are entirely my own*

I had hope for this book. I am such a sucker for both vampires and dystopian and the two combined really is an amazing concept. I have read a couple of other series that have similar themes, both different from one another, so I was really hoping that this would join both series on my list of favorite vampire books. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
As I mentioned, the concept of a vampire dystopian is something I love and I don't think it is done enough (unless I just haven't heard of them yet). So this book really had the potential to be great. It had a great concept, but it was not implemented right.
The plot was very weak. I honestly don't know if there was much of one. We do know that Wavorly is intent on getting away from this controlling vampire society and she does attempt that in the very first chapter of the book, but of course she is caught. She doesn't attempt it again, but she does think about it...a lot. Other than that, the book just seemed to be a lot of Wavorly's internal conflict and it doesn't go much of anywhere. She spends a lot of time thinking about her past and about if all vampires are truly the monsters she was led to believe they are.
There was barely any world-building. We don't know much about the vampires or where they came from or even how they came to have such a large population vs. humans (I mean, they are vampires so I guess that could be pretty obvious how that would happen). I really would have loved to learn more about how the humans fought against the vampires and where the vampires came from.
There was no character development, so not much to say there.
The ending also made me very mad. All of a sudden the author just threw this resistance in there and that Wavorly was some special human that could change the course of society as it is. And then she gets rescued. And the issue I had is that it literally happened in the last 20ish pages and was super fast. The pacing of the book as a whole was just all over the place though.
What I did like was that Wavorly is pretty stubborn and she's tough. She wants to fight, but a single human fighting against immortal vampires who could kill her in a second is difficult.
Overall, I didn't think it was really good. I do think if the book had been longer and had much more detail, it could have been absolutely phenomenal. It really did have the potential to be something great, but it fell really really short in so many aspects that it was just a flop.

‘A Violet Fire’ by Kelsey Quick was a dystopian vampire story with excellent world-building, a creative and captive and plot, and great characters across the board. Definitely recommend this fast-paced read!

I was really looking forward to this one, but sometimes you just don't connect with a book as much as you hoped. And that's ok, because this book will be enjoyable to some, it just wasn't for me.

What a great setting! The dystopian backdrop was very compelling. I loved Gem's character and the vampire vibes were definitely present! THanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I miss vampires, and while they definitely were overused and needed a break, I was happy to see they were coming back. I requested this book hoping it would be my next favorite vampire book, but unfortunately, that was far from the case. Furthermore, I appreciate the author and publisher for sending me a copy to read and review, but unfortunately this book just wasn't for me.

A large part of why this book didn't work for me had to do with the main character. I found her flighty and inconsistent, and inconsistency is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to main characters. When we're in a character's head, these sorts of back and forth opinions are even more noticeable, and often it seemed the main character seemed to change her mind at the drop of a hat. While I was here for a growing of feelings for her enemy, her opinion towards him felt so inconstant that it was frustrating. He was either the worst person alive or someone she could grow to love. It was frustrating. On top of that, there seemed to be a lot of girl-hate or slut-shaming coming from the main character, with the MC often having stronger feelings against women vs. men for the same mistakes. This always gets on my nerves in books, because it's so easily avoidable. Girls don't have to hate each other!

Additionally, it seemed like there was this whole extra plot line being blended in dealing with a chosen one and religious imagery, and it all felt, thrown in there. This was largely due to how late in the book it was introduced, and how quickly we were pushed through explanations and reveals to try and make it make sense in the last 15%. I had a hard time following what was going on there, and it detracted even further from my enjoyment of the book. I feel like this book could have been 2 stars without it.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. Humans are going extinct and only rich vampires can afford to have them to raise them for their blood, keeping them as slaves. But the main character wasn't born into this but was instead "wild" and captured when her family was killed and she spends most of the book wanting to get away. But it is set up as the first in a series and doesn't really end with problems solved. I might have liked it better if I had the second to read right after as it felt like too much was left unfinished.

This book while the blurb sounded interesting was just not for me sadly. I was really trying to like this book but ended up not finishing it.

I am a sucker for vampire books and this one did not disappoint. I was instantly drawn into this world and couldn’t stop once I started. It is different then most vampire books I have picked up. In this world Vampires are the ruling class. Humans are blood slaves. It sounds bad but think Beauty and the Beast vibes. There is plenty of passion, lust and mistrust. What more could you ask for? Some of the characters are a little bratty which I usually don’t like but it worked with the story. The writing is amazing. Everything flows so beautifully. I cannot recommend this book enough. I can’t wait for the second book to come out.
Thank you to the publisher for providing my review copy via NetGalley

Ovrall, I liked this book. It was indeed a fresh take but at times wasn't as detailed as I think the 'old takes' had gotten so it might have benefitted from slightly more attention to detail. That said, I enjoyed the characters and I think it is a strong first book. Looking forward to the next installment.

I read this book in one setting! I loved the world building and the characters. Waverly is a female 'supply unit' that we first meet while she is trying to escape the training house she grew up in. While being one of the last surviving humans, not one that was born and raised in their breeding house, she is to bow to her master vampire.

Zein is an interesting character as well, someone who seems to be falling for a human, and possibly showing his true 'softer' side, but still keeping up his appearance has the youngest of this fellow leaders.

I enjoyed the overall story of Waverly and Zein, and the foreshadowing that was shown from the beginning of the book! I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.

there were some parts of the book that I found boring and slightly bleh. One of which was how demeaning Wave is about herself and how she wants to start achieving goals, but is so weak with her other 'supply unit' females. She doesn't want to show them that she is different and that she will stand up for herself. She stands up to the vampires, creatures who do not respect their food supply, but will let herself be bullied and harassed. Self fulfilled prophecy. Also, for someone who keeps mentioning her home and how she was human, she never called her 'supply unit' friends anything but 'supply units'.

Other then those few things, it was a wonderfully written book and I did enjoy reading it. I will definitely be picking up the second in the series.

I've requested this book because I like vampire novels and books set in a dystopian world. The story had an interesting take on the typical vampire story line. I also felt that the plot was engaging and had some twists I didn’t see coming. This kept me engaged and wanting to read more. The story ended with cliff hanger so excited to read the next installment.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Love a good vampire type of book and this did not disappoint. This is definitely a new kind of twist on the vampire trope that I haven't really seen before but I think it was done well and I enjoyed it.

This book was okay. I wanted to like it more then I did, but it was a bit too slow for my taste. I thought the plot sounded interesting and I did kind of liked Wavorly as a character. She was a bit annoying at first, but she grew on me in the end. I think about it was not until I was 60% into the book when it hooked me. Towards the end I wanted to know more and it was because of the ending I want to continue on with the series.

I really wanted to love this book but I totally did not. At times I had felt confused. I had thought I was going to love this and be completely blown away.

The world building here is interesting, but the main character is a bit whiny and unlikable. I can't say with certainty whether the issues with grammar were stylistic or lack of editing (although I'm leading toward the former); I can say that the choices pulled me out of the story more often than not. I can see some appeal for a certain type of reader but I don't think this title would be a fit for an academic library.

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars!


I've requested this book because I like vampire novels set in a dystopian world. I didn't put any high expectations on it, but surprisingly I found the story enjoyable. Despite having some issues, it was overall a pleasant ride. I'm not much fan of the cover though. It looks similar to the covers of J.R. Wards Black Dagger Brotherhood.

The story follows eighteen year old Wavorly Sterling who's a supply unit, bound to serve her blood willingly to her master for the rest of her life. She was just a child when her whole town was killed by rabid vampires and she was saved by Lord Anton Zein, the most feared vampire in Cain. All the girls who were born within the stratocracy are comfortable with their life being a blood supply unit and breeders, but Wavorly comes from a world where she tasted the freedom, and she will not stop until she escapes from this hell. She absolutely hates vampires, but she starts to admire her reserved Master who seems different than other ruthless vampires, and her growing feelings for him might become a problem for her. When old secrets and betrayals are finally revealed, Wavorly didn't know whom to trust.

I have mixed feelings about Wavorly's character. I don't hate her because I really admired her fierceness, but sometimes she really annoyed me. She tries to be bold and brave, but sometimes her actions seemed reckless. Nonetheless, I'm still  rooting for her. The vampire Anton Zein was very very mysterious and reclusive. He's been hiding many secrets and it seems like he has some weird fascination for Wavorly. He never brutally punished her even though she was such a trouble maker, but I'm still not sure whether he's a good guy or a bad guy. I enjoyed the slow burn romance between Wavorly and Zein. It wasn't too intense but loved every interaction between them. I'm not fan of Wavorly's friends and I didn't care for them. I liked Narref though.

The plot was a bit confusing at the beginning and it took some time for me to understand what's really happening. Things started to make sense only after the second half. There's a prophecy trope which I've seen in a lot of vampire novels. There are some surprising twists that I hadn't seen coming. The author's writing was easy to follow. The book was written in wavorly's first person pov. The world building was decent but I was hoping for more. The story was set in a dystopian world where vampires rule the world and humans are nothing but blood supply units. The setting gave me medieval vibes because most of the plot was set in the castle. 

Overall, I enjoyed it! The book concludes with a cliffhanger and I'm definitely going to check out the next book when it comes out.