Review ~ SNAP: THE WORLD UNFOLDS, by Michelle Drier

SNAP, a multinational celeb TV show and magazine, is the holy grail for Maxie Gwenoch. When she snags the job as managing editor, she's looking for fame, fortune and Jimmy Choos. What she finds is a media empire owned by Baron Kandesky and his family. A family of vampires. They're European, urbane, wealthy and mesmerizing. And when she meets Jean-Louis, vampire and co-worker, she's a goner. The Kandesky vampire family rose in Hungary centuries ago. They gave up violence and killing to make a killing on the world's commodities markets and with that beginning they built SNAP, an international celebrity multimedia empire. Now cultured...and having found food substitutes for killing...they’ve cornered the world market for celebrity and gossip journalism. They haven't fully left the past behind. Their Hungarian neighbors and rival vampire clan, the Huszars are starting to ramp up attacks, maybe looking to start a war to take over all the Kandeskys have built. Maxie believes she's found her ultimate career. She doesn't realize that she's found a family feud like none other, a centuries-old rivalry between vampire families, with her as the linchpin. Bells ring with Jean-Louis, but she doesn’t realize they’re alarm sirens until she learns that Jean-Louis is second in command of the Kandeskys...but by then it's too late. ~From GoodReads

Set in the world of a twenty-four hour celebrity media empire, SNAP: The World Unfolds Maxie Gwenoch, a much coveted young executive. Maxie thinks she's in for a typical, yet exciting new job. But she soon learns that there's more to the job than it seems and her very life is at stake.

I'm going to be honest and say that I didn't connect with this story. Maybe it was the fact that there's no backstory on Maxie, no reason to be invested in her or the job. Chapter one begins with her first day at SNAP and thrusts you directly in the action, which is fine, but with the lingo and rapid pace, I felt a bit disoriented. Maxie's complete trust in those around her, even when she discovers deception, threw me. I think discovering your bosses are vampires and your driver is a demon warrants a major freakout, but that's just me.

I didn't connect to the secondary characters, either. Maxie's potential love interest, Jean-Louis, came off cold and stiff, maybe fitting to his nature, but I didn't get the appeal. Even when the become closer, I didn't get a sense of true attraction between Maxie and Jean-Louis.

I will say, though, that the backstory in regards to the vampires was quite interesting. I'm always amazed when an author takes such a well-explored genre and creates a little bit of their own history. The centuries-long war between the Kandeskys and the Huszars is full of political and personal intrigue, bloodshed, and betrayal.

As I said before, SNAP: The World Unfolds just wasn't the book for me. The lack of connection or inventestment in the outcome was too big of a leap for me.


Favorite Quote:

"This devil didn't wear Prada, but with my new salary, I was angling for Jimmy Choos." (pg.9)


I've provided a very positive review from GoodReads for an alternate viewpoint.

Published July 1st 2011 by Michele Drier

You can purchase SNAP: The World Unfolds at Amazon .


Source: Received from author for review.