Turned by Morgan Rice

Goodreads Book Summary - In TURNED (Book #1 of the Vampire Journals series), 18 year old Caitlin Paine finds herself uprooted from her nice suburb and forced to attend a dangerous New York City high school when her Mom moves again. The one ray of light in her new surroundings is Jonah, a new classmate who takes an instant liking to her.

But before their romance can blossom, Caitlin suddenly finds herself changing. She is overcome by a superhuman strength, a sensitivity to light, a desire to feed--by feelings she does not understand. She seeks answers to what’s happening to her, and her cravings lead her to the wrong place at the wrong time. Her eyes are opened to a hidden world, right beneath her feet, thriving underground in New York City. She finds herself caught between two dangerous covens, right in the middle of a vampire war.


It is at this moment that Caitlin meets Caleb, a mysterious and powerful vampire who rescues her from the dark forces. He needs her to help lead him to the legendary lost artifact. And she needs him for answers, and for protection. Together, they will need to answer one crucial question: who was her real father?

But Caitlin finds herself caught between two men as something else arises between them: a forbidden love. A love between the races that will risk both of their lives, and will force them to decide whether to risk it all for each other…


My Take -

First off, I am going to be critical. This book really lacked character depth. I kept thinking, “I love this story line and the intensity, but I am not really feeling the characters.” It’s as if the characters have no true feelings! If I could rate only the story line of Turned, I would give it a 3 or 4 stars. But if I only rated the book based off of creating a descriptive picture of the events or for character build, I would without a doubt give this book only 1 or 2 stars.  To be completely honest, when I think of this book, I think of it being written for a college paper.  I think it is really good, but I feel like it is more narrative than a book.  Kind of like someone is telling a story in writing and leaving out the picture.  Do you see where I am coming from?

I truly think that a really good editor could make this story amazing all the way through!


Here are some parts I was questioning (as in, what the eff?!): Caitlin suddenly becomes jealous of Caleb’s wife, but Caitlin’s only known Caleb for a few hours? She’s known this guy for what, a day, and she now expects him to leave the life he has lived for 800 years? And he does? Huh?! And, are they now in love? Also, Caitlin never “truly” mourned the death of her mom and she never really seemed that upset that her brother abandoned her!  Seriously?!

In just 150 pages this story was appealing, intense and action packed! While reading I kept thinking, "How is this story going to have a resolution in just so few pages?"  And I was right; there is a semi-ending to the book but it still leaves me wanting more.

The story reminds me of a really good TV series. While reading I kept thinking, “This would be like watching the first episode of an intense season premier.”  But I really would like to know more about the characters, more about the Covens and the war that has now begun between the good and bad vampires.

It is obvious that Caitlin is a key in the war between the Covens; but my guess is that Jonah (a human that Caitlin has feelings for) will play a big part in the war as well. Who knows, I’m not very creative so Morgan Rice just might surprise me!


Buy on Amazon here:
Turned by Morgan Rice (Kindle edition)
Turned by Morgan Rice (Paperback)