Beautiful Sins: Leigha Lowery

Beautiful Sins: Leigha Lowery, Jennifer Hampton, Hampton Publishing, 2009 (Kindle e-book)

Set a few years from now, this is a paranormal romance about a young woman suddenly thrown into a very different world.

America is on the verge of splitting into two pieces. The West Coast is now called the Dark Coast. Living under perpetual dark clouds due to a US military experiment gone bad, it is about to be handed over to King Royce. This is in exchange for his help in America's war with Russia.

Leigha Lowery is a resident of Detroit. One day, her mother abruptly tells her that they are moving to a small town in Oregon, so that she can marry Randy, a very handsome man that she met on the Internet. Leigha is not happy. Once in Oregon, she makes a few friends at the local high school. Some of the women look like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine, and some of the men are very handsome, and with very hypnotic eyes. From the beginning, Leigha realizes that things around here are very different.

She eventually finds out that Randy is King Royce's personal physician, so that makes her an important member of Royce's Court. A number of disappeared in the local forest, and never been found. Leigha attracts the attention of Prince Alexander, heir to the throne, and also very handsome. That is because Randy and Alexander, and a number of people all over town, are vampires. Leigha unknowingly puts herself in danger, more than once, and has to be rescued by Randy and Alexander. Why don't the vampires attack the humans, and drink their blood? It is now official vampire "policy" to co-exist with the humans, instead of killing them. Leigha has no interest in entering the world of etiquette and fancy parties as part of Royce's Court; she would much rather be Ms. Average High School Student.

On the positive side, this is a very good and easy to read teen romance story with just a bit of weird in it. On the negative side, if there are to be future printings of this book, it really needs a trip to an editor, or, at minimum, a proofreader (which the author acknowledges in the beginning of the book).