The Ophelia Dawson Chronicles by Kimber An

Crushed Sugar (prequel)
From Goodreads:
Be careful what you wish for. 

Ophelia’s had a wicked crush on Martin since they were kids, but she was always just his geeky little friend. Then, on the first day of her junior year, he’s suddenly and wildly attracted to her. She can’t imagine what’s changed, but shocking her small school’s social order fills her with vindication for insults suffered.  

Ophelia meets Adrian right after and true love extinguishes the wicked crush. In secret, he gives her courage against a specter threat. 
Tristan Li is pale and hungry, and draws Martin’s immediate ire. He knows things about Ophelia which she assumes are delusions brought on by an aggravated illness like her own, diabetes. When battle breaks out between his ancient race and new blood, even the courage of her secret love might be crushed.

This was the prequel for the story I will review a bit later. It is very short, but I am sad to say that I did not enjoy it. The story seemed to jump around and I just couldn't connect with Ophelia nor could I really get a handle on what was going on. However, I will say by the end of the prequel, I was curious about the main story and event that I was about to read.  You do not have to read this one to get into the next book.


Sugar Rush
From Goodreads:

Running and screaming will have to wait. A blood-sucking dead guy may be a vampire to you, but he’s an alien/human hybrid to Ophelia and she really must examine his olfactory nerve under a microscope first. 

Ophelia longs to be free, free of Diabetes, free of her ex-boyfriend, free to live. She loves Adrian, but she loved Martin once too. Something transformed Martin and made her his drug. If he has his way, she’ll never achieve the freedom to learn his true nature and origin.  

 Adrian’s the new guy in school. He faked his identity to get close to Ophelia, because he knew the monsters who took his Diabetic sister would try to take her too. Then, he’d have them. But, he knew better than to get too close.   

Oh, yeah, he did. Seriously.  

 All Sweets are really beautiful, but when Adrian masks himself for a costume party Ophelia kisses him like he’s the hottest boy on the planet. Then, her beloved, Diabetic father is murdered and he realizes she’s next. He closes the distance fast, but it’s complicated protecting a girlfriend who’s into lightsabers and photon torpedoes. For instance, she totally does not get the whole vampire seduction thing. When one visits her bedroom at night, she addicts him to Nintendo DS.

 I actually have a hard time reviewing this one. It is far superior to the prequel and I did enjoy this book. I will have to say that I did not connect with Ophelia for quite some time. She was supposed to be a highly intelligent girl who is on the fast track to college, but her inner dialog was more toward a bubble headed girl who thought about nothing but boys. It just didn't gel with other things she did or wanted in life. However, I was still interested in what was going on and why Martin, her ex-boyfriend was being such a crazed stalker. As things escalate and Adrian really comes into the picture more and more of the paranormal also come into play. As to what is going on... we still are left in the dark.

As Ophelia finally comes to terms with her own inner strength, her inner dialog becomes more scientific and melds better with the character. This part of the book flows quick and things slowly and at the same time quickly build. We finally get to be privy to what is paranormally going on and by the end Ophelia becomes a hero.

I find that this book has a very unique and interesting take on vampires and how they operate. I really think that this world has a lot of potential for some quite fascinating tales. Although I didn't connect with the characters at the beginning, I did find them much more interesting by the end. Rating this book was hard for me, but in the end I think I'll give it 3 stars. I recommend this book to people who want a different take on the vampire world.

I was given both ebooks by the author and no compensation for my review was given.