The Season of Risks by Susan Hubbard

Ariella Montero wants to grow up. It doesn’t matter that she could easily pass for someone in her early twenties despite being in her mid teens. Ari wants to actually be older. It may have to do with Ari’s secret relationship with Neil Cameron, third-party presidential candidate and vampire. In the human world, their apparent age difference would ruin Cameron’s political career. Ari fancies herself in love, and that Cameron is one of the few things that matters. Maybe that’s why Ari decides to take Septimal, a miracle drug that irreversibly ages a vampire a fixed amount of years. And that’s when everything falls apart.

This third installment in Hubbard’s Ethical Vampire series is by far the most complicated and confusing. From reader this novel’s prequels, The Society of S and The Year of Disappearances, I grew accustomed to reading about Ari growing up with a side serving of vampire danger. The Season of Risks begins in much the same way but then suddenly takes a drastic turn in the second part of the book. It’s very subtle at first that I didn’t notice it so when its effects are revealed, I was completely baffled because I had no idea what was going on. Catching up was difficult as well because Hubbard has a habit of dropping random characters and picking them back up later in the story. Strangely, though, despite my immense confusion, The Season of Risks has been my favorite Ethical Vampire novel so far. The way Hubbard organized the plot is completely clever. I not know not to doubt Hubbard’s great writing because following through with reading the particularly twisted excerpts is very rewarding.

The Ethical Vampire series will be enjoyed by those who liked Twilight by Stephenie Meyer but also appreciate a higher sense of intellect. I hope Hubbard plans to continue Ari’s story, and I’d snatch up the next installment in an instant.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from publisher Simon & Schuster