2 Bloggers 1 Book - In the Valley of the Sun Review

So this month Stormi and I chose a book that we've both put off for some time.  It was never intentional, it's just that other books got in the way.  We were both pretty excited for it so read on to hear my thoughts and they jump over to Stormi's at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! and see what she thought.

TITLE: In the Valley of the Sun

AUTHOR: Andy Davidson

PUBLISHER: Skyhorse

PUBLISHING DATE: June 6, 2017

FROM GOODREADS: Travis Stillwell spends his nights searching out women in West Texas honky-tonks. What he does with them doesn’t make him proud, just quiets the demons for a little while. But his nights soon take a terrifying turn in a desert cantina, where Travis crosses paths with a mysterious pale-skinned girl in red boots. Come the morning, he wakes weak and bloodied in his cabover camper, no sign of a girl, no memory of the night before. 

Annabelle Gaskin spies the camper parked behind her rundown motel and offers the disheveled cowboy inside a few odd jobs to pay his board. Travis takes her up on the offer, if only to buy time, to lay low, to heal. By day, he mends the old motel, insinuating himself into the lives of Annabelle and her ten-year-old son. By night, in the cave of his camper, he fights an unspeakable hunger. Before long, Annabelle and her boy come to realize that this strange cowboy they’ve taken in is not what he seems. 

Half a state away, a grizzled Texas ranger is hunting Travis down for his past misdeeds, but what he finds will lead him to a revelation far more monstrous than he could ever imagine. A man of the law, he’ll have to decide how far into the darkness he’ll go for the sake of justice. 

When these lives converge on a dusty autumn night, an old evil will find new life—and new blood. 

Deftly written and utterly compelling, this is an atmospheric literary fiction debut perfect for fans of horror, psychological suspense, and Western fiction. 

But who can she trust?” 

MY THOUGHTS:  Man, I really don't know where to begin with this one.  I've had so many blogging pals love this one and many have commented they were so excited to see I was finally picking it up.  If you were one of those people, you might want to stop reading.

Okay, you were warned.  "In the Valley of the Sun" really didn't work for me.  Don't get me wrong.  It should have.  I love atmospheric reads and character-driven books.  I'm not a reader who has to have fast and constant action, although I enjoy that too.  I even love nasty, mean vampires so Rue, the mysterious vamp who turns and then haunts Travis should have been one of my favorites.  But nope, didn't like her either.  There were people I enjoyed in this book but they were pretty much limited to Reader, the ranger hunting for Travis and Calhoun, a family friend of Annabelle and Sandy.  Don't even get me started on how much Sandy bothered me.  That kid is destined for issues.

There were a few scenes I did enjoy and I don't have a problem with Davidson's writing.  He is definitely an author I will give another chance.  There was just something about this one.  Now being the snarky individual that I am I want to add that basically one should not "turn" an individual with  as many psychological problems as Travis.  Rue was just begging from trouble.  In addition, Travis is a prime example that not all murderers would make good vampires. 

And warning - rabbit violence.  That's all I'm going to say about that. 

So I'm not going to bother recommending this to people or warning people to stay away from it.  If it's somewhere on your TBR, I say go for it.  Hey, the odds are in your favor because some great reviewers LOVE LOVE LOVE Davidson's novel.  So many in fact that I often questioned what was wrong with me while reading it. 

If you've followed me for a while, you will fully understand when I say "Little Heaven" has been dethroned.

RATING: 2 Paws