Cameo the Assassin (Trilogy of Shadows Book 1)

I recently finished reading Cameo the Assassin by Dawn McCullough-White and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. The characters are well defined and relatable which is an important part of any story. I was pulled into Cameos world, wanting to learn more about her and what makes her tick. Having found herself working as one of the best assassins for The Association, Cameo lives day to day killing for a living. Just when she thinks her life is repeating the same pattern, Cameos path crosses with that of two highwaymen, and though she may not know it at that time, her life will be forever changed. Moving at just the right pace, we learn more about Cameo and her past, and why she is forced to do the things she does. Although the book jumps from character to character which can at times be confusing, it is easily forgivable because it is overall well written and intriguing. I can not wait to read more about Cameo in the sequel, Cameo and the Highwayman! Keep up the great work Dawn McCullough-White!!

I was intrigued from page one. The characters are real in all their flawed glory. I especially enjoyed the dialogue between characters. Opal is charming, Bel is a riot, and Cameo is incredibly interesting. I highly recommend this!

Filled with action, intrigue, a splash of romance and fascinating characters, Cameo is an exceptional read! I loved the characters and never expected the twists and turns that the story takes. Dawn does a great job of keeping the reader in suspense while giving just enough to keep this reader curious to keep turning the pages. Very clever!!

It took me longer than usual to read this book because its a little out of my comfy zone (different from the books I usually read), but Im very glad I read it. Its a very original and interesting Dark Fantasy novel which offered me a perfect escape from all the fantasy and paranormal books coming out lately! Cameo, the Assassin, was a fast paced, full of action read. The mystery and the suspense kept me interested and eager to know what happened next throughout the entire story and the main character is very unusual and interesting to read about. So Cameo (what a cool name, dont you think?) is a witty, kick-butt heroine who kills people for hire. Shes very mysterious and there is also something eerie about her - well, shes not quite human. And though this description may not sound out of the ordinary, believe me, there is nothing ordinary about Cameo. On the contrary, she is a very unique, complex and intriguing character. Because of her slightly unusual appearance and her reputation as an assassin, people are really afraid of her - they even have creepy stories about her: Kyrian to Cameo: My parents used to tell me stories about you when I was a little boy. Well, a rhyme really about how you killed children who didnt go to bed on time. But something went wrong with her last mission and she found herself teaming up with a couple of highwaymen, because they were all considered responsible for killing the king. So they had to make a plan, flee town and stick together - which didnt make Cameo happy at all (at least not at first). Shes used to being alone and minding her own business, and suddenly she felt responsible for other people too and she had to deal with far more challenges that she had ever expected. But with every new dangerous adventure, I got the chance to know more about all the gang members and to even understand Cameo better. She proved to be stronger and much more caring and selfless than people might have thought. Kyrian was looking up at her, shocked at the warmth in her tone.You are Cameo? She smiled at him, the same caring smile she had gifted him with a moment earlier. And despite the fact she wasnt much of a talkative person, everyone listened to her and respected her. I actually liked her attitude: shes mysterious and sarcastic, yet she makes her own decisions and sticks with them, no matter the consequences. You got your cameo brooch back I noticed, the one that was robbed from you, Wick clicked the pipe between her broken teeth. Yes. And yet that highwayman is still alive. Why is that, Cameo? Shocking as it may seem, I dont kill every man, woman, and child I meet. I leave some of them alive for you to bully. The story is very beautifully written and I found the time period and the setting really fascinating. But there was also something that kind of bothered me (does this surprise anyone? doubtful - I always find something to complain about - just ask Julia here LOL): the beginning of the story was a little slow and confusing. Also, the story was told from the third person POV and the switching from one POV to another really confused me at times, especially when it happened all of a sudden. All in all, Cameo, the assassin is a dark, gritty yet entertaining read that offers an unusual blend of mystery, suspense, action, horror and just a touch of humor and romance. The strong, unique heroine will accompany readers in a journey set in an unusual, yet fascinating world where they will like to return. *Review also posted on my blog:

I found Cameo interesting and I was glad to see a vampire back to being a bad-guy instead of a heart throb. Although Haffef is her Master, he is neither good nor kind to Cameo. I read this straight through, on a Sunday. I think the book was good, however the ending seemed a little choppped/forced to me, and while I understand a cliffhanger ending to lead to the next book, the one here just seemed a bit artificial. Hence 4 stars instead of 5.

I read this book. I should have gone back and read Amazons description. Without it, the book is hard to follow. The book doesnt make clear much of anything. Not the period of time it is occurring, not the country, and very little about the characters. You have to fill in the gaps as you go along. It never really mentions she was raped. About the middle of the book, she finally mentions her sister and her being molested and left for dead. You run into a man who is involved with her abuse (I think) for a few sentences and then she kills him. But that is a bit vague too. It bounces around a little so you need to have a quick mind and good imagination to keep up. The male character she is having an arms length romance? with, appears to have been written by a drag queen. He uses lip rouge, makeup, frilly clothes and fancy boots he cant walk in. He is flamboyant in the extreme. A dandy indeed. I am not sure if the author intended to write this story in this manner or if the issues are with writing the first book. She is either a good writer or a sloppy one who got lucky. That being said, I actually enjoyed it. I liked Cameo. I liked Opal and Bel. I even liked the shadows. Im not particularly sure why other than they were quirky, odd, amusing, and a bit strange. I dont think Ive read a book quite like this one. I will most likely purchase the 2nd book and really am not sure if I want the writer to improve. It would throw the whole story off it the book actually got better.

Tried really hard to get into this but the dialogue is terrible and difficult to follow. This is one of the few books that I could not finish.

Book One in The Trilogy of Shadows was interesting. The authors take on vampires was one Im not used to seeing. Unfortunately, this also meant that it was something I didnt immediately understand. I spent the first half of the book trying to figure out why Cameo wasnt being a vampire since shed been turned into one. I mean why didnt she defend herself?? Turns out, she wasnt. Shes an imorotal Thrall of a vampire. This means she received just enough vampiric blood to make her undead but not enough to make her a vamp. Instead she was referred to as more like a Zombie and under the compulsion of her maker. Super cool huh? This idea of dead but not dead, immortal but not a vamp, human but inhuman... I just wish I understood it better. I mean, why did she eat? Did she poop? Shes dead so no digestive system... There was also the issue of Shadow People who she seems to be able to give tasks. I think the author has a great imagination but was trying a little too hard to keep some things in her vest pocket. Instead of making me want to read more, it frustrated me because I didnt understand. Overall, this was an interesting and unique story, set in a world which allowed for some fabulous characterization and plot twists. If you like historical vampire pieces this one is well written and intricately conceived. Personally, it didnt spark my fire, so while I enjoyed Book One, I wont be reading Two or Three.

Cameo is a legend, an assassin mothers tell their children will slay them if they dont behave. But when a botched job leaves her a wanted fugitive alongside a pair of eccentric highwaymen her status as a merciless murderer for money is tested. Falling in with the poetic Bellamy and foppish Black Opal their exploits lead them on a less-than-merry adventure through forrest and tavern. Charged with bringing a young acolyte to his temple in exchange for silence regarding her not-so-human state shell wind up at the bitter mercy of her master and challenged with keeping her new found friends alive. At its core Cameo the Assassin is a solid adventure tale set in a fantasy world where vampires and their ghoulish minions are monsters whispered about in darkened corners. Alas, this fantasy world is lacking in any fresh world building. Rather generic, the reader is dropped right into the world with no knowledge given as to what the world is like and very few details are ever given. A few towns are named and theres mention of a king but nothing is truly established to guide the reader into a deeper understanding of the realm. The cast of characters fares much better but is still lacking. Cameo, being the title character, is enigmatic which works quite well. Black Opal is an amusing dandy that is likely to be a reader favorite with his constant fussing over his appearance. But aside from them the other characters fall quite flat, feeling like cardboard cutout stand-ins to fill space. Overall they each had potential to be interesting but theyve been polished down to less than caricatures. The plot of the tale was never very clear. It was as if the characters came first and the purpose was to find mini adventures to string them along until they reached some sort of romantic interest but without any romantic fiction elements. Honestly, it reads like a series of dull tavern visits and nights in the woods tending wounds to the point of being almost boring. Overall though I did enjoy it. Cameo the Assassin is light fantasy, very much lacking in the vivid descriptive details most Epic Fantasy stands on while still having exceptionally well written action sequences. Its quite good for a self-published debut novel and my main reason for the middle-ground star rating is my displeasure with the lacking climax of the story. Id recommend this one for fantasy lovers who need a filler story or something light to pass a plane ride. ***Review Copy received via Author.

This is the first novel written by Dawn McCullough-White. Cameo the Assassin takes us to the world of darkness, highwaymen, and assassins. Characters: Meet Cameo. She is an assassin who is very efficient at her work. She is feared, there are scary stories told about her, she is drinking a lot, she is beautiful, but there is something weird about her. She died violently and was brought back to life by Haffef, who gave her back her existence, but not as a human anymore. I liked Cameo, because underneath her dark figure, she is funny, has a spark and at the same time she is conflicted, she dislikes herself of being a zombie. Meet Black Opal who happens to meet Cameo under special circumstances - robbing the same coach which Cameo is using to get to her next target. Black Opal is a dandy who definitely knows how to use a rapier and how to fight and how to use his charms on ladies. He is a highwayman who earns his living by robbing people. Opal is being drawn into Cameos life accidentally and it seems that as the book develops, he does not want out of Cameos life at all. Another character whom I really liked was Kyrian, 15 years old acolyte. His grandfather asks Cameo to bring Kyrian safely to a place where Kyrian could continue his studies as a priest. Kyrian is sweet, smart, genuinely good character who has some hidden abilities. What we know from the book is that he is a healer. I am sure that Kyrian has some other abilities, which will be shown to the reader in the next books. One thing is clear, there is a purpose why he met Cameo, because he has powers over the dark creatures like vampires. I guess that these other purposes will be revealed to us in the second book of the series. Plot and the created surrounding When I liked the main characters created by the author, I had difficulties of understanding the plot. All the characters were moving somewhere, but I still do not know what it is. During the first book there were lot of characters and most of them had a purpose in this book, but for me it stayed unknown what the purpose is. I can only guess. There were not any surprises in the plot, there was a clear beginning of the story which developed, but there was no ending. I am not sure if I understood correctly, but it seems that the first book was only to present the main characters, because there was not really lot of development of the plot. There was a lot of action, but nothing substantial to me as a reader to understand where this story would take us. In my opinion it did not take me anywhere. It gave me understanding of the characters, but not the real story. Author is good at creating characters, and good at storytelling, but the biggest weakness for me in this book was that I did not see development of the plot. Even considering that it was only the first book in the series, which I do understand, I missed the main story of the first book. It was a flow of things happening, but no clear purpose of the plot. This book was easy to read when we talk about the use of language and it was difficult to read when talking about the plot development. Author is definitely a good writer, but I wanted to see more in the first book. It simply left me with way to many questions open. One more thing which I simply MUST say. If you like film noir, then you will love this book. In my opinion it would be very good to create a great black and white movie out of it. I was actually thinking that this book would give many possibilities to movie makers to make an excellent film noir out of it. The book was written in flashes. My mind went to the movie Sin City, where most of the characters and scenes were black and white and then you had some elements which were created in colors. Cameo and Opal and other characters would be perfect to that - Cameos eyes in colors, Opals lips in colors and all the surroundings in black and white. It would be perfect for this book. These were the pictures I got in my head while reading. To sum it up, this book gets 3 stars out of 5.