Mystical relics.Powerful vampires.Strange allies. It’s hell being a teenager, especially if vampires are hunting you. Larna Collins had never understood why her dad skipped out on her and her mother when she was twelve years old. Until then, he was a devoted and loving father. But six years later, during a renovation of her childhood home, she unearths her father’s journal from under a … she unearths her father’s journal from under a floorboard. According to his final entry, he had recently visited a small parish in England before he left.
The entries drew her to this quaint village, which Larna discovers isn’t as charming as its blood-craving inhabitants want her to believe, and she learns that she isn’t the only one trying to track her father down.
Could this explain her father’s disappearance? Or was placing her in the center of danger her dad’s master plan all along?
The Outcasts is a bestselling, multi-award-winning YA Fantasy.
“The Best Vampire Book Ever™. The Best Female Main Character in a Vampire Book Ever™. A vampire book with a bigger girl as a protagonist is also seen as a desirable love interest? This is it. Right here.” – Amazon Review
”The Best Vampire Book Ever™. The Best Female Main Character in a Vampire Book Ever™. A vampire book with a bigger girl as a protagonist and is also seen as a desirable love interest? This is it. Right here.”
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– Christina: Blogger from Indie Fantasy Review
”A genuinely enthralling start to a new series Misty Hayes is clearly suited to the genre with the promise of more good things to come. Highly recommended The Outcasts – The Blood Dagger: Volume 1 proves a must read.”
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– Book Viral
”Misty Hayes, author of The Outcasts: The Blood Dagger Volume: 1, is handing readers a unique take on the vampire stories of late. Hayes offers a well-written, smooth read which mesmerizes readers from the first paragraphs. The relatable struggles of its main character, Larna, take an unexpected turn early on and pull readers in for a ride like no other.”
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– Literary Titan
”What I really enjoyed about this book was the adventure and intrigue. You never knew what was going to happen next and Misty Hayes kept me interested until the end. It was a very imaginative plot with well fleshed-out characters. Larna is very relatable and you couldn’t help but root for her to come into her own. It was great watching her character grow from an insecure teen to a confident young woman…”
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– YABooksCentral.com
”The more I got into this book, the longer I spent finding excuses to not put it down … I would like to briefly touch on an important topic that I would like to think will be addressed in The Watchers … Team Alastair or team Corinth? (Hint hint … Team Alastair…)”
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– Shay Spencer: blogger for Shay Write Smiles
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I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this story! I am VERY picky with my Paranormal reads and this was such a good story. This was my first time reading this author and I loved her writing and her description to detail was excellent! The secondary characters were excellent and I honestly felt like I was one of the gang. The pacing was good and I loved the character development as well. Larna went from being insecure to confident and I loved seeing her believe in herself as the story progressed. At times I questioned her decisions but she’s 18 so I had cut her some slack. One thing that I loved about this story was that the cast of characters were your regular awkward teens! It was so easy to fall in love with them and root for them to win! I’m really curious to see what the future holds for Larna, Corinth and Alistair. The author left me hungry for more and I can’t wait for the next book in this series!
Larna Collins is on a search for her father, who went disappeared when she was just twelve years old. Her search brings her to Bromham, London. Larna quickly learns that there is more to her father’s disappearance than she thought. When a stolen dagger brings a stranger to her, she suddenly realizes that her worst nightmares are becoming a reality. She doesn’t know who to trust. Can Larna recover the dagger, survive and protect those closest to her?
This is the first Misty Hayes book that I have read. I loved it. I was quickly drawn into this easy to read, paranormal drama. I enjoyed it so much, I am looking forward to the next book, expected to release in December.
The story has great world building, as the story develops at a steady pace. I love that most of the story takes place in a London setting. A young adult drama with real life situations in high schools today.
The characters in the book are very well thought out and developed. I love that some of the characters are flawed and easy to relate to. You can imagine being in their shoes, walking through the story.
The author puts a unique twist vampires as we know them today, making the story refreshing and interesting. Alastair is my favorite vampire. He has such a sweet side to him and he is very protective over Larna.
Larna is a overweight 18-year-old, who has a very low self-esteem. She really starts to develop more courage and confidence throughout the story. Larna is teased and bullied often. No one can understand how such a good-looking boy like Corinth could be her best friend. He is like her personal cheerleader.
This book is an action packed adventure. It is thrilling and exciting. This book will have you on the edge of your seat at times and shed a tear or two at other times. The story flows smoothly and is well written and thought out. Fans of Cassandra Claire’s Mortal Instruments, would enjoy this book. A 5 star read.
*ARC provided by Misty Hayes
I liked the book even with a slow start. The main character was relatable but after she was turned she kind of fell flat in her development. I hope in book 2 the characters and story line are developed more and have more depth.
This book was just NOT believable. First I hated the main char, she was TSTL, always whining about her weight, whining about how mean everyone is, whining about even walking, walking is apparently SO hard when one weighs 200lbs. No, it isn’t, the author should have done her homework and talk to people that weight, they move just fine. This author writes an overweight heroine as a slovenly, gluttonous, selfish, thoughtless, sniveling coward constantly gobbling food and complaining of hunger and not treating her 2 friends all that nice. She is so food obsessed she mourns a french fry dropping on the floor, really? This is NOT someone I want to know let alone be friends with or care about. I almost tossed this book at 25 pages…but I do hate to not finish a book so I skimmed…quite a lot of skimming actually hoping things would get better. They sorta did yet the heroine remained TSTL and I just really did. Not. Like. her…at all. The only satisfying part of this book was the end…sort of. I wish I had tossed it at 25 pages.
I really felt a connection with Larna
When I first saw the cover and read the blurb, I thought that it wouldn’t be 100% my thing. But then someone I know highly recommended it, and I just thought I’d give it a try. Fully expecting that I wouldn’t like it much.
And boy was I wrong: IT WAS AMAZING!
A well written book. A good pace. A good plot. Good worldbuilding. Very refreshing. I loved Larna. She’s different. I’m different too, so I bonded with her over that. For me, that’s very important. I want to FEEL the story and that is what happened here! There were some twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I will immediately start book 2 now. Can’t wait! Literally 🙂
This book has a great story! Vampires, vampires everywhere. I love Larna’s character – I relate to her so much in some ways. Alastair and Corinth are my favorites though. The plot twists came from out of thin air, and the villain is so evil I want to punch him. Overall, a great book!