Review - The Fire of the Soul Series #1 "The Fire Within" by Racquel Kechagias

(from Goodreads):

Anna has always known that she is different, whether it was the way that her parents treated her, or the way she simply didn't seem to blend in with the people around her, she simply knew!

However on the night of her seventeenth birthday, two men enter into her world, and completely change her life. Unbeknownst to Anna, a countdown has started on her life, and the lives of her friends. Will she have enough time to save them all, or will they all fall into chaos?

In 'The Fire Within' Anna will be challenged, and she will have to face her demons. With the threat of war hovering above her head, and a curse that burns through her veins, will she live to be able to tell the tale?

I always enjoyed the imagination of the Paranormal/Fantasy writer in building worlds beyond the reader's imagination. When the stories come with characters that are weaved in time and space and slowly crawl under our skin, even better.
In "The Fire Within" I found a set of characters that did just that.
Some in the good sense, some I surely wouldn't want to have nothing with, but all served a purpose ... the purpose to make this book a walk on the wild side.

This book sends you into a turmoil, an enchanted world where mystical creatures live hand in hand by a dark, broken war between the vampires and the skin walkers.
I liked the world building aspect since the first page, the story recounted the surroundings of each character, from where they've been to where they were going.
By the middle of the book I got a little lost, my focus dispersed a little. I found myself thinking that perhaps there was so much going on that maybe it was a little too much. I'll explain, I think that the author might have deepen the reader's connection into some worlds in particular and some thread lines between character's instead of populating the book with major events in each of the character's POV.
It made me feel that I only slightly touched some facts that I would have liked to read more about.

Anna and Victor :

They were the two main characters of this story and the starting point for the other characters to grow.
I loved Anna, she was a determined heroine, a sensuous girl raised from deceit and ignorance, her parents were abhorrent, a true loving soul and a brave warrior. I enjoyed her to the max.

Now Victor is another story ...
I'm a girl that simply can't resist a vampire, my love for them is enormous and I never pass down a good fictional vamp but here I found a vampire that was a little soft, too much in my opinion.
I would have liked to see a battle warrior, an alpha king, a true lover, but he didn't make it to that point. Even though he was a warrior worth of his people, defending peace, he felt too much pain from the past and never seemed, in my reader's eye, to move forward and break from his shell. I sympathized with his pain but there was something missing there.

The bad guy, Christian:

Yes, this one I loved, not in a good way, but when the character makes you feel hate, pain and you wish someone would come and put him in his place, than right there you know the author aced it and got what she wanted. He never fails to show more hatred and diabolical plans to get what he wants, victory over the vampires and Anna, he's true love, because in the end he only wants to be loved by her, have a family, and truly feel the emotions that a happy human feels so he's life could have meaning.

Christian, my favorite:

Christian was to me my favorite character out of all of them. He was a friend, a lover, and here I'm certain that the author achieved to show us who he really was. She did a terrific job with this character and I would love to read more about him in another book, I believe he deserves one.

Now here we don't get to see a love scene from Victor and Anna, only sensuous glimpses that leaves us wanting more. So I'm entitled to ask, will there be more ? I hope so.

Overall, the story-line is great and this is a book to be read. I loved it and hope I get a chance to follow up on this series. I'm asking already for the second one, I wonder where this will go ...