(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
Just as a first comment – I think a lot of my reviews do seem to indicate that I have a strong dislike for vampire romances. That’s not actually the case. When I was younger, I read and adored the Night World novels. And there are other books that I’ve enjoyed with romances between vampires and humans.
I found this book to be a disappointing read, because it hit so many of my turn-offs. Although a couple of the characters were quite well-defined, by the end of the book, I actually didn’t like any of them.
A good example of this about-face is Jimmy. He was great as an older brother figure and I was starting to like his relationship with Suki (even if I didn’t much like Suki)… and then his whole character got ruined when his best friend was forced into a kiss (and yelled for the person to get off her)… and Jimmy decided to demand details from the guy. And not in the, ‘I’m going to punch you for hurting my friend!’ way.
I felt, with quite a few of the characters, that they had one defining quality about them… and nothing else. When some of them were introduced, I was interested to know more about them… but then the focus seemed to be on Gabriela and literally nothing else. Her human friends didn’t even seem to have a life outside of her. She certainly didn’t spend a single thought on them when she was away. And there was exactly one scene with her father, which was literally only to add some tension, and then he’s hardly mentioned at all either.
There were some parts of the book that were well-written and some characters I would have liked if I’d been able to meet them outside of Gabriela. Madison could have been an interesting character, but I was repeatedly told that she was wicked with zero background on her. The best villains are the ones you can see redeeming qualities in. (I was also repeatedly told about how thin Gabriela was and how beautiful she was. It got very irritating after a while).
Also… the amount of giggling/laughing that went on in this book (at really inappropriate times) didn’t really work. And not with the same character doing that three times in one paragraph.
The concept of this book was really intriguing and there’s nothing wrong with a chosen one plotline. But when the lives of every other character revolves around this one person… it gets a bit boring to read about. I don’t think I’ll be reading the sequel to this book.
Ink of Blood 