Ink of Blood

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I didn’t actually intend to finish this book tonight. It probably says a lot about the writing and the characters that I found myself staying up far later than I’d intended just so I could reach the resolution of the book.

There were a lot of twists and turns in this. I hit on maybe one thing that was provided as a clue, but most of it still had the capacity to surprise me. I did like Marnie as a character and I also really liked Noah, too, especially towards the end.

I wouldn’t say that this book dragged on too long, but there was an awful lot happening plot-wise. It wasn’t really that confusing with the plots, but there were times I got confused between the different characters.

I did think this book was a really tough one to read. There’s a lot about abuse in it and some scenes that are really quite disturbing. I managed to empathise with quite a lot of characters and one of the questions at the end of the book for the reading group really did strike a chord with me.

I liked seeing Marnie’s more personal relationships and it was good to see Noah and his boyfriend, though I would have liked to know a bit more about his history. I felt like I could really understand Marnie, but because less time was spent on Noah’s past, I didn’t understand him in quite the same way.

There were some parts that really concerned me about the book. Not so much Marnie’s sudden desire to do violence (because I think a lot of people have similar thoughts and would never act on them), but it took her a long time to realise one of the things that had happened and a very long time for her to actually act on it. Also, I think she shouldn’t have gone on her own towards the end of the book and that it should have been insisted on that she take someone with her.

Ayana’s plotline was really interesting and I would have liked to see more of her character and situation explored. The ending was more hopeful than it could have been, but there were certain things I did want to see.

I would definitely read a sequel to this book at some point in the future. It would be good to see the characters in action again – and I’d also really like to see more of some of the secondary characters, too.