(I received a free copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
On reading the blurb of this book, I immediately found my interest piqued. As I was drawn into Sandrine’s story, to begin with, I did feel a lot of empathy towards her. I think the biggest issue was the fact that there was a lot of telling, not showing, about what had happened in the past.
The elements of mystery in this book were particularly intriguing, though I felt that the reveal dragged out for too much of the book. When it happened, it was done in quite an intriguing way… and I did find myself feeling some sympathy for La Luna when her history was revealed.
I didn’t feel like there was enough foreshadowing in this book. There were a lot of parts where information was revealed right before it became relevant, instead of being alluded to earlier on in the book.
I did think that the setting of the book came across quite well, including the kind of attitudes people had at that time towards marital affairs and the like. The romance itself… I felt that the author did spend time developing the emotions between the characters. Unfortunately, there was one scene in particular that really shouldn’t have been included. That made Sandrine’s character go right down in my estimation.
I felt that the use of the artwork came across really well in this book. It was interesting to see the tie-ins with mythology and, in particular, the Cupid and Psyche aspects.
I did think that a lot of what happened was a self-fulfilling prophecy. And there were times when Sandrine irritated me a bit in this book. She came across as quite self-centred at times… which could possibly be blamed on what was happening to her. There were times I thought she might be stronger… but there were disappointments, too. Including the ending.
I’d like to give this book four stars, but it doesn’t quite reach that level; which is a shame, because I was looking forward to reading this. If the book had been condensed down, it wouldn’t have dragged so much and I think the storyline would have had a bit more urgency to it.
Ink of Blood 