Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I found this book to be a bit more emotional to read than I was expecting. While I don’t tend to buy contemporary novels, I did find this book to be really engaging and hard to stop reading when I had to take breaks.

I though Jasmine was a really well-rounded character. She had realistic goals that she was working towards and I thought she was really likable. While there were several occasions I thought she might make the wrong choice when it came to her ex-boyfriend, I was glad to see that she didn’t fall into the familiar traps.

I think my favourite parts of this book were probably the detail that went into Jasmine’s relationship with her brother. I did feel quite bad for Jasmine, having to play the Mom… not only to her brother, but also to her own mother. Even from the start, I could see the sacrifices she made so she could take care of Danny.

I liked the fact that the romance happened gradually. It was good to see time spent on developing Jasmine and Wes together. I also felt a lot of empathy for Danny and Wes, knowing how tough the epilepsy had to be on both of them.

I found it very easy to relate to Jasmine, since one of the things she had to deal with is something I also dealt with. I could understand her frustration and her need to escape… if only for a short while.

I thought it was interesting to see how Jasmine seemed to switch personalities the moment she was on air. Although I did like the fact that she gained so much confidence of the air, I actually didn’t see much of her unique personality coming through in the broadcasts. I liked seeing Jasmine’s friendship with Farrah and it was good to see the different themes she came up with for her radio show.

It was nice to see some of the other secondary characters, but I would have liked the opportunity to see a few more of the other characters in the school.

I found the atmosphere of this book really engaging and it was very easy to read. There were some difficult scenes, but on the whole, I was drawn into the characters’ world very easily. In the future, I’d be interested in reading more books by this author.