Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

I thought the plot of this book sounded really intriguing, so when I was given the opportunity to read this book as part of a blog tour, I did jump at the chance.

It was interesting to see the aftermath of what had been the consequences of a drunk driver. I’m not sure I really liked Jonathan’s character, although I could understand why Amanda tried to stick by him and believe in him… even though I really didn’t think that he was helping himself.

I did get a bit confused by the flashbacks/memories within the narration. There were several occasions where I thought that the memory was part of the present day and it did throw me out of the story for a second or two.

I thought that the first person perspective worked really well and I was glad to see the author stick with only Amanda’s POV. I did notice a couple of instances where the book slipped into past tense, which was a little distracting.

I felt a lot of sympathy for Graham in this book, since he did seem to really care about Amanda. I couldn’t actually believe in any feelings she might have had for him, though… Henry with Imogen seemed more natural, even though Henry and Amanda clearly had chemistry when they were together.

I thought it was interesting to see the relationship Amanda and Jonathan had with their parents. There were a few moments where I smiled at the descriptions of ‘Standard Dad’… but I felt their Dad made more of an effort than their Mom did. Their Mom did irritate me quite a bit.

I liked seeing Amanda interacting with Dawn through text and I could sense how difficult it was for Amanda to not have her best friend around. I did also feel a lot of sympathy for Sutton… but virtually none for Jonathan, who didn’t seem to have learned anything. The strongest aspect in this book, I felt, was Amanda’s fledgling relationship with her Dad.

I probably would read more books by this author in the future… potentially a sequel to this book, if it focused more on family than romance.