Release Date: March 1st 2016
Review
(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I have a few mixed feelings about this book. While I really liked the plot idea and the cover succeeded in drawing me in… I found the constant POV changes made this book more difficult to read than it should have been.
The reversal from the Robin Hood myth was a really intriguing idea and I did find both Julianna and Colin characters whose goals and motivations were easy to understand. It was nice to see Julianna’s friendship with Thatch and his father… though I would have liked to see more of her interactions with the other people in the forest. While it was good to see she didn’t forget them when she went to live with Colin, I did feel that she could have thought about them a little more.
Some of the things that Colin came out with during the course of the book did make me smile. I liked the fact that he and Julianna had met as children, though I felt that the scene could have been imparted more naturally through a flashback. Having it in the narration made it feel too much like information dumping.
While this book was short and really easy to read, I felt that the romance between Colin and Julianna felt forced and rushed. There were a lot of scenes that were glossed over… and, in fact, the amount of time spent on their conversations was much shorter than most of the other plots/characters in the book.
While I did think it was good to see some aspects of the historical settings, I felt that both Julianna and Colin acted a bit too modern at times. I did feel some sympathy towards Irene… but it was hard to see her as a developed character, due to only seeing her a small amount of times through the book.
Towards the end, I thought the action picked up and I did care about the fate of the characters, even though I couldn’t see the romance as very realistic. I have some mixed feelings about whether I’d read the other book/s in this series or not. It would have to depend on the length, since this book could really have done with being expanded upon.
Jody Hedlund is an award-winning and bestselling author of inspirational historical romances including books for adults and youth. She currently makes her home in central Michigan with her husband and their five busy children.
Ink of Blood 