Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although I haven’t read any of the other books in this series, I still found this to be really easy to read and follow the storyline. I wasn’t entirely sure about all of the relationships between the characters, but I was drawn easily into the book and what was going on.

There were a lot of parts of this book that were really intense to read… and some that were particularly disturbing. I couldn’t really understand Jurek’s motivations… though they made a bit more sense by the time I reached the end of the book.

The aspect of the book about family members being taken and the others being left behind was pretty awful to read about. Although there was quite a bit of this book that required a large amount of suspension of disbelief, I was able to keep reading it and actually ended up reading the book quite quickly.

Although there was a bit confusion with all of the third person narratives, I did find the characters and their motives easy to understand… well, apart from Jurek. I quite liked reading about Reidar and Mikael interacting with each other and their relationship. It was interesting to see that there was very little strain between them… though I would have liked to see a bit more of their interactions with each other. I couldn’t help feeling emotionally connected to Felicia and how I imagine she must have felt.

The psychiatric facility where Jurek was being held came across as incompetent at best. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters working there and I felt at least one of the characters overstepped his bounds a lot.

I found Saga to be a really interesting character, though I was less than thrilled with the constant references to how beautiful she was. I don’t think it’s necessary to keep saying that about a character personally.

I think I would be interested in reading the other books in this series. It would be good to see more of the characters and the blurbs of the other books sounded really intriguing.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I found the blurb of this book to be really intriguing, but I have to say, when I started reading it, I was a bit confused about the world and what was going on there. The idea about a whole family having to sacrifice themselves for the crimes of one member was a really interesting one and I did find Lillian to be a well-rounded character. I could empathise with the way she was trying to just get through what she had to and how she was suffering because of what her father had done.

I wasn’t really that keen on Lucius as a character. It didn’t come as a surprise to me that he was married, but that did lower him quite a bit in my estimation… as did his attitude towards Lillian. There were times I felt really sorry for her and I could definitely understand how Rebecca felt about Lucius.

I was a bit confused by the different kind of bonds there seemed to be. The society was obviously an already-established one, but although there were bits and pieces about the history at the beginning of each chapter, it didn’t really explain much… or anything about what the warriors were actually supposed to do.

It did seem a bit strange that there was only one character who actually voiced the problems with the society and that a lot of the people inside seemed cruel at worst and self-centered at best. I did enjoy reading about Lillian’s relationship with her sister, though I had difficulty understanding her mother and her role in the society. There was some explanation provided as to why her mother and sister weren’t forced to go through the same thing as her, though, which was good.

I did notice that the book kept slipping between present and past tense, which was quite confusing at times. It was also interesting to see how Lillian kept up her mantra and tried to help the other Apprentices. And I liked seeing how they had to deal with the limitations placed on the world and society.

I was confused about the whole counterfeit thing and various other things that were mentioned in the book. I did find it fairly quick and easy to read, but I did struggle to see Lucius as one of the good guys.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although fairytale-based plots aren’t terribly unique, I did find this to be a really entertaining read. Parts of it made me think a little of Once Upon a Time, but it was different enough that, although it triggered thoughts of the series, I wasn’t picturing the characters from the show while I was reading this.

The idea behind this book was quite a unique one, though I did feel that the constant used of the word ‘bitch’ wasn’t necessary. There were times it felt like it was just used for the sake of it.

There wasn’t really any attempt made to hide the identity of any of the characters in the town, though I found it interesting that many of them had traits that were similar to their fairytale counterparts. At the same time, there were some very big differences to how I would have perceived the different princesses; such as Punzie being a stripper.

It was interesting to see the differences to the normal fairytales, such as in Bella’s story… and also Cindy’s. I would have liked to learn a bit more about their history and what the ‘true’ stories about them were.

I liked seeing Robin Hood and Tink in this book. It was interesting to see who the Judge was, though I didn’t really understand how she fit in and what her connection to Snow White was, even though it was mentioned in the book.

I thought the idea about the different nemesis was a pretty interesting one, but I was a bit confused about Bella’s. The other princesses had something I could recognise and their stories were at least similar to the legends I knew, whereas Bella’s came across as vastly different… though still really intriguing.

I thought the halfway house was interesting and it was good to see characters from other fairytales, too. I would have liked to know what happened to the other characters – such as Marion, who was mentioned but not shown much of.

The ending of the book was really intriguing and enough to make me want to read more. I would like to see more of the characters and the situation they found themselves in. And it would be good to know more about their pasts, too.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I found the cover of this book and the blurb to be really intriguing. I was entertained by this book as I read it, but I did waver about how many stars to give it as I reached the end.

I did feel that the idea behind this book was quite an intriguing one. I liked Jarrod and Eden as characters… but I wasn’t that keen on them together as a possible. I don’t know if it was just that I couldn’t get behind them as a couple, or that I wasn’t really sure why Eden was attracted to Jarrod… (It’s the whole vampire-falls-in-love-with-human thing again…)

What I did find interesting were the biblical aspects to this book and how the thirty pieces of silver were utilised, but for most of the book, I had no idea why the antagonist (I didn’t even realise he was the antagonist for over half of the book) was even searching for the silver… or how the other characters fit into the storyline.

I did feel that a lot of the book dragged somewhat. There wasn’t as much action as I was expecting and I didn’t really get a true explanation about everything that was going on. I was intrigued about the different characters, particularly those connected to Eden, but I didn’t really see enough of them. I felt the book was far more a romance than anything else.

I did feel the book was a bit abrupt towards the end. The ending wasn’t really very satisfactory. The bits from the past were intriguing, but I was really confused by what was going on there and how everything fit together.

I’m not sure I’ll read the next book in this series, if there is one. I had some questions answered by the end, but I felt that there was still a lot of the story that wasn’t really made clear. I think there was a lot of potential here, but although I found it easy to read (despite slightly messed-up paragraphs), there were things I would have liked to see explored that weren’t. Most of the action happened at the end and I struggled to read the parts that were just romance.