Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I think I know bits and pieces about the Jewish faith, so I did find this book to be quite an informative read. I did feel that, although there were bits and pieces of action, a lot of the story was told in dialogue form… and although I did try to pay attention, I found myself skimming over the numerous stories. I do feel that telling the stories in flashback form would have drawn me in a lot easier than a stream of constant story-telling within the book.

I found the culture of the characters to be quite a fascinating one. The author did a good job of showing bits and pieces of both Wapasha’s culture and the Rabbi’s. There were bits and pieces of information that I found really quite intriguing – especially with the translations provided for the prayers and suchlike.

There was a nice variety of characters, though I did get a little confused with who some of them were at times. It was also nice to learn more about their work on the farm… and how they provided for themselves in the preparation of the meat to sell as Kosher.

I did feel that the author did a good job of showing Wapasha’s PTSD. I would have liked to see a bit more of that with the Rabbi. He was able to recognise the effects in Wapasha, but it would have been good to see Wapasha do the same.

I did find myself more drawn into Chaim’s story than any of the others. While I think it was a good concept to create bonds through sharing stories of the past, as I said earlier, I would have preferred to see the past told at least in flashbacks.

The book was fairly well-written, though I did notice a few issues with the formatting. It was good to see the details of Wapasha’s past… but it was really only him and the Rabbi who seemed to have more complicated histories.

I’m glad I received a copy of this book and was able to read it… but I’m not sure this would be a book I’d read again as it stands right now.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

It was quite a refreshing change to read a book that’s a paranormal romance but without any vampires. Though it was quite close with werewolves.

I always find reincarnation a really interesting concept, so it was pretty cool to read a book where it was a primary thing. I did like Stella and Roman as characters, but I did feel that there was a bit too much telling rather than showing, especially when it came to things about Stella’s past.

I would have liked to see more of Roman’s relationship with his ‘brothers’. Because a lot more time was spent on the romance, I felt that the family aspect of it was missed out quite a bit… so certain things didn’t affect me as a reader in the way they would have done if I’d been able to connect a bit more emotionally to the family dynamic.

It was interesting to see the Egyptian pantheon and I was intrigued to see how the author portrayed the gods from that… though I noticed it was fairly obvious who the ‘bad’ guys were. (I notice a lot with Greek mythology, too, that the villains are always the same…)

I can’t say I was too thrilled by the police force. It seemed to me that they were incompetent at best… and sexist/discriminatory at worst. It would have been nice to see more than the character who’s going to be the heroine in book two actually come across as one of the ‘good’ people.

I did like the romance aspects here. Although I felt the passage of time jumped a bit too much, I could believe in the relationship forming between Roman and Stella… even if I did feel a bit dizzy sometimes due to the mood swings both characters exhibited.

The book was mostly well-written, with good descriptions, but I did notice that there was a bit of scene jumping, which distracted me a bit when I was with one character grouping and suddenly with another one.

I did enjoy reading this book. I have the second one ready on my Kindle to read and it was a fairly unique plot idea. But I would have liked to see more of the family bonds and history along with the romance.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the first book in this series, but I still found this a really easy book to follow. Although there were quite a lot of different things going on in the story, I felt that the authors did a good job of exploring each different character arc.

I liked Syl a lot as a character, though I didn’t really like Ani. Even by the end of the book, I felt that Ani was a lot weaker than Syl was. I didn’t like how she interacted with the other Novices in the Sisterhood.

It was interesting to see the first book summarised in what was almost an article. I liked learning about the different powers that the Sisters had, even if I didn’t like many of them – though it would have been nice to see more of some of the actually ‘good’ characters.

I liked having the opportunity to see how things were going on Earth after the invasion and with the resistance. I was a bit disappointed to see that there didn’t seem to be that many of the good aliens.

I was a bit confused by how Syl fit in with everyone, but I liked the fact that she was intelligent enough to figure out how to try and get information from the Sisterhood. I would have liked to see a bit more of the lessons the lesser-Gifted students had, too.

I particularly liked the parts of the book with Paul and the rest of his team, though it seemed strange to me that the enemy would recruit those who fought against them. I did particularly like the hints of friendship between Peris and Paul. I also liked Tiray, to a certain extent… although I would have liked to learn a bit more about his character and motivations.

I would have liked to see more of the secondary characters, in particular Stephen and Alis and Thul and Rizzo. There were a couple of things in this book I saw coming, but others that did come as a surprise to me – and a surprise that actually made sense.

I would definitely like to see more of this world and the characters. I’d like to read the first book in the series at some point in the future.