Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although this book was the second in the series (which meant I missed the explanation parts in the first book), I still found this book really easy to follow.

I found the concept of the Spellweaver to be quite an intriguing one, even though I didn’t know how that was passed down or what the history was. I did find it interesting that there were two different worlds, though I would have liked more details about how exactly they worked.

I quite liked Hollie and Jamie in this book, as well as Felicity. I found Oliver to be quite an interesting character. I would have liked to see a bit more of him. When it comes to interesting villains, I think he fits that criteria.

I can’t say the same about the members of the cult. I really couldn’t understand their reasoning at all.

There were a lot of parts in the book where I felt bad for Felicity. Even though there were a few occasions where I came close to losing my empathy for her, I still felt bad for her at times and I felt that the other characters didn’t really understand her in the way they should have done all the time.

I did feel that the plot of this book was really intriguing and there was real danger there. The book kept me reading throughout and was a really quick, easy read. I’d probably read the next books in the series at some point in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve read (and seen) quite a lot of fiction about mermaids, so with reading a new book about mermaids, it’s always interesting to see where the author might take it.

When I read the blurb of this book originally, I thought it was going to be much less serious and more of a spoof book about mermaids. I was pleasantly surprised that there were actually quite a few serious moments in this.

The characters were interesting, as were the glimpses of the society that Sirena and her daughters were from. I would have liked to know a bit more about them, such as why they only had female children and had to use male humans to procreate. I also would have liked to know a bit more about what the mermaids looked like and how they differed to humans. That wasn’t very clear.

I was quite intrigued about Sirena’s history with the humans and I liked her and Joe’s relationship. There were some moments that made me smile when I was reading the book, especially when there was the conversation about dolphins throwing things back at humans.

I wasn’t that keen on the multiple first person POVs. It’s a style choice I struggle with, especially when the chapters are so short, I’m only in one character’s head for a short while before being pulled into the next one’s.

Generally, I did feel that the characters were interesting and well-written. It was good to read the interactions between them and even though I would have liked to see more of the world, the glimpses I did get were intriguing and made me want to see the rest of the world and more of its characters. I’ll probably read the sequel to this book at some point in the near future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have a few mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it was an interesting look at the lifestyle and the community. On the other hand, I didn’t really feel like the characters’ limits and safewords were really respected as much as they could have been. I felt that there were a lot of issues of commitment.

The characters themselves were fairly interesting. I liked the different layers to them. This was the third book in a series, but I still found it fairly easy to read and follow. I also liked the fact that there was a plot as well as all the scenes going on between the characters.

I found it really easy to understand and empathise with the characters. Although there were quite a lot of them, I could mostly differentiate between the separate characters. I appreciated the fact that a contract was used in at least one of the scenes, but some of the things that were done really made me cringe and seemed to skirt the line of non-consensual.

Although I could see a lot of the events happening in my mind, I did notice that this book kept switching between past and present tense, which was quite distracting to read, especially when it did that on the same page.

Probably my favourite part of this book was the relationship between Trace and Micah. That seemed to almost end with a resolution, while I felt that the others still didn’t really come to a conclusion I was all that happy with.

I’m not sure if I’d read the other books in this series. It would probably depend on the plots and I’d have to judge on a book by book basis. I would check out other books by this author in other series, though.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I did like reading this third book in the series, but the chapters did switch between first and third person, which – next to multiple first person POVs – is one of the writing styles I’m not so keen on.

It was good to see more of Dante and Clare and Lily. I felt that Lily’s story was a bit more interesting than Clare and Dante’s. Although learning about the history of the world was interesting, I did feel that there was a bit too much info dumping at times.

It was good to see the different people’s reactions to the society they lived in and how they dealt with the restrictions placed on them. I felt the author showed those differences really well. I also liked Arturo’s character more in this book. I liked his friendship with Lily, even if I found myself a bit unsure of him at various points through the book.

It was also good to see the different ways the various societies utilised seeds. I liked the Easter egg hunt… and, again, I liked the use of prayer and Bible passages in this storyline as well.

I was a bit disappointed not to see anything of the people left behind by the characters. It would have been nice to see more of Clare and Dante’s mother. And also Lily’s.

There were some nice emotional scenes in this book, especially towards the end. I’d like to read the next book in the series at some point in the future. I’d really like to see what happens next with the characters.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I wasn’t expecting this book to be quite as an intense read as it actually was. Apart from some initial confusion between the characters, I quickly found myself drawn into the world and able to empathise with the four characters.

I felt that the relationship forming came across as very real and natural. It wasn’t perfect, but there was real conflict there that helped make it believable, even if the relationship itself wasn’t very conventional.

One of the interesting things about this book was the way other characters, when they knew about it, viewed the relationship. I felt those reactions came across as quite realistic and I could see a lot of where they were coming from… even if there were certain things I really didn’t agree with.

I really liked how there was equal parts plot and character development as well as the romance. There were some really quite intense scenes and although some of the language used made me cringe, that was more because I’ve yet to come across words during a sex scene that don’t inevitably draw that reaction.

I really liked the way the author took the time to develop the relationships between the characters, though I really only saw glimpses of Alek and Luka… and those kind of troubled me a lot of the time.

The emotions in this book came across really well and kept me fully invested in the plot and the characters. This type of book probably isn’t for everyone, but I found it intensely emotional and worth reading.