Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Alice in Wonderland has always intrigued me, partly because it’s generated so many spin-offs. And also because of the other-world plot.

I found this book to be a really entertaining read, though I still really don’t like the constant switching between two different first person characters. It wasn’t as bad as some books (I was able to tell who was who), but it’s a style choice I struggle with reading.

I felt this was a really good twist on the usual Alice in Wonderland story. The usually recognisable characters were darker than normal and a bit more… mad, I suppose. The flashbacks were a bit interesting, but I felt they might have worked better if the book was in two parts/had a prologue.

I felt a lot of the main characters were well-developed, though very few of them were likable. I was a bit disappointed to see Chez as a villain, but that’s probably because I really love cats.

I’m not sure what it says about me that I was actually able to understand a lot of the madness running rampant in this book. Love and hate being upside down came across really well, but I felt that Wonderland seemed more like a dream world than a truly parallel one – at least at times.

I would have liked to know a bit more about the Mad Hatter. The Joker was a really sadistic character who made me shudder every time he appeared.

The candies angle was quite an interesting one. I found this book to be really well-written, though I think I need to take a bit of a break from insanity now. I would be interested in reading more books by this author in the future, though.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I haven’t read the first two books in this trilogy, so I appreciated having a summary of the first books at the start of this one.

I felt this was quite a unique take on the time travel and parallel worlds. It took me a little while to understand what was going on with the virus and why Eva had different memories, but once I got into the book, it became really easy to read.

There were quite a few things I liked about this book. Matthias was an interesting character and I liked reading about his relationship with Seth, though I would have liked to see a bit more of their history. There were a few times when I got somewhat confused with the different characters, but for the most part, I liked a lot of them. Well, except for Cassius. I couldn’t see anything that wasn’t evil about him.

I did like Seth and Eva’s relationship and them both as characters. I could really believe in the feelings they had for each other and I appreciated that Seth didn’t fall apart completely when things happened to Eva. He was still capable of doing things, even when he was really worried/desperate for her safety.

I… wasn’t so taken by the way loads of women seemed to be eyeing Seth up. I have problems with male or female characters becoming the ‘optimum male/female’. Of course, it wasn’t anything like as bad as some of the books I’ve read, but even so…

The book was well-written, but I didn’t think it was necessary to keep switching between third and first person. That did make it a bit hard to read.

At some point in the future, I would definitely like to read the other books in this trilogy.

(I received a free copy of this book, from Curiosity Quills Press, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I was really taken by the blurb of this book. Although young adult paranormal books can often be a bit hit and miss with me, I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought that Emma was a really intriguing character and I could really empathise with her – especially with her trust issues.

Although I don’t agree with love at first sight, I liked the way it was handled here, since it didn’t actually come across as ‘true love’.

I really liked a lot of the characters in the book. It was an interesting twist how Emma brought back the wrong people, but I really liked the relationships she formed with them. Even Jake, who was kind of a jerk at first, came across as a much better, well-rounded character. And a lot of the stories did have a satisfactory ending, even though they didn’t really end as ‘happily ever after’.

I liked Emma’s relationship with her parents, even though they were a bit strange at times. I could tell they were trying to do the right thing for their daughter. It was really good that even the characters who didn’t seem like very nice people came across as really well-rounded and not completely mean.

I definitely want to read the next book in this series. The blurb at the end makes me think I’ll probably like it just as much as this one, if not more. If you like young adult paranormal books, this is definitely one that’s a good read. And it doesn’t have vampires.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I did have to wait a little while to read this book, but once it did finally arrive, I found myself really enjoying it.

Astrid was quite an interesting character. I felt her way of speaking came across really well – I could almost hear her street voice. I also liked the relationships she formed with the other characters. I especially liked how resourceful she was, without being over the top.

I liked quite a few of the other characters, too, though I got a bit confused with some of them at times. I felt there was a nice variety of characters and that the challenges they faced came across as really real.

I was a bit confused about the setting of this book. There were times I felt it was set in an alternate Victorian London and other times when it just seemed to be set in a different world altogether. I liked the Atlantis-angle used in the book, too.

There were some amusing moments in the book, but I do think that Astrid was referred to as ‘the little witch’ far too many times.

All told, I did quite enjoy reading this book and I thought it was mostly well-written, though I did notice a number of errors. The characters were well-written and it kept my attention throughout. If there’s a sequel to this book, I would probably read it at some point in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve read and enjoyed the first two books in this series, so when the author offered me the chance to read the prequel, I jumped at it.

It was really interesting to see the story of Gemma’s parents. Although I don’t tend to like more than one first person POV-characters, this wasn’t as unbearable as some of them and at least there were only two characters.

I did really like Nora and Paul’s relationship. I felt that the author did a good job allowing the relationship to develop easily and naturally. I did also feel really bad for the relationship Nora had with her parents. I can’t imagine how awful that is.

I did feel that, out of the supporting characters, only Cheung was the one who was fully developed. It would have been nice to see a bit more with the other characters – and I would have liked to see more of the Aversions. I always think those are quite interesting to read about.

I found this book to be really well-written, with the main characters interesting and engaging. It would have been nice if it had been longer, but I did like the way it ended.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

So… it’s become even more official. This series of books is my favourite and I’m really happy that there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight so far.

I felt that this book was a little less chaotic than the previous one. It was still nice to see the other characters and how their relationships were going, but I felt that a bit more time was spent on Blaine’s and Tiffany’s story.

It was really nice to see that the characters had their own lives outside of the relationship forming between them. I really liked how Tiffany still cared so much about her daughter and didn’t put Blaine before her.

I did feel this book was a bit… raunchier than the ones I read previously. It was actually kind of hot in places, but I think I was blushing for a lot of the book.

I did find myself on edge a bit during the course of the book. It was nice that there was a plot to go along with all the X-rated stuff.

I liked the other relationships that the characters were forming. It was nice to see the overlap between previous romances and romances to come. The characters are interesting and engaging and I like how much emphasis is placed on family. The characters come across as real people and ever time I pick up one of these books, it now feels like I’m greeting friends.

Although there was a lot of adult content in this book, it was still really sweet and I liked the relationships involved. I definitely look forward to the later books… and at some point, I will read the other books in this series I haven’t had a chance to read yet.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

So… I was really gripped by the plot of this book, hence why I requested a copy from NetGalley. I’m happy to say that, when I received a copy of this book, it lived up to my expectations.

The two storylines running parallel to each other were quite intriguing. I’m not sure if they were different worlds or different times, though, but I really liked both of the storylines and how different questions were answered by the end of the book.

The use of the tarot cards was a pretty good one and I felt the idea with them was a pretty unique one.

I did like the characters in the book, particularly Matyas and Simon. Matyas was an interesting character, because I felt that he was quite well-rounded and came across as a real person, complete with imperfections and times when he failed. I liked him more by the end of the book. Simon was also quite an interesting character and although there were mistakes he made, I could understand why he acted the way he did.

I did like Simon’s relationship with his father, though I did think that there was a bit too much summarising at certain points in the book.

I liked the fact that I could recognise some myths in this book, too. It was good to see some of that inspiration.

I think this book is worth reading and I would definitely look at more books by this author in the future. I felt that everything fit together really well and it made sense in the end. Plus, it kept me reading throughout and I liked the characters. There were some creepy scenes in the book that worked really well, too.