Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I really did like this book. There are a few that can draw me in from the first couple of sentences and this was definitely one of those books.

I really liked Yuiv and Sitrell in particular. Sitrell was a fantasy hero I could really get behind and he came across as really well-rounded, with a lot of depth.

The little snippets at the beginning of each chapter really intrigued me, though it wasn’t until towards the end of the book that I realised how they were linked to the general plot of the book.

I particularly liked the world that was created in this book. The different kinds of abilities made a lot of sense and it was interesting to see the different peoples that populated the world. I thought it was really good how the two peoples had good and bad members, rather than one of the peoples being purely good or purely evil. The bad characters also had strong motives for what they were doing, which is always a plus.

I felt that Yuiv was the character who went through the most growth. I was able to empathise with him during the course of the book and I really liked his relationships with Sitrell and Tyra.

Etai was also an intriguing character, even though I didn’t see a lot of him. It would be really good to see more of him in later books.

I did think that this book was really well-written with intriguing, well-rounded characters. I would recommend this as a good book to read if you like fantasy. I will definitely be checking out other books by this author in the near future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I think I did like this book a bit more than the first one. The action started a bit faster and it was good to see characters from the first book, as well as new ones.

I was quite intrigued by Fleet and the other characters’ reactions to him. I’m not sure exactly what I thought of him personally, but I would like to see more of him and learn a bit more about his relationship with his brother.

It was really good to see Infiniti and Trent again and it was really interesting to learn more about how they were involved, in particular Infiniti – though I was left with some questions.

I also liked Dominique’s and Farrell’s relationship more in this book. There was something really sweet about it – and I particularly liked the glimpse of their past relationship.

I found that a lot of the book was quite tense and contained enough action and mystery to keep me avidly reading. This was really well-written and although it didn’t end the way I hoped, I’ve found myself more and more invested in the series. I’m definitely going to read the next book at some stage.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Ideally, I would give this book 3.5 stars. It seemed to pick up more as the story progressed, but I did find it a little difficult to get into at first.

The blurb of this book didn’t actually give much of the story away. I did know before I started reading that this was the second in a series, but I still found this book fairly easy to read.

I did waver a bit about how I felt in regards to Ali. There were times I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her. The other characters were fairly interesting, but there were one or two occasions where Ali came across as fairly self-centred. Some of the really minor characters were intriguing, but apart from the unnamed cheerleader, there seemed to be very few students at the school.

The idea about Essence was a really unique one and I would have liked to know more about how it all worked. The Weres and Fangs were also interesting twists and, again, something that intrigued me.

I think some of the supporting characters could have been a bit better developed – in particular the fledglings. When it came to the battles, it was difficult to care about the loss of characters I hadn’t really met.

I did like Krysta and Sammael as characters. They were both ones I’d like to see more of in other books. I did like Ali and Kian’s relationship. It was nice to see there were some conflicts, which made their relationship more realistic.

I did feel some sympathy towards Dumah, though she creeps me out a lot. I was absorbed by the end of the book and I would be interested in reading other books in this series at some point in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was quite a good first-person POV book. I was really relieved to see that the author stuck to one character’s perspective.

I felt that the nine-lives thing was quite an interesting twist on the reincarnation storyline. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always been somewhat fascinated by the theory of reincarnation – and this was a fairly unique way of looking at it.

I did like Dominique as a character. She was easy to relate to and fairly likable. I wasn’t so keen on the love triangle, though it was less of an irritation than most love triangles in books. I felt that the relationship and love between her and Trent wasn’t as well developed as it could have been.

I did like the supporting characters, especially Abigail. I felt that they were fairly well-developed and interesting. It was also nice to see ‘normal’ humans playing a big part, too. I especially liked Jan and Infiniti, too.

The idea about Pure and Tainted was a fairly intriguing one, but I’m not sure what part, if any, genetics play. There were one or two things that did confuse me throughout the course of the book, but for the most part, I could understand what was going on.

The book was really well-written, with interesting characters and a plot that kept me reading. I have the next book in the series, but I would definitely be interested in checking out more books by this author in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ll be honest here. If I’d realised this was a vampire romance, I probably wouldn’t have read it. I’ve come across some vampire romances that were written well… but I’m afraid this wasn’t one of them.

I was really intrigued by the blurb of this book. When I read that, I really did want to read the book. And, also, the first chapter really grabbed my attention and made me want to read more, despite the vampire romance angle. Unfortunately, when the POV switched over to Anna, I couldn’t bring myself to empathise with her. The main difficulty may have been the constant switching of first-person POVs. I kept getting dizzy and wasn’t able to ‘settle’ in one character’s head before being pulled into the next one’s.

I did like some of the secondary characters, which made me waver in adding an extra star. Unfortunately, the interesting relationship between Victor and Kayden was overshadowed by Kayden falling in love with Anna.

I couldn’t really see any of the characters as ‘good guys’, except maybe Meg and Simon. Victor’s responsibility for what happened to Simon really destroyed any hope of me liking him as a character, to be honest. Shade was an interesting character, but I didn’t like the strong hints of him also developing an obsession with Anna.

There were a lot of errors in this book, which also made it difficult to read. With a proofreader and sticking to one POV (two from first person is pushing it), I think this book could have been more readable, but I would have liked to see more depth to the characters. I also had no idea of where or when this book was set.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Ideally, I would have given this book 3.5 stars. It was an entertaining read, but I did feel that there was a bit too much telling rather than showing.

I did like Zack as a character, despite the fact he was a bit too innocent. He did come across as one of the nice guys and there were times I did feel a bit sorry for him.

The title could have applied to a lot of what happened in the book, which I did think was quite a clever thing to do.

I did also like Zack’s relationships with the other characters. I felt that some of the interactions could have been extended to have the writing showing the development of said relationships, rather than just summarising how conversations went and the feelings developed.

I have to say, there wasn’t a whole lot of mystery in this book, but I still found myself reading it quickly, wanting to see what would happen next. I did care about what happened to Zack.

This was a light, easy read and I would probably look at other books by this author at some point in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I downloaded this book from NetGalley, I couldn’t actually tell what it was about. (Apparently, it still hasn’t occurred to me to cross-check on here…) But I was intrigued by the front cover of this book. It’s one of the more appealing ones I’ve seen.

I was pulled quite easily into this book. The first person perspective worked for the most part, with the only exception being Allie referring to her eyes as being hazel. I understand the whole description angle, but I honestly don’t think that anyone who wasn’t quite self-absorbed would thing, ‘He looked into my hazel eyes…’

I was able to empathise with Allie fairly quickly, apart from that, though. She was well-rounded and her struggles to deal with separated parents really resonated with me. Plus, I really liked how her relationship with Nick developed over the course of the book. I felt that was one of the strongest aspects.

Aaron and Brooke did confuse me a little at the beginning. I wasn’t clear on how Brooke knew Allie and I think I would have liked to see something of their first meeting. Plus… the love triangle thing really didn’t sit right with me. In a way, it felt forced.

I liked Damien as a character and it was really good to see the whole mystery surrounding him. I felt there was some good use of foreshadowing through the book, though there were one or two scenes I felt weren’t necessary and didn’t add a great deal to the story.

Towards the end of the book, I did find it more intense, though I felt that switching to Damien’s POV didn’t really work and jarred me out of the story. I did like the ending of this book and I did think it all really worked well by the end.

I think I would probably be interested in reading the next book in this series sometime in the future. I did enjoy it and it was a really entertaining read.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I did find this book to be quite an entertaining, fast read. It took me a little while to truly get into George’s head, but as the book progressed, I did manage to get more into it.

The dragons angle was quite a good one, though I was a bit disappointed not to see anything of one of the main characters. I did like George’s friendship with Marcus – which I think is the right spelling, but the book’s upstairs and I’m downstairs, so I can’t check.

I liked the fact that there were the two different adventures running parallel to each other. There were some things that surprised me about the motivations of the characters and what was revealed about them.

I did like Augustus by the end of the book. Brenus was quite an intriguing character, too.

I did think that the language was a bit too modern at times. (The word ‘okay’ was used a lot), but for the most part, it did make me feel like I was back in Ancient Rome. I did notice a few errors in the writing, but nothing really major.

I also really liked the glimpses of Arthur. I would have liked to see more of him. I think I’d definitely be interested in reading other books in this series sometime in the future.