Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

This is another book I have a few mixed feelings about by the end.

I did know what I was getting into with this book. It’s like watching a slasher movie – I know how things are going to end, but I’m looking forward to something that’s going to entertain me.

Tony wasn’t really a character I could like or really relate to, though I felt the author did a good job of showing ‘the last straw’. There were parts of the book where I did feel a little sorry for Tony, but by the end of the book, that was pretty much gone.

I suppose the desire for revenge is something many people can relate to (including me), if not the main character himself. It was interesting to see Tony’s thought processes, too – and how what he thought differed to or was similar to reality.

There wasn’t a huge amount of mystery to this book, but there were one or two things that did surprise me. It was interesting how Tony seemed to degenerate further into madness as the book went on and how he was able to justify his actions to himself.

Some of the descriptions really made me cringe. The author did a particularly good job of painting mental pictures.

I couldn’t say for sure if I’ll read more books by this author. It probably ended the only way it could have done and was quick and easy to read.

(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 now, having reached the end. As it stands, I think I can only give it 3 stars.

A lot of the book seems to come across as a character study. Although I feel the police came across as kind of incompetent, it was interesting to see the way a celebrity’s life was changed by finding a dead body and there being evidence to link her to the murder.

I found it easy at times to relate to the main character, even though there was far too much switching between tenses. I liked reading about her relationship with her husband and daughter, as well as the attempts to form friendships with others outside of her family.

There were a couple of moments in the book where I found myself smiling a little. Despite the mixing of tenses, the book was easy to read, with enough mystery to keep me reading in the hopes of finding out what would happen.

Unfortunately, the ending of the book really pulled it down. There was no foreshadows in regards to what was revealed (at least in my opinion) and I was quite disappointed in it, to be honest.

I’m not sure if I would read other books by this author. I think it would depend on the book itself.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I’ve always loved interactive stories where the reader interacts with the world by making choices. I also really like paranormal romance. So this was an amazing combination of two of my favourite things.

I do think that the characters weren’t all as well developed as they could have been. I preferred Ryder’s storyline to Ivor’s, though the combination one was… interesting.

The variety of different creatures was quite interesting and I liked the fact that Charlotte’s power came from the moonlight. I thought Ryder was a more interesting character and how his storylines ended were really intriguing. Sometimes, though, the choices didn’t make a lot of sense – or, at least, the consequences of said choices didn’t make a lot of sense.

There was a good variety of choices and a good selection of endings, too. The colours didn’t really seem to mean a lot, though. I would like to know if there was some reason why each of the endings had a specific colour.

I did work through each of the storylines and found them all to be entertaining. Since the book wasn’t written in second person, it wasn’t quite how I was used to reading interactive choice stories. There wasn’t any ‘bonding’ with the POV character. This book was more like a series of short stories. That isn’t a bad thing, but when it comes to the stories with choices in, I quite like the second-person POVs.

I do have the other two books by this author on my Kindle and it would be interesting to see if the author comes up with any different ones.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Amnesia is something that’s used a lot in fiction. It’s always quite an interesting thing to see a character who doesn’t remember anything about his past. It was even more so to see a character in a fantasy world suffering from memory loss.

I did think that Arturo’s name shouldn’t have been referenced at the beginning. It wasn’t until later in the book that Arturo was told what his name actually was – but since the book was written from his POV, the readers shouldn’t have known his name.

The idea about the different worlds was quite an interesting one and a concept I would have liked to see further explored. The other characters were fairly interesting ones, too. I felt that I received some answers as the book progressed, but I was still left with many questions by the time I reached the end.

It was interesting to see all the different types of creatures. The cannibals were especially awful. The descriptions of those really creeped me out. I liked the use of the skeletons and the merpeople, too – though the merpeople situation was one that left me with more questions.

The circular effect did work quite well throughout the book, but it meant that the ending wasn’t really that satisfying.

The descriptions in the book worked really well and the main character was likable, which is always a plus. I’d definitely be interested in reading a sequel to this book and in checking out other books by this author.

(I received a free copy of this book from 47North, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

I hesitated a little bit over reading this. Although I really liked the idea, I was also aware of how many books have proved to be a disappointment due to insta!romance.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, though. Although there was an instant connection between the two characters, there was no instant love, which was a really nice change.

I really liked both of the characters, though I didn’t really like Collin at first. I did like Ellie and she was one of those characters who I was able to relate to straight away. I enjoyed reading about her relationships with the others and she was actually a likable character.

The idea of the gate and the curse was a fairly unique one. I liked the use of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. I think I would have liked some more details of the history behind the ancestors creating the curse. I’m always curious about origin stories.

The use of the different kind of myths was pretty interesting, too. It was nice to see how everything began, though I’m still not sure I understood everything that was going on. The idea behind the pure souls was fairly interesting, too.

I did like how Ellie’s and Collin’s relationship formed. I felt it came across as really realistic and I could really believe in it. I felt the author took the time to allow the characters’ relationship to progress easily and naturally.

I felt the book was really well-written and there were some humorous moments in the writing as well. The ending was quite intriguing and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I would ideally give this book 3.5 stars, but I’ll leave it as 3, since I can’t give half stars.

This book was quite easy to get into and I think the author did a really good job of showing the time this book was set in. I really felt like I was back in the past, with the culture and how much things cost. (That’s a minor thing, but I think it’s something that’s very important to get right).

Out of the three main characters, I felt Ada was the only one whose storyline had a proper resolution. I would have liked to see more with the other two characters. The book was ended with the sense that it wasn’t the end of the story itself, but I felt there wasn’t much that was resolved when it could have been. By the end, however, it was clear how the lives of the three women intersected.

There were quite a lot of things in this book that really resonated with me. The thing with Michael was one of those. I felt it worked really well how the threads all weaved through, connecting the different characters and storylines.

The constant switching between POVs was quite confusing at times. Also, although I don’t mind if something’s written in present or past tense, I do have a problem when tenses switch with no warning/reason – and this happened a bit. I did find it a bit difficult to read at times because of that.

The PTSD aspects were handled fairly well, as were different characters’ reactions to it – at least in my opinion. This was an interesting book to read, but I don’t think I would read it a second time.