Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

While I was reading this book, I couldn’t help noticing that the main character, Aoife, had a whole slew of ‘fake curse words’… which were quite amusing, but they did actually detract a little bit from the story itself, especially during the scenes where Aoife and Kostya were having sex.

I did find the very first scene to be really intriguing and it did a good job of setting the scene… though I had a strong dislike of Bee right from the start. While I did question why Aoife wasn’t trying to get in touch with her brother and sister at times, I kind of found it understandable why she wasn’t working at it harder.

I haven’t read the books in the other series that takes place in the same world as this, but I did find this book very easy to follow. There were times I actually found myself laughing outright… particularly when it came to Jim. But Jim’s exchanges with Aoife were amusing as well.

I did think there was a little too much in the way of ‘spunky heroine’. While it was good to see that Aoife wasn’t perfect and that she did get captured… I did think some of her decisions were dangerous and naive. There were quite a few moments while reading this book that I wanted to reach into the pages and shake some sense into her.

I thought the idea of the curse was an especially intriguing one, though I didn’t really understand much about how the septs worked and why Kostya and Drake were presumably part of one. Still, I felt an awful lot of sympathy for them and cringed along when they were forced to hurt each other… and couldn’t even understand what each other were saying. (I don’t always get along with my siblings, but I would be devastated if I couldn’t talk to them).

While Jim was finding out bits of information, I would have liked some of that shown to me. Aoife didn’t seem that interested in asking questions. Or keeping herself safe. While I admired her ability to come up with some really random ‘fake curses’… I really couldn’t call her a capable planner.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having read the previous book in this series, I was glad to see that this one picked straight up where the previous one left off.

I liked learning a bit more about how the blood bond worked between Abel and Kane, but I was less than thrilled with the potential love triangle between her, Mikey and Kane. There were some things that made me cringe a bit while reading this book… in particular those scenes that seemed, to me, to be assault at the very least.

It was interesting to see more of Kane’s kind and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the members Crestor had taken. I really didn’t like him at all and he gave me the creeps all through his scenes with Abel and Mikey.

I also liked learning more about the culture generally and even though I didn’t like the love triangle, it was good to learn more about Mikey’s character. I especially liked being able to see that he had a lot of depth to him… and that the problems with addiction were handled and dealt with quite well, even though I wasn’t sure exactly what drove him to drink alcohol.

I did find some of the scenes in this book hard to read and it definitely came across well that Abel was a survivor. I felt that she had as much depth in this book as the first one, even though I didn’t necessarily feel that she should have survived everything she was able to.

I would have liked to be able to see more of the relationship between Kane and Mikey, as all I saw was them being rivals for the same girl. I did also like seeing Ashlynn towards the end of the book and it was nice to see how she was coming more into her own.

Kane was a little scary at certain points in this book, but I did feel a lot of sympathy for him. I really didn’t like Elise… but I thought it was interesting to see how one of their kind was treated and there was a lot of tension at the beginning and towards the end of the book, even though the middle did drag a little.

I definitely intend to read the next book/s in this series at some point in the future.

(This review may contain spoilers).

This is the first time I’ve read a book by John and Carole Barrowman (or even by just one of them) and I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

The idea of being able to control things/do something through singing isn’t a new idea (I’m thinking primarily of Sirens), but I thought this was a very unique twist on the older idea. While I haven’t read the other books set in this world, I found this fairly easy to follow, but I was a bit confused about whether I was in the present or in Remy’s past towards the start of the book.

I did think that the opening scene did a good job of drawing me into the mystery surrounding the Conjurors, even though the bluebottles gave me mental images that left me shuddering.

I did find the main characters to be interesting and that they had a lot of depth… but I would have liked to see more of the background of the Grand Inquisitor and Don Grigori. In this first book in the series, I didn’t feel that they had a lot of depth past being bad guys. I was intrigued by the mention of Don Grigori having possibly have been human once.

I thought it was good to see so much tension throughout the book and it was especially good to have the opportunity to get to know Remy’s aunt and mother and something of their lineage. I was especially curious about Remy’s power to create food and the like and I wondered if it was creating something from nothing… or if the rules worked in a different way than what was immediately obvious.

It was also good to see some of the other abilities come into play, such as Matt and Em being able to travel using paintings, though I would have liked a bit more detail about how their abilities worked. I especially liked it when Em created a car for them to use… and the reaction when it was taken later on.

There were a few humorous moments that worked really well to lighten the story a bit and I especially liked seeing Matt’s interactions with Caravaggio. I was a bit confused about Zach and if he was signing because he was deaf (which was my original assumption), but I liked the glimpses I saw of his relationship with Em. However, I also liked that the sibling relationship was a really important aspect.

When I have more time and money, I definitely intend to read more books in this series and hopefully other books by these authors. This book was fast and easy to read and I’d like to see more of the characters in the future.