Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I found this book really entertaining to read. I liked seeing the friendship between Nicholas and Jaq… and it was good to see how different they were as people, as well as how their upbringing made them different people. I really liked the opportunity to see Nicholas interacting with his parents and the family dynamics there.

I did find the concept of the orb to be a particularly intriguing one, especially given how it seemed to respond to the people’s emotions. It was sad to see the negative impact that the power had on Jaq and how it affected his relationship with Nicholas… as well as the fact that he clearly didn’t understand what real love was.

I liked being able to see the different abilities awoken within Nicholas and Jaq and how they were able to play off each other. I did feel that there was a very real element of danger in this book, with the way the townspeople viewed magic and how things were later.

I would have liked a bit of explanation as to why different abilities were awoken in different people. Was it because of their personalities… or the emotions that they felt more deeply… or something else? I also thought that there were passages of time that were skipped over that could have been spent developing the relationships between the characters. I felt that both Jaq and Nicholas were drawn primarily to Mary because of how she looked. While Mary’s character did develop later on, I still found her a bit more difficult to understand than Jaq and Nicholas.

I really didn’t like Jaq’s father. Most of the other characters did have some redeeming qualities… but he was the only one who was a thoroughly unlikable character.

I did think this book was a really interesting ‘origin’ for All Hallows Eve. It was also nice to see that Nicholas and Jaq weren’t the only ones who were able to use magic… though it would have been good to get a bit more background on the characters like Yuki, for instance.

I’d be interested in reading a sequel to this book, especially since I noticed some problems for the characters in the future. But I would also be interested in reading more books by these authors in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Although I felt like I was missing some of the story, I did find this book really entertaining to read… even though it was especially short. I did find it a bit difficult to get to know all of the characters really well… but I did find it a really intriguing idea.

I would have preferred the present-day storyline to have been expanded and the flashbacks to have been minimised. Although there were some nice elements of foreshadowing, I kept getting confused about which character was which.

It was nice to see that Sam had a relationship outside of his work on Rescue One, but I would have liked some more details about the personal relationships that some of the other crew members had. Although the flashbacks did provide some details, the characters like Jack had family mentioned that were never referred to in the present day.

I liked the fact that there were some elements of mystery through this book and it was good to see something of the friendships in the crew. I did, however, spend a lot of the book trying to figure out exactly who was playing what role. I think I’d figured it out a bit more by the end of the book.

I liked the fact that, at the start, the crew had to make the decision whether to obey the orders they were given, or carry out their true mission. I found it easy to identify with the conflict they were experiencing then… and I did feel a lot of sympathy for Sam and the rest of the crew when the real contents of the ship at the beginning were revealed.

I found Chris to be quite an interesting character, even though I didn’t really know him very well and was about as suspicious as the rest of the crew were of him. I didn’t really like him being teabagged… although the misunderstanding about it did make me giggle at probably an inappropriate moment.

I did think there was a lot of tension during the book and I especially liked the ending. This book did succeed in making me want to read the next book/s in this series in the future.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I thought the idea behind this book was a really intriguing one. It was interesting to see someone creating an amusement park involving supernatural creatures… and I liked the fact that things looked so different to how they really were.

It was good to see the friendship between Wyatt, Howard and Melvin. I did feel some sympathy for Melvin and how he was treated by other people. It was understandable to see that he felt like an outcast… though he did come across as quite a bit younger than he really was.

I thought it was good to see Wyatt’s relationship with his stepfather. It was also interesting to get a glimpse into the mind of one of the zombies and the fact that he still knew what he’d become, despite not being able to control his hunger.

I did think there was a lot that was creepy about Monsterland, even before everything started going wrong. I did feel sympathy for the characters like Billy, but it would have been nice to get more details about why so many of them were being taken away.

I really didn’t like Raoul, even though I did find the vampires to be interesting. I wasn’t sure I really understood everything about the supposed safety measures… and although it was interesting to see how people viewed the Monsterland theme park, it would have been good to see a bit more of the people in the town.

I did enjoy seeing the whole debate between Wyatt and his friends about which supernatural creature was the strongest and I thought that they came up with a lot of good points. There were a couple of scenes that I felt shouldn’t have been summarised over… especially when Carter’s job suddenly changed.

It was good to see the characters having to deal with the supernatural creatures no longer being safely behind bars and I did like seeing how Billy interacted with the other members of his pack.

I’d be interested in reading a sequel to this book in the future… as well as checking out other books by this author.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

When I read the blurb of this book, I was immediately intrigued… if a little hesitant, due to quite a number of bad experiences with good-sounding books.

I liked Kenna’s character in this book. While I did think there were a few instances where there was a lack of foreshadowing… and several instances of info-dumping… I found Kenna to be a fairly strong character. It was interesting to see her having to deal with the abilities she had and how those made her an outcast in her school.

I did enjoy seeing Kenna’s friendship with Fiske and Parker. It was good to see that she did have friends who she confided in… even though there were times they seemed a bit wrapped up in each other.

It wasn’t very hard for me to figure out who Luka was… but it was interesting to read the conversations about the myths and what the characters said about Ragnarok. Plus, it was really good to see that the author didn’t go for the really obvious bad guy.

I did feel like there was a bit too much telling rather than showing going on, such as Kenna’s relationship with her mother. Plus, there was a lot of repetition about Kenna’s upbringing and how she had to fend for herself.

It was interesting to see how Kenna viewed Kari and I liked the fact that she considered Kari to be a person separate to herself. It was good to see that, although she was drawn to Luka and attracted to him, it didn’t feel like a love at first sight situation. I wasn’t sure I was entirely happy with the way things did go… but the situation did feel easy and natural to the characters.

I also liked that, although Kenna had feelings towards Luka, she also had her own life to live. But my hackles did get raised when Luka was jealously possessive of her and it was good to see she wasn’t cowed by it.

I’d like to read the next book/s in this series. It would be good to see Kenna develop her abilities and to learn more about her past with Luka. I did find this book entertaining and easy to read and I would check out other books by this author in the future.