Ink of Blood

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I found this book to be a really intriguing read. It drew me in faster than I was expecting it to and I found myself really caring about the characters.

I was really confused by the different characters at first, but as they came together on the ranch, it became quite clear how they all fit together. I didn’t actually like Amethyst in this book, I have to say. I liked Clark and the odd mix of being polite, but also quite crude at times, that he demonstrated.

I liked Garth and Georgette as characters. I’d thought they were too good to be true at first, but as the book went on, I thought they were both really sincere people. I also thought that Jeremiah and Zachariah’s reactions to suddenly having a new brother came across really well. I did feel sympathy for them, even though it wasn’t Clark’s fault what was going on.

The ability Clark had in regards to the dead was really interesting, but I was a bit confused by how it worked for quite a while. His interactions with Eric were really good to read and there were a lot of parts to the book that were quite emotional to read.

The setting of this book came across really well. There were some more details that I felt could have been expanded upon, but it was pretty intriguing to read about the different types of technology that was in this world.

There were parts of the book where Amethyst seemed to mature somewhat as a character, but those changes didn’t seem to stick, especially with Joseph’s appearance. I thought that Amethyst was really quite shallow and she didn’t grow in the way she should have done by the end. How things went with her and Clark was a bit disappointing, given her apparent lack of growing up. In many ways, I think the romance could have been left out… or used as more of a side part of the story.

I was intrigued enough by this book to want to read the next book/s in the series. It would be good to see more of the characters and the world.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

This book was quite an intense read. It kind of thrust me straight into the action, giving me the opportunity to see the aftermath of Louise’s life falling apart.

From the very beginning of the book, it’s clear that Louise and Brooke are keeping a major secret. Although it wasn’t until much later that I was able to see Brooke and Louise before the events of that night, it was clear through dialogue and the thoughts of the characters that it had a major effect on them.

I didn’t like Michael as a character at all. Even though he did obviously care about his children, I lost any of my sympathy for him after the way he treated Brooke. And I had a lot of contempt for Denise in this book. There was nothing redeeming about her that I could see. I would have liked to see more background to Louise’s relationship with her parents and sister, since all I saw were reasons they shouldn’t have been close enough for Denise to be her bridesmaid.

I did like Dominic’s character. I felt really sorry for him, as an innocent who had no part in what was going on… but was badly affected by the actions of his family.

I didn’t really like Louise or feel much sympathy for her. While I did think the author did a good job of showing the despair and desire to give up and die she had, I also felt she came across as very selfish and that she didn’t care about her family.

I did have a lot of sympathy for Brooke. In the flashbacks, she came across as a character with more morals than her mother.

There was a lot of tension in this book. Although I did figure out the significance of the type of birds fairly early on, there was still a lot of mystery surrounding those and the glove.

The mystery and tension in this book was engaging enough to keep me reading. There were some really disturbing parts of the book, in particular towards the end.

The book was entertaining to read and did a good job of pulling me into the story, despite some of the characters being less than sympathetic.

Although I don’t intend to re-read this book, I would read other 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).

After having read this book accidentally earlier, I re-read it today and found myself enjoying it just as much the second time round.

I did like seeing the relationship between Alex and Halle. Even though they were very young, I still thought they had some really sweet moments during this book. There was quite a bit of action going on here, but it was still good to be able to see the characters interacting with each other.

This book was really easy to read. It was short, but I felt it was well-written. Halle did irritate me a little during this… I thought that she was putting herself in unnecessary danger. I did enjoy reading about the friendship she formed with Wyatt, though. I found myself quite liking Wyatt as a character, despite what his first appearance seemed to suggest.

Although there was quite a bit of tension in this book, there wasn’t much mystery. It was clear from the start who the bad guys were… but I did think the author did a good job of showing how Halle put everything together to come to that conclusion.

I liked seeing Halle and Blakeley interacting and I would have liked to see more of them having a nice, sisterly relationship. I also would have liked to see more of Izzy and Alex and their relationship. There were times it felt like Halle was more upset about Alex than Izzy was… though I suppose Izzy was caught up in the new relationship she was in.

There weren’t too many minor characters in this book, which was good in a way, since a lot of characters can be confusing. However, apart from Missy, there didn’t seem to be a lot of other students around. I would have liked to see some more everyday interactions with other students at the school.

I liked seeing the use of text messages, since I felt it worked with the characters. I really didn’t like Mr. Davies, I have to say… even if there was some reference to him actually being a good man.

This book was really quick and easy to read. At some point in the future, I’d like to read Hush. And it would also be good to see more books in this series.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

I did like the general plot of this book, but I have to say, I had to take a star off the score, due to the pretty major similarities to the television series Smallvilles.

I thought it was interesting to learn about the geodes and how they affected the environment around. It was interesting to see that two halves apparently had the ability to heal, while another half had the ability to evolve a computer.

I did find Gretchen to be an interesting character. She was the only one I couldn’t name a Smallville counterpart for and it was interesting to see her having to deal with moving to a new town. I also liked seeing her relationship with her parents… I would have liked to see a bit more of them as a family unit. And I would have liked to see Derek’s relationship with his parents a bit more, too.

It was interesting to see that Justin had had asthma as a child. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get out of seeing him as a version of Lex Luthor. Whether this was intended to be a fan fiction modified for print, or the similarities were just coincidence… I think it’s hard not to picture the show while reading this. When I mentioned some of the plot points to my sister, she immediately agreed… and she’s seen hardly any of the series.

I felt that this book could have done with being expanded somewhat. It was short and it was easy to read. Some of the characters were well-defined, but it would have been nice to see more of their history together.

It was interesting to see the way Gretchen’s computer interacted with her and I did think the author did a good job of showing how Gretchen’s ability seemed to develop through the course of the book. I did like that this book was a self-contained story and didn’t really end on a cliffhanger.

I’m not sure I’d read the next book in this series, I have to say. It would have been a four-star read… but it just didn’t seem all that unique and most of the characters seemed to have mirrors in Smallville. It was disappointing to see so much that was the same.

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

(This review may contain spoilers).

Considering that I’ve had some different experiences with young adult books, although I really wanted to read this, I was also a bit hesitant, due to many falling into the same category.

First of all… there wasn’t a love triangle involving Cara. Well, not exactly… but it was nice not to see a girl torn between two guys. Though I haven’t read the synopsis for the sequel, so for all I know, there could be a love triangle there.

I blame being absolutely shattered yesterday for the fact that I missed some very obvious clues about the identities of some of the characters. There was nothing wrong with the writing… it was very much more because I was missing all sorts of things. I liked Lance, Percy and Wyn as characters. It was interesting to see that Cara could see things when she touched one of the boys… though I didn’t actually clock the reason for some of those memories until much later and the explanation was one that I thought really worked well. The events towards the end of the book tied in really well to those at the start.

I liked Cara as a character and I could empathise with her really well. I had a lot of sympathy for her, due to her being treated as an outcast. It was nice to see her become friendly with Lance when he started treating her like a person and not a freak.

I found myself drawn really easily into the writing and I liked the fact that Cara didn’t just believe everything off the bat. Her exchanges with the voice inside her mind were really sweet and I liked the opportunity to get to know more of this version of the characters and the legend. I was also really happy to see there wasn’t love at first sight, even if there was some form of attraction.

This book did end on something of a cliffhanger, but it was good to see that a lot of the plot was resolved. I would be interested in reading the sequel to this book in the future… probably enough to purchase it when I have the money to do so.