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typedtruths 's review for:
Ruined
by Amy Tintera
4.5 stars
It’s taken me nearly two years of blogging to realise that I kind of suck at writing those glowing, five-star, positive reviews. Maybe it’s because I’m a little bit of a glass-half-empty sort of person and brilliant books don’t come my way all that often. If you were to give me a one-star mess of a book and I’ll happily tear it apart in a review for you, but when you give me a mind-blowingly amazing and completely captivating read, I’m stumped.
I honestly don’t know what to say other than the fact that I just did not expect to like this book. After the disaster that was Tintera’s [b:Reboot|13517455|Reboot (Reboot, #1)|Amy Tintera|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350931774s/13517455.jpg|19075624] series, how was I to know her fantasy series would be so much better? I think maybe a list will help? Lists are always good.
• This story wasn’t scared to get gritty. The first scene of this book is literally the protagonist murdering someone. Straight away we see that Em is a no-nonsense sort of person, and I loved that she was kind of scary and very Slytherin (which speaks to my soul) but interesting and different to the other YA fantasy protagonists.
• The romance made me swoon a million swoons. I know that that shouldn’t be the make or break thing in a book - especially a fantasy that should primarily be about the world/plot - but how could you not love Cas? I don’t even enjoy love/hate relationships most of the time or ones that are based off lies (as Em is undercover), but… I just couldn’t help it. Cas! <3
• Like I said, Cas was perfect. Cas was honestly everything I love in a character. His development across the story was just on point. I love seeing character overcome their prejudices. It’s one of my all-time favourite tropes. (If you love it too, read [b:Of Beast and Beauty|16113606|Of Beast and Beauty|Stacey Jay|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1370661183s/16113606.jpg|21930225]. I promise it’ll change your life).
• The sarcasm. I have literally mentioned this at least fifty thousand times to everyone who posts about this book, but just… the sarcasm! It was perfect. It literally had me laughing out loud like a lunatic. It just gave the story the perfect amount of comic relief it needed.
• The ending was an open ending, but not in a bad way. It wrapped up the story, but definitely left us with questions and the potential for a sequel (which is confirmed, so all is good).
Overall, this was the first YA Circle (my book club) read that I truly loved. I didn’t expect this author to wow me, but she did and I’ll be forever grateful for that. I’m holding out for the second book so bad… hopefully, 2017 will come quickly!
Review copy provided by the publisher for an honest review.
It’s taken me nearly two years of blogging to realise that I kind of suck at writing those glowing, five-star, positive reviews. Maybe it’s because I’m a little bit of a glass-half-empty sort of person and brilliant books don’t come my way all that often. If you were to give me a one-star mess of a book and I’ll happily tear it apart in a review for you, but when you give me a mind-blowingly amazing and completely captivating read, I’m stumped.
I honestly don’t know what to say other than the fact that I just did not expect to like this book. After the disaster that was Tintera’s [b:Reboot|13517455|Reboot (Reboot, #1)|Amy Tintera|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350931774s/13517455.jpg|19075624] series, how was I to know her fantasy series would be so much better? I think maybe a list will help? Lists are always good.
• This story wasn’t scared to get gritty. The first scene of this book is literally the protagonist murdering someone. Straight away we see that Em is a no-nonsense sort of person, and I loved that she was kind of scary and very Slytherin (which speaks to my soul) but interesting and different to the other YA fantasy protagonists.
• The romance made me swoon a million swoons. I know that that shouldn’t be the make or break thing in a book - especially a fantasy that should primarily be about the world/plot - but how could you not love Cas? I don’t even enjoy love/hate relationships most of the time or ones that are based off lies (as Em is undercover), but… I just couldn’t help it. Cas! <3
• Like I said, Cas was perfect. Cas was honestly everything I love in a character. His development across the story was just on point. I love seeing character overcome their prejudices. It’s one of my all-time favourite tropes. (If you love it too, read [b:Of Beast and Beauty|16113606|Of Beast and Beauty|Stacey Jay|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1370661183s/16113606.jpg|21930225]. I promise it’ll change your life).
• The sarcasm. I have literally mentioned this at least fifty thousand times to everyone who posts about this book, but just… the sarcasm! It was perfect. It literally had me laughing out loud like a lunatic. It just gave the story the perfect amount of comic relief it needed.
• The ending was an open ending, but not in a bad way. It wrapped up the story, but definitely left us with questions and the potential for a sequel (which is confirmed, so all is good).
Overall, this was the first YA Circle (my book club) read that I truly loved. I didn’t expect this author to wow me, but she did and I’ll be forever grateful for that. I’m holding out for the second book so bad… hopefully, 2017 will come quickly!
Review copy provided by the publisher for an honest review.