My Blood Approves:
Seventeen-year-old Alice Bonham's life feels out of control after she meets Jack. With his fondness for pink Chuck Taylors and New Wave hits aside, Jack's unlike anyone she's ever met.
Then she meets his brother, Peter. His eyes pierce through her, and she can barely breathe when he's around. Even though he can't stand the sight of her, she's drawn to him.
But falling for two very different guys isn't even the worst of her problems. Jack and Peter are vampires, and Alice finds herself caught between love and her own blood...
Amanda Hocking has an interesting cast of characters, who are all unique in their own way, but I just couldn't seem to form any kind of connection with the main character, Alice. This book moved slowly for me, and I found that it wasn't until I was finished just over half of the book before things really started to pick up. Alice is just your average seventeen-year-old, and she meets a guy who she thinks is normal. But that quickly changes as they become closer and all Jack seems to give her are a bunch of non-answers to any of her questions ( found this really annoying and not "mysteriously sexy"). Alice is bothered by many things that Jack says about himself and his family, and yet she just keeps going back. She talks about the fact that she might soon die, but being with them is worth it... UMM, WHAT? I guess it was supposed to be really emotional, but I did not feel anything, in fact I found the characters to be rather hollow. Alice completely ignores her family and only friend, completely isolating herself and becoming wholly dependent on Jack and his family for happiness. And as things are explained she gets even more confused. Alice is inexplicably pulled toward Jack, yet she desires Peter and cannot imagine her life without him, but he is hardly even around to form any kind of relationship. I honestly came close to DNF-ing (Did Not Finish) this book, and really...I can't even tell you why I kept reading, except that maybe I so wanted to enjoy it that I kept hoping it would get better.
I found I couldn't put this down, I think I read it all in one sitting. But I find I rate things differently if I read them over a couple of days or if I read them all at once.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's just me, I've had a hard time finding YA vampire novels that I enjoy lately and I was glad I found this one. Although I will admit I did read the sequel which I did not enjoy but I was glad I read it so I could find out where the story was going.
It seems interesrting and a bit like The Vampire Diaries.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your review though!
Thanks for your honest review... I was actually debating whether or not to buy&read this. I don't think I'll make it a priority. I think the "normal teenage girl meets mysterious paranormal guy and decides he is her entire life" plot line is a bit played out at this point.
ReplyDeleteI read this book as well as the three books that followed this one. I have to say, I was very disappointed. My Blood Approves sounds like Miss Hocking tried to rewrite Twilight in her own view and failed. I agree, the characters were shallow and there was no personality to them. They didn't feel like characters in a story, just words on a page. The only credit that I would feel comfortable giving the author would be that he was able to come up with enough words to fill four books. Other than that, I can't really pat her on the back for much else.
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