Thursday, April 17, 2014

Review: Stained by Ella James

Stained
by Ella James

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal      
Publisher: Barkley's Books   
Release Date: Sept. 14, 2011
Edition: E-Book
Page Count: 254
Source: via Mark My Words Book Publicity

Goodreads Synopsis:
After a fire destroys seventeen-year-old Julia’s home and kills her foster parents, she chases the half-demon responsible across the country and back, determined to avenge her family and discover why a host of celestial baddies want her dead. With Julia is enigmatic hottie - Cayne, who has his own score to settle with the half-demon, and who might be just as dangerous as the creature he and Julia hunt.

Review: I sure have been reading a lot of paranormal stuff lately, which is pretty unusual for me. Honestly, Paranormal is probably the genre that I read the least, if I had to put them in order. I'm not sure why, but it's not always my things (I guess after Twilight I got tired of all the vampire and werewolf stuff popping up, so it kind of turned me off to it). Still, when I decided to start this book blog, I decided that I was going to be open minded about what I read. While I knew I would stick to young adult (and now some new adult once I was introduced to it), I decided that I would be open to try and read all different kinds of genres, and I'm glad that I have been able to do that so far. I know I will like some more than others, but I am quite happy to say that I am giving everything a try here. 

There were some things about this book that I really, really liked and there were some things that I was not too fond of, but that happens with most books. I think that any paranormal fan would love this book, and I think I may have been a bit hindered by my lack of experience with reading paranormal books. Still, this was an enjoyable read for me, and I would be very interested in reading the rest of the series. 

Shall we start with the negative? The thing that really bothered me about the book was the pacing at certain points. The beginning of the book really drew me in. Here we had this young girl who suddenly loses her adopted parents in a fire that was supposed to kill her too, and now she's running from whatever creature (who she thinks is the angel of death). This is a great plot idea, and for the most part it is carried out well, but then some parts I found the book to drag on. Sure, there was some action, and when their was action it was great, but there was quite a bit of down time, too. 

Now, onto the positives! I just LOVED the relationship between the two main characters. Cayne is pretty darn frustrating, which made me like him so much. He is just one of those characters you want to hit in the back of the head and tell him to stop being so stubborn;  obviously he was meant to be that way too, which made it that much better. Ella James did a wonderful job writing his character. At first, Julia goes along with his silence and hidden secrets because she doesn't want to be alone, but I love how she starts to stick up for herself and forces him to talk as they grow closer and develop feelings. Their chemistry is wonderful. 

The ending was great, but in a very frustrating way. It was a cliffhanger, but it was one of those that just ends and you're like "No way! That's really it?" Obviously, James did this in order to keep people reading the series, and I think that it definitely worked! I certainly want to continue reading to find out what happens with Julia and Cayne. 

Rating: 3.0/5.0


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