ARC Review: Ink by Amanda Sun

Ink by Amanda Sun
Published: June 25, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 377
Series: Paper Gods #1
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look.

Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.

A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.

And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

My Review: I think it's important to note that I don't read manga or watch anime. I'm pretty sure the only anime I've watched is Sailor Moon and I'm almost positive that I haven't read a manga book. So I have almost no experience with Japanese stuff. I was pretty excited about this book when I first heard of it because it sounded pretty awesome but I had no idea what to expect. I had some problems with it but overall it was a pretty enjoyable read.

The part of this book that I liked the most was probably the setting and the mythology that was mixed in. I haven't read anything like Ink so the book take place in Japan was interesting and new to me. It was obvious that the author did her research and the way she used Japanese in the story was very easy to understand. The strongest part of the book was definitely the world building. I felt like I was actually in Japan. The book had the potential to be something amazing but it fell flat with the characters and the romance.

I did not like the main character at all. Katie just moved to Japan and she had two friends. She's a social outcast and the first thing that happens in the book is her spying on Tomo breaking up with his girlfriend. She thinks he's a jerk because he's horrible to his girlfriend while he's breaking up with her but I'll get to that later. Katie happened to see one of Tomo's drawings move that day and after that she became obsessed with him. She turned into a stalker. Of course she didn't listen to her friends about staying away from Tomo. No that would be seeing reason and Katie is not reasonable at all. Somehow Katie goes from stalking Tomo to being his friend and then all of a sudden she's in love with him. Classic case of insta love.

The romance in this book was my least favorite part. Katie and Tomo fall in love way too quickly so I still have no idea how Katie went from stalking Tomo and thinking he is a jerk to being in love with him. The first time Katie sees Tomo he's telling his girlfriend that he got another girl pregnant. You would think that Katie would get the message that Tomo is bad news but of course she doesn't. Once Katie and Tomo become friends and are kind of dating Tomo continues to try to push Katie away because he's dangerous and she could get killed. Later in the book Tomo pretends to try to rape Katie and after she runs away from him, she thinks that she was a moron because she believes that Tomo was just trying to make her angry at him so that she would stay away from him. In her mind that meant that Tomo was trying to save her. I'm sorry but even though he was trying to save her, that doesn't excuse his behavior. Katie barely knows Tomo she says that she can't live without him. Maybe this would not have been so bad if there was time for their relationship to actually grow and develop.

Without the art in the book I would have probably given this book 2.5 stars but the art was just so beautiful that it deserved at least half of a star. The concept of the Kami being tied to ink and how Tomo's drawings can come to life was very interesting and even though this book has flaws, it wasn't terrible.

Waiting on Wednesday #41

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly Meme. It's hosted on Breaking the Spine. It spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pick:

The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White
Release date: September 10th 2013

Isadora’s family is seriously screwed up.

Of course, as the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that pretty much comes with the territory. She’s also stuck with parents who barely notice her, and a house full of relatives who can’t be bothered to remember her name. After all, they are going to be around forever—and she’s a mere mortal.

Isadora’s sick of living a life where she’s only worthy of a passing glance, and when she has the chance to move to San Diego with her brother, she jumps on it. But Isadora’s quickly finding that a “normal” life comes with plenty of its own epic complications—and that there’s no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family. Much as she wants to leave her past behind, she can’t shake the ominous dreams that foretell destruction for her entire family. When it turns out there may be truth in her nightmares, Isadora has to decide whether she can abandon her divine heritage after all.

Words for the Week #16

“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein

New Releases: May 26- June 1

This week's new releases:

 Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Impostor by Susanne Winnacker

The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross

Of Triton by Anna Banks

Goddess by Josephine Angelini

ARC Review: Doll Bones by Holly Black

Doll Bones by Holly Black
Published: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 256
Source: Won
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.

But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?

My Review:  I'm a huge fan of Holly Black's Curse Worker series so when I heard about this book I just had to read it even though I don't typically read middle grade books.

This book was unbelievably easy to get lost in and it was very easy to connect to Zach. Anyone that remembers the time when they still liked playing with their childhood toys but knew that they should be too old for them would be able to connect to him. Holly Black really nailed his voice. The fear of growing up and loosing what he valued most was captured perfectly. It brought back memories of when I was told that I was too old for my toys and when I used to play pretend with my friends.

Out of the three main characters Zach was the easiest to connect to and definitely my favorite. My only problem with him was when he didn't tell Alice and Poppy about what his father did. I didn't understand why he thought they would be mad. It wasn't his fault so they had no reason to be mad at him. I liked Alice and I somewhat tolerated Poppy but in the beginning it was really difficult to tell them apart. As the story progressed it got easier but occasionally I would mix them up.

The quest to bring the doll to her empty grave was what really made this book enjoyable. From Zach's POV it looks like Poppy is convinced that the ghost is real and the book makes you want to believe the ghost is real too but there was this nagging thought in my mind that the ghost wasn't real. Almost every time something happened with the doll Poppy was the last one to see it or Zach was asleep. There's evidence for both opinions and I just loved that. It left it up to the reader's imagination and normally I don't like that but it worked for this book.

I wasn't expecting this book to be very creepy since it is a middle grade book, but some parts of this book actually gave me chills. I don't know how a doll made out of a dead girl isn't at least a little scary. The doll was just so wonderfully creepy and I'm so glad I wasn't disappointed by it. It was almost like a mystery because the kids don't know much about the ghost girl and while on the adventure they discovered more about her.

Not only was this book creepy but it was also pretty cute. It was cute how Zach didn't know about Alice's secret (even though it was pretty obvious). It was cute how Poppy, Zach, and Alice still played together even though they are all around twelve years old. I'm not sure how cute and creepy go together but in this book it just did.

I'll read basically anything Holly Black writes now even if it is another middle grade book. I just love her writing and I love how she's able to create a convincing male main character.

*I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway