I had to really think about this one. At times it seemed amazing but it was difficult for me to read for a few reasons. The main reason that I wanted to love this was because of the heroine. One of my biggest gripes about women leads is when they ultimately end up needing the man to save them and they're pretty much useless but I'm supposed to follow them along like some great hero. Gina is anything but this. Basically, she rocks. She was a fighter without all the whiny nonsense involved stereotypically with female leads.
Also, it's nice to read a novel set in a world where supes and humans are the norm. No one is bothered or weirded out by supernatural beings and there isn't this weird 'humans trying to rule the world angle' or the 'we have to keep our existence secret from humans' angle either. Which is as it should be in my mind. Comfortable coexistence with all the nuances and problems associated with it, but without all the overused extras.
My first problem with the book is transitions. In the beginning I spent a page or two trying to figure out what was going on? Was the lead sick? Did she have a wild night before? Was she simply analysing a situation that didn't actually involve her? Jumping right into the action is great but it wasn't clear enough for me to know that Gina was in fact observing a scene and not waking up to one she'd been part of. I guess my problem here is I'm definitely on board with the author being vague about what's happening but at the very least I shouldn't be confused for paragraphs if the happenings, happened to the only person I am being introduced to at the moment.
It didn't stop there though. The scenes in general don't close well. Like one that stood out for me was there was no resolve to how the scene ended with the brother in the beginning and then we were in a completely different scene like all the emotions and stuff the other scene brought up were just like meh, done with this scene lets be somewhere else and, we aren't even going to go there because travelling is so passe. Let's just be here. So one minute the reader is off somewhere talking to a brother, next page we're walking down the street in a market and I'm here like did the scene end? How did she even get here? Did she say goodbye to her aunts? So many questions and I had the same emotions as when I started reading. It took me a minute and a reread to realise where I'd been placed and take my mind away from the previous scene that didn't feel like it was over. I got this feeling a lot where the end of a section felt like a cliff hanger and then I found myself in another scene not related to the previous and had to just be like... 'okay, I guess that was the end of that', and read on.
The other thing was the nonrelationship. I dunno but I guess I'm over the whole 'no their obvious flirtations are just them being nice' plot device. If it's real it's real and if it's not, whatever. No reason to not keep going to concerts and enjoying the situation. Almost like even as adults we're incapable of just taking things as they are if something else doesn't pan out. Even if they did go all the way it doesn't mean they have to automatically be in a relationship or stop the friendship they already have. If it isn't meant to be then it isn't, Gina and Aric can still enjoy the ride and move forward without letting it get in the way of things. My first 'I have to put this book down moment' was when, right as things were getting steamy, Gina asks "why now". Really? You're about to do the do and instead of just doing it you're posing serious questions. This def could've been a nice after we done finished and are putting our clothes back on type of conversation. It took me out of my headspace at the time, made me sigh, roll my eyes and take a time away from the story.
And lastly, during the fire section, I was a bit confused. In the real world when people panic they don't magically become murderous, and supes being more powerful and, in my opinion, smarter because animal beings get along much better together in the real world than humans do, I"m baffled as to why supes would just go crazy instead of, I dunno trying to just find the best way to escape a burning forest like creatures in real life? Why would they just up and lose their minds? Going into a flight or fight state to escape is fine. I'm here for that but once you've escaped and a safe distance away instinct is to turn around and look at what you just got away from. It's odd that they're trying to stop them from running far away into the streets so they don't harm anyone. Maybe I'm just stupid but it didn't make sense that escape immediately translates into uncontrollable supes. If that's the case anything traumatic could set them off so maybe they shouldn't be allowed to roam freely at all.
So all that said, why three stars? The mystery aspect of this book was amazing. It's why I kept reading. The hunt for the elusive killer was so much fun to dig into I really wanted to get into this. Just something about the writing lends itself to the fact that most people would probably think this book is five stars worthy. It's a guestimation but based on the half I did read it seems like that aspect of the story would continue to hold its weight. That and I licked Aric. I mean sexy hot vamp, the only thing wrong with him is that halfway through the book he still had his clothes on and the one chance we had was ruined by random serious conversation. Still, it seems like if I could've finished this I definitely would've enjoyed the murder investigation aspect of it. I even considered giving it four stars based on this alone. As it stands the awkward transitions, the overused 'he doesn't really like me' angle meshed together with the 'if we try and fail our friendship is automatically ruined' stuff was just too much for me to continue. Which is a shame because overall this should've been an easy hit for me but no matter my misgivings about it I still believe it will be awesome in the long run for most readers but it just missed the note for me. It's definitely a high recommendation from me though for the genre it fits into.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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