Storm Review

TITLE: Storm
SERIES: Paper Gods #3
AUTHOR: Amanda Sun
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 6/30/2015
FORMAT: Paperback
PAGES: 287
SOURCE: Amazon Vine
MY RATING: 

COYER SCAVENGER HUNT #74: READ THE LAST BOOK IN A SERIES - 5 POINTS.

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: After almost a year in Japan, Katie Greene has finally unearthed the terrible secret behind her boyfriend Tomohiro's deadly ability to bring drawings to life--not only is he descended from Kami, the ancient Japanese gods, but he is the heir to a tragedy that occurred long ago, a tragedy that is about to repeat.

Even as the blood of a vengeful god rages inside Tomo, Katie is determined to put his dark powers to sleep. In order to do so, she and Tomo must journey to find the three Imperial Treasures of Japan. Gifts from the goddess Amaterasu herself, these treasures could unlock all of the secrets about Tomo's volatile ancestry and quell the ink's lust for destruction. But in order to complete their quest, Tomo and Katie must confront out-of-control Kami and former friend Jun, who has begun his own quest of revenge against those he believes have wronged him. To save the world, and themselves, Katie and Tomo will be up against one of the darkest Kami creations they've ever encountered--and they may not make it out alive.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This was a great ending to a great series. It picked up where the second book in the series left off, rounded out the overall story line and wrapped everything up nicely. The writing in this book sucked me in. I could see everything in my mind as it was happening. The book has nice reminders of what happened in the previous books without having long drawn out summaries. It helped refresh me on what was going on since the last book.

There were far fewer drawings included in this book and I really missed seeing them, but it makes sense because the characters weren't really drawing anything until further in the book. I really enjoyed the drawings that were included.

I liked the ending of this book. I felt that it was the best possible way for things to go and I felt like it wrapped up the entire series enough to where I felt content.

CHARACTERS: The characters are all great. We don't really learn a lot about the characters, but I feel like we already know a lot about them from the previous two books.

COVER: This is my least favorite cover of all the books in the series. I loved the first two covers so much. I wish they would have made this one more similar to the first two covers.

**I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine and the publisher for my honest review. My opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.**

Rise (Novella) Review

TITLE: Rise
SERIES: Paper Gods #2.5
AUTHOR: Amanda Sun
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 5/1/2015
FORMAT: ebook
PAGES: 51
SOURCE: Amazon Freebie
MY RATING: 

COYER SCAVENGER HUNT #23: READ A BOOK SET IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY: 2 POINTS

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): A long, long time ago, before the world was as we know it, Izanami and Izanagi came into being. Two of the first of the ancient gods of Japan, they crafted the world from ink and their own imaginations. Izanagi wants, more than anything, to be with Izanami--but one moment of pride could tear them apart forever.

Yuki and Tanaka have been friends for as long as they can remember, but lately deeper feelings have been bubbling beneath the surface. How do they navigate the transition from friendship to true love without destroying the powerful bond between them?

Set a millennia apart, can these two couples, living parallel love stories, find their happily-ever-afters?

MY THOUGHTS: This was super quick to read. It doesn't really add a whole lot to the story line of the trilogy, so it's not a must read to follow the trilogy, but it's still nice to read to get a little bit of insight. Yuki was one of my favorite characters in the first two books in the Paper Gods trilogy, so I was glad to see a novella where she was one of the main focuses. This novella has me excited to pick up the third and final book in the series.

COVER: Again, another beautiful cover from the Paper Gods series. They are all just stunning.

Ink Review

Goodreads

Amazon

TITLE: Ink
AUTHOR: Amanda Sun
ILLUSTRATORS: Petra Dufkova (cover), Ross Siu (interior)
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 6/25/2013
PAGES: 326
MY RATING: 

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: On the heels of a family tragedy, Katie Greene must 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.

When Katie meets aloof but gorgeous Tomohiro, the star of the school's kendo team, she is intrigued by him...and a little scared. His tough attitude seems meant to keep her at a distance, and when they're near each other, strange things happen. Pens explode. Ink drips from nowhere. And unless Katie is seeing things, drawings come to life.

Somehow Tomo is connected to the kami, powerful ancient beings who once ruled Japan--and as feelings develop between Katie and Tomo, things begin to spiral out of control. The wrong people are starting to ask questions, and if they discover the truth, no one will be safe.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I had some trouble connecting with/concentrating on the story because of the Japanese words mixed in. There's a glossary at the back of the book which helps, but it's a little annoying having to flip to the back and search for the word every couple of pages -- I would have loved to see footnotes instead, because I really did enjoy seeing the Japanese words - they added to the authenticity of the story/setting.

A little less than halfway through, the book really picks up speed and got me extremely interested.

I liked the ending of the book. It set us up for the next book in the series, but made me feel good about the ending at the same time.

CHARACTERS: Yuki (a friend of the main character) seems like a really good friend, but I don't really know much about her. I'd really like to learn more about Jun and find out what his plans are.

**I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.