Review: Descended by Blood

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Descended by Blood
Angeline Kace
Released: August 26, 2011
Young Adult, Paperback, 252 Pages
Source: Author, in exchange for an honest review
Overall: Fabulous!
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Brooke Keller's a high school junior who never spent much time living in one place. She's finally in a town long enough to almost snag the boy of her dreams, until her life is threatened by a fanged man in his attempt to kidnap her. Brooke begins a dangerous journey to find out who is after her and how to stop them. Thrown into a world with powerful and prejudiced vampires, Brooke must tap into the side of herself that she never knew existed, at the risk of losing her life in order to save it.


My Thoughts:

Angeline Kace's brought to us a fabulous YA debut novel with Descended by Blood. And rather then give this must-read away with a typical review I thought I'd mix it up a bit.

The Fab....

The Characters: Despite any qualms I have with any one particular character, the characters were developed pretty danged well for a book with such a quick pace. Our main and secondary characters were just that, standing out against the rest but tying in with the background enough that the story seemed almost real.

The character we follow, Brooke is as real as they come as far as people are concerned. She isn't a mega-character, the she-woman who plows through life unscathed. Nor is she a delicate little flower that has to be handle with such care that you find yourself reading with stiff shoulders like you, the reader, could actually harm her. Brooke has extremely strong moments, weak moments and moments that her character flounders as she tries to regain her balance, control, and sense of self but that is why I love her. She is just like you and me- well, except for a little something that she never knew existed and is totally B.A (bad ass!)

Our Secondary characters are the shit. No joke. Excuse my language but even when I want to kick one of them where the sun doesn't shine and threaten him with a string of expletives I totally love them all. They all have their spots in Brooke's life, whether they were there for years or days. Like Brooke they all have a story, their strengths, their weaknesses and their spot in making Brooke's story. Kaitlynn, the best friend is beyond loyal and makes everyone wish they had someone like her in their lives. Jaren, the boyfriend/ex-boyfriend/whatever-he-is is the said character, beyond that of the enemy sort, that makes me wants to kic, him but before he was put on my shit-list he sat happily on my good side. Having him there, following Brooke's "never knew existed" journey adds a whole other facet of drama and complication to the story which I just love! The last secondary character I'll comment on is Mirko, the sorta-the-same trainer/protector/hot-maybe-wanna-be-more guy. Mirko swept in and took control of Brooke's situation setting out to make it all right. Totally swoon-worthy but not exactly perfect and with an emotionally-excessive-package for a past makes him all that much more perfect for this story (and Brooke- TEAM MIRKO! Is there a team mirko?)

The Plot: This story has a plot? Yes, it in fact does. There is a beginning, there is a middle and there is an end. Lately, it seems like so many YA books I have come across it all sort of just blends together. You don't really know where you stand and there are lulls in action with more filler than necessary or appreciated. Descended by Blood is a perfect mixture of action filled, plot sensitive moments and those (filler) moments that finish making all of the characters real.

The Not So Fab...

The Plot: Yes, I have a few qualms here. One, the story ended too soon for my liking. I could have had several more helpings of Descended by Blood (or the next book- that would have worked as well) and been more than okay with it. Two, being fast pace the story did suffer from a few cases when things seemed just a tad too rushed. It wasn't much but a few times I wished a scene would have extended a little longer to help finish developing the characters, their world, and the situations.

Fab's Final Word....

Action packed and chemistry driven, Descended by blood is a single-sitting book that I instantly wanted more of. Angeline Kace gave me a cast of extremely likable and well developed characters with individual voices. Descended by blood is what I believe the beginning of what is going to be a absolutely addictive and fabulous trilogy!