Book: Bloodspell by Amalie Howard
Publication Date: June 1, 2011
Series: Bloodspell (#1)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Synopsis: The spell was simple... ''Cruentus Protectum'' (''Defend the Blood'')
But what do you do if your blood is your enemy?
Victoria Warrick has always known she was different. An outcast
at school, she is no stranger to adversity. But when she receives an old
journal for her seventeenth birthday, nothing prepares her for the dark secrets
it holds--much less one that reveals she's a witch with unimaginable power.
What's more, when she meets the dazzling but enigmatic Christian
Devereux, she has no idea how much her life is about to change. Enemies will
hunt her. Friends will turn on her. The terrible curse that makes her blood run
black will stop at nothing to control her. And Christian has a sinister secret
of his own...
Without knowing whom to trust, can Victoria survive her blood's
deadly desires? Or will she lose everything, including herself?
**Be warned this review may contain some spoilers!!**
Overall Review:
I actually had never heard of Bloodspell or Amalie Howard until my good friend Meredith had gone to a Kristi Cook event and gotten me a signed copy of Bloodspell! Because of that, I had no idea what to expect or whether or not it was fan-flipping-tastic, all I knew was that it sounded good and that it had a really pretty cover. As I started reading, I was surprised by how much I liked it! Howard has the kind of writing style that paints a perfect picture and just draws you in. Plus, the whole book had this real Victorian feel to it, which I really liked because I am a huge fan of the Victorian style. Bloodspell mainly focuses on the vampires with their hierarchy and just their society but I was hoping to get to learn more about the witches because no offence but they seemed far more interesting but maybe in the next book. Witches and vampires hate each other and I really wanted to know more about why. I was hoping for more world building, more background knowledge, more history on everything. We got quite a bit of information on the vampires, but again I wish we learned more about the witches even though I get why we didn't. The one thing that kind of bugged me was how focused the story was on the romance alone. I love romance as much as the next person, but not if that takes up literally the entire story with no plot, no build up, no anything. It wasn't a huge deal because I still really enjoyed reading Bloodspell and the romance was cute, if not a big cliche at times, but I wish there was something more to the story!
Victoria is a very sweet girl, if not a tad bit spoiled at times. She's not entirely used to not getting her way but she gets better at realizing that life does not revolve around her. She's strong but she certainly doesn't give herself enough credit. She's the type of girl that while she's not selfish, when there's something she wants bad enough she won't be afraid to reach out and take it for herself. She's very independent but still knows she can and should rely on other people. She sometimes had this complete carefree attitude while other times she know when to be very confident and serious. She underestimated herself and she also underestimated those around her, and that really bit her in the butt sometimes! She was sweet and could be a bit of a people pleasure. When it came to Christian she was a bit obsessive, even when she tried her hardest not to be. Was she perfect? No she wasn't, but she was definitely a character that didn't need a complete attitude adjustment. She didn't have a whole lot of character development besides discovering her witchiness and trying to figure out who she really was, but she didn't really need in my opinion to change much.
Christian was a very uptight, didn't really care about much of anything, type of guy. At least until he met Victoria. She was the type of girl he desperately wanted but knew without any doubt that he couldn't have her. He was very indecisive at times because of this. One minute he tries to get her to hate him, the next he's trying to woo her into liking him. He was a very strong, very skilled guy who knew it without a doubt yet he wasn't cocky about it nor did he abuse the power he had (unless he absolutely had to). He was all about being proper and following the rules, up until the rules say he couldn't be with Victoria. With Victoria he was a changed man, but only that he became more passionate, more open to expressing his feelings and himself entirely. He's the type of guy most mothers would want their daughter to date. Now is he the type most teenage girls would go for? Probably not, but he's the kind of man that they'd want later on in life. Lucky for Victoria, she's an over achiever and went after him as a teen instead of an adult!
There's was some serious instalove going on. As soon as they laid eyes on each other they needed each other, but Christian because of the vampire laws constantly pulled away from her and caused her to "hate" him. There was a lot of push and pull before they finally decided to just stop the crap they were doing and date. While I thought they were adorable together, their relationship had so many cliches in it. Plus the fact that even when they were dating there was so much pushing away and getting back together. It was mainly based on self sacrifice. Like, I love you but I'm not good for you so we can't be together. Of course they'd get back together but then again later on they'd pull the same crap. They also alternated when they did it. As much as I loved their relationship, after two times of this I was tired of it. Either you broke up to save the other or you're together and don't care what anyone says. End of story. You can't change your mind on that all the freaking time. As cute as they were, they really couldn't make up their mind on where they stood in their relationship and it bugged me.
The pace wasn't fast but it wasn't slow either. Just all sort of went with it. I hadn't really heard much about Amalie Howard until after I got Bloodspell so I wasn't sure what to expect, so I'm glad when I read it that I actually enjoyed it. Howard's writing style really draws you in and makes you feel like you can see everything that's going on in the story perfectly. We learn a lot about the vampires and their society, but not much about the witches which really bugged me because they seemed far more interesting. There wasn't a whole lot of world building or background knowledge since the book mainly focused on the romance between Victoria and Christian. While I liked their romance and thought they were very cute together, their relationship could be way too cliche and irritating. Simply because they spent so much of the book trying to decided where they stood. They either felt the need to be sacrificial and break up to protect the other, or they said screw it to the rules and decided to be together again. After two times of this I was done. They seriously needed to make up their mind. I thought the title was kind of clever after reading it. Blood being the vampires and spell being the witches and they join together like Victoria and Christian. Not sure if she meant it that way but that's what I came up with! I also really like the cover. It's so pretty and once again has that Victorian feel to it!
Overall Rating:
I give Bloodspell a 3 out of 5 star rating. I really enjoyed reading it and I'm glad I enjoyed it as much as I did, since I was going in blind with this one, but it definitely could've been better in terms of the story line and the romance. There was nothing super or majorly wrong with Bloodspell, just preferable things I thought could've been changed so I could enjoy it better. If you're interested in paranormal romances or more specifically, forbidden romances between paranormal beings, then you may like Bloodspell and should give it a try! Thanks for reading!
3/5 stars
~Kayla~
**Be warned this review may contain some spoilers!!**
Overall Review:
I actually had never heard of Bloodspell or Amalie Howard until my good friend Meredith had gone to a Kristi Cook event and gotten me a signed copy of Bloodspell! Because of that, I had no idea what to expect or whether or not it was fan-flipping-tastic, all I knew was that it sounded good and that it had a really pretty cover. As I started reading, I was surprised by how much I liked it! Howard has the kind of writing style that paints a perfect picture and just draws you in. Plus, the whole book had this real Victorian feel to it, which I really liked because I am a huge fan of the Victorian style. Bloodspell mainly focuses on the vampires with their hierarchy and just their society but I was hoping to get to learn more about the witches because no offence but they seemed far more interesting but maybe in the next book. Witches and vampires hate each other and I really wanted to know more about why. I was hoping for more world building, more background knowledge, more history on everything. We got quite a bit of information on the vampires, but again I wish we learned more about the witches even though I get why we didn't. The one thing that kind of bugged me was how focused the story was on the romance alone. I love romance as much as the next person, but not if that takes up literally the entire story with no plot, no build up, no anything. It wasn't a huge deal because I still really enjoyed reading Bloodspell and the romance was cute, if not a big cliche at times, but I wish there was something more to the story!
Victoria is a very sweet girl, if not a tad bit spoiled at times. She's not entirely used to not getting her way but she gets better at realizing that life does not revolve around her. She's strong but she certainly doesn't give herself enough credit. She's the type of girl that while she's not selfish, when there's something she wants bad enough she won't be afraid to reach out and take it for herself. She's very independent but still knows she can and should rely on other people. She sometimes had this complete carefree attitude while other times she know when to be very confident and serious. She underestimated herself and she also underestimated those around her, and that really bit her in the butt sometimes! She was sweet and could be a bit of a people pleasure. When it came to Christian she was a bit obsessive, even when she tried her hardest not to be. Was she perfect? No she wasn't, but she was definitely a character that didn't need a complete attitude adjustment. She didn't have a whole lot of character development besides discovering her witchiness and trying to figure out who she really was, but she didn't really need in my opinion to change much.
Christian was a very uptight, didn't really care about much of anything, type of guy. At least until he met Victoria. She was the type of girl he desperately wanted but knew without any doubt that he couldn't have her. He was very indecisive at times because of this. One minute he tries to get her to hate him, the next he's trying to woo her into liking him. He was a very strong, very skilled guy who knew it without a doubt yet he wasn't cocky about it nor did he abuse the power he had (unless he absolutely had to). He was all about being proper and following the rules, up until the rules say he couldn't be with Victoria. With Victoria he was a changed man, but only that he became more passionate, more open to expressing his feelings and himself entirely. He's the type of guy most mothers would want their daughter to date. Now is he the type most teenage girls would go for? Probably not, but he's the kind of man that they'd want later on in life. Lucky for Victoria, she's an over achiever and went after him as a teen instead of an adult!
There's was some serious instalove going on. As soon as they laid eyes on each other they needed each other, but Christian because of the vampire laws constantly pulled away from her and caused her to "hate" him. There was a lot of push and pull before they finally decided to just stop the crap they were doing and date. While I thought they were adorable together, their relationship had so many cliches in it. Plus the fact that even when they were dating there was so much pushing away and getting back together. It was mainly based on self sacrifice. Like, I love you but I'm not good for you so we can't be together. Of course they'd get back together but then again later on they'd pull the same crap. They also alternated when they did it. As much as I loved their relationship, after two times of this I was tired of it. Either you broke up to save the other or you're together and don't care what anyone says. End of story. You can't change your mind on that all the freaking time. As cute as they were, they really couldn't make up their mind on where they stood in their relationship and it bugged me.
The pace wasn't fast but it wasn't slow either. Just all sort of went with it. I hadn't really heard much about Amalie Howard until after I got Bloodspell so I wasn't sure what to expect, so I'm glad when I read it that I actually enjoyed it. Howard's writing style really draws you in and makes you feel like you can see everything that's going on in the story perfectly. We learn a lot about the vampires and their society, but not much about the witches which really bugged me because they seemed far more interesting. There wasn't a whole lot of world building or background knowledge since the book mainly focused on the romance between Victoria and Christian. While I liked their romance and thought they were very cute together, their relationship could be way too cliche and irritating. Simply because they spent so much of the book trying to decided where they stood. They either felt the need to be sacrificial and break up to protect the other, or they said screw it to the rules and decided to be together again. After two times of this I was done. They seriously needed to make up their mind. I thought the title was kind of clever after reading it. Blood being the vampires and spell being the witches and they join together like Victoria and Christian. Not sure if she meant it that way but that's what I came up with! I also really like the cover. It's so pretty and once again has that Victorian feel to it!
Overall Rating:
I give Bloodspell a 3 out of 5 star rating. I really enjoyed reading it and I'm glad I enjoyed it as much as I did, since I was going in blind with this one, but it definitely could've been better in terms of the story line and the romance. There was nothing super or majorly wrong with Bloodspell, just preferable things I thought could've been changed so I could enjoy it better. If you're interested in paranormal romances or more specifically, forbidden romances between paranormal beings, then you may like Bloodspell and should give it a try! Thanks for reading!
3/5 stars
~Kayla~
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