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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
This book was really good, although it had some romantic tendencies. But most books have that anyway. Helps the plot or something. I would recommend this book to girls who like a little of realistic, but also fantasy. It's in a realistic setting, but has fantasy written all over it. Good book about a girl who has just moved to Japan and is trying to cope. She meets Tomo and then ink flies.
Read the book to find out details.
Read the book to find out details.
I was originally attracted to this book because I saw a gorgeous picture of it on Tumblr. The cover is absolutely stunning and I instantly fell in love with it. Upon further research I discovered that Ink took place in Japan AND I shared a name with the main character. It was destiny!
Ink didn't absolutely blow me away, but it had a unique and intriguing plot that will definitely hook your interest. The world building was wonderful too. As I mentioned, the setting is Japan, and the author did a great job of incorporating the culture into the plot (FYI the Yakuza are 100% real). Amanda Sun threw in quite a few Japanese words and phrases and personally, I think they added a lot to the culture aspect. I was pleased to discover that I didn't have to use the glossary for quite a few, but I also learned a lot as well.
While I, for the most part, enjoyed Ink it wasn't perfect. I won't deny that I was hoping to be absolutely enraptured by Ink. It didn't come nearly as close to the book I think it could have been, but I didn't hate it. There were times where the plot was a little aimless and I lost interest. I also was hoping that the book would be more focused on the mythological aspect and include some romance on the side, but it seemed to be the opposite. I feel like the romance was a little too dominant.
Overall, this was a really interesting and fun book to read. I purchased the sequel so I'll be reading that sometime in the near future!
Oh! Also, as I side note, I've already seen a couple of people say this, but this book would be a totally awesome anime! I would be all for watching that!
Ink didn't absolutely blow me away, but it had a unique and intriguing plot that will definitely hook your interest. The world building was wonderful too. As I mentioned, the setting is Japan, and the author did a great job of incorporating the culture into the plot (FYI the Yakuza are 100% real). Amanda Sun threw in quite a few Japanese words and phrases and personally, I think they added a lot to the culture aspect. I was pleased to discover that I didn't have to use the glossary for quite a few, but I also learned a lot as well.
While I, for the most part, enjoyed Ink it wasn't perfect. I won't deny that I was hoping to be absolutely enraptured by Ink. It didn't come nearly as close to the book I think it could have been, but I didn't hate it. There were times where the plot was a little aimless and I lost interest. I also was hoping that the book would be more focused on the mythological aspect and include some romance on the side, but it seemed to be the opposite. I feel like the romance was a little too dominant.
Overall, this was a really interesting and fun book to read. I purchased the sequel so I'll be reading that sometime in the near future!
Oh! Also, as I side note, I've already seen a couple of people say this, but this book would be a totally awesome anime! I would be all for watching that!
Okay so this book........
I was going to put it down when I picked it up in the library but there are three reasons why I decided to read it anyway.
1) It's in Japan! I'm not as immersed in the Japanese culture as other people but I do think it's a cool place and a lot of books I have read are set in the Western hemisphere.
2) INTERRACIAL COUPLES! Being an South Asian-American child of American immigrants I support interracial marriage. In fact the last couple of weddings I've been to here in the US are interracial marriages. I think there should be more books about interracial couples or books with characters that aren't white (not that hate white people or anything. I just really like diversity and it is getting there)
3)The cover! It is absolutely GORGEOUS! Just look at it!!
So anyways I opened it, assuming that I wouldn't like it at all. To my surprise, I was hooked.
Katie Greene just lost her mother and now has to live with her Aunt in Japan until her grandparents are well enough to take custody of her (the grandfather has cancer). She makes friends with this girl named Yuki and her friend Tanaka. One day at school she meets this hot badboy named Tomohiro Yuu or Yuu Tomohiro (I really have no idea which way to go). They don't get off to a great start yadda yadda yadda typical girl meets mysterious boy thing. Sort of.
Oh and she also meets this other mysterious hot guy named Jun who just so happened to be one of my favorite characters. Uh oh you know what that means?
LOVE TRIANGLE!!!!!
So anyways we found out that Tomohiro is a Kami which are the descendants of the paper goddess and that Tomo's ink drawings come to life. For some reason when Katie and Tomo are together, Tomo's powers are more strong and hard to control.
I admit I really liked Tomo and Katie's bickering. There was one thing that made me annoyed, Katie's obsession with Tomo in the beginning. She follows him around and thinks there's something wrong with him which she just has to find out! She goes on about Tomohiro bothering her when I actually think she's bothering him and SHE should leave HIM ALONE! I don't know how else to say it Katie but you are acting an awful lot like a stalker. I got over it once they started to get on better terms but it was really annoying in the first half.
Also Jun...........*SPOILER* he just had to be crazy didn't he? Nevertheless, I really liked that twist. Sure the fact that Jun would randomly pop up conveniantly got extremely predictable but I still liked the kami twist.
Overall I enjoyed Ink in a sort of guilty pleasure type of way. It's the type of book that I wanted to avoid but still ended being extremely entertained by it. Will I pick up the next book? It depends. I'm not dying to read it or anything but if I do come across it and I'm having a slow day at the library, then maybe I will pick it up.
The cover is what drew me into this book and boy did this book did not disappoint. I enjoyed this book from the first page and I couldn't put it down. It's very hard that I can read a YA book that sets itself apart from all the others out there and Ink was able to accomplish that without it seeming too over the top.
Katie was a strong female character who handled being uprooted way better than a lot of teenagers would have at her age and I don't mean to a different state I mean to a whole different country. I have never been to Japan but reading this book made it feel like I was right there in the midst of all the action. I enjoyed the interactions between Katie and Tomohiro especially when he told Katie that it was okay to be mad over the death of her mother and to let it change her. Tomohiro was your typical bad boy and normally that turns me off from books but it this one it didn't because I understood why he was being such an ass.
The book kept me on the edge of my seat and I really enjoyed reading every page. I was provided with just enough inforrmation where it didn't feel like I was presented with FBS (First Book Syndrome) and not too little to make the book seem uninteresting. The character in Ink were well developed and interesting.
I really enjoyed how Ms. Sun described things so immaculately that it seemed like a movie was coming off of the page and not just a books. The only thing stopping this from being a full 5 stars is I was wishing for a little more background story into the Kami and how I was able to guess certain parts of the book a little early on. Other than that this was a great action packed book that gave me something different than a lot of the YA books that are currently on the market.
****This book was given to me by Harlequin Teen through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review****
Katie was a strong female character who handled being uprooted way better than a lot of teenagers would have at her age and I don't mean to a different state I mean to a whole different country. I have never been to Japan but reading this book made it feel like I was right there in the midst of all the action. I enjoyed the interactions between Katie and Tomohiro especially when he told Katie that it was okay to be mad over the death of her mother and to let it change her. Tomohiro was your typical bad boy and normally that turns me off from books but it this one it didn't because I understood why he was being such an ass.
The book kept me on the edge of my seat and I really enjoyed reading every page. I was provided with just enough inforrmation where it didn't feel like I was presented with FBS (First Book Syndrome) and not too little to make the book seem uninteresting. The character in Ink were well developed and interesting.
I really enjoyed how Ms. Sun described things so immaculately that it seemed like a movie was coming off of the page and not just a books. The only thing stopping this from being a full 5 stars is I was wishing for a little more background story into the Kami and how I was able to guess certain parts of the book a little early on. Other than that this was a great action packed book that gave me something different than a lot of the YA books that are currently on the market.
****This book was given to me by Harlequin Teen through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review****
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Such a cool idea, with what amounts to a pretty intricate execution. Love, love, love the idea of the paper gods, and I love the constant struggle that Tomo fought against. I like Katie's steadfastness, and the fact that she was never a love lost little girl. And, now I am reminded of why I have always wanted to go to Japan.
Book 2 is on my shelf and I'll pick it up shortly. :)
Book 2 is on my shelf and I'll pick it up shortly. :)
This review and others can be found on Cozy Up With A Good Read
I was really intrigued with this book, the idea of drawings coming to life definitely caught my attention, and when I saw that this was set in Japan it made me even more excited to read the book. It took me awhile to finally get around to it, but I have now finished it and I'm a little unsure about this book. There were a lot of great things about it, but I found it took awhile to really get into things with this story.
I think Amanda Sun really kept readers wondering with this book, it took awhile to learn about the characters. I will say as a beginning to a series she left a lot open to have people continue reading what comes next. I wasn't the biggest fan of Katie at times throughout the book though, she is an interesting character but I found her decisions at times stupid. She is tough and fights back but at times it felt that she was trying to act tougher than she really was and got herself in some really bad situations.
Tomohiro was a great character, he had an attitude that brought some humour and yet he also had an emotional side that took some time to come out, and only with those he really trusted. If I were someone like Katie, I would definitely be curious about Tomohiro, he has so many secrets and he has this air about him that makes you want to know more about him.
I just felt that there were things in this book that dragged along and it took too much time for things to be unveiled, and then before I knew it the book was over. This book is really more about introducing readers to the world of INK and really just seeing the characters begin to understand this danger they are in, rather than being thrown into danger right away.
I also really liked that the relationship between Katie and Tomohiro grows, not that things don't happen exceedingly fast still (they definitely do) but these two learn a lot about each other that helps the relationship along. After the ending of Book 1, I would like to see what will happen next, though at the same time I'm not yet completely invested in this series. I'm hoping that we get more information on Katie in the next book and understand more about her involvement in all of this.
I was really intrigued with this book, the idea of drawings coming to life definitely caught my attention, and when I saw that this was set in Japan it made me even more excited to read the book. It took me awhile to finally get around to it, but I have now finished it and I'm a little unsure about this book. There were a lot of great things about it, but I found it took awhile to really get into things with this story.
I think Amanda Sun really kept readers wondering with this book, it took awhile to learn about the characters. I will say as a beginning to a series she left a lot open to have people continue reading what comes next. I wasn't the biggest fan of Katie at times throughout the book though, she is an interesting character but I found her decisions at times stupid. She is tough and fights back but at times it felt that she was trying to act tougher than she really was and got herself in some really bad situations.
Tomohiro was a great character, he had an attitude that brought some humour and yet he also had an emotional side that took some time to come out, and only with those he really trusted. If I were someone like Katie, I would definitely be curious about Tomohiro, he has so many secrets and he has this air about him that makes you want to know more about him.
I just felt that there were things in this book that dragged along and it took too much time for things to be unveiled, and then before I knew it the book was over. This book is really more about introducing readers to the world of INK and really just seeing the characters begin to understand this danger they are in, rather than being thrown into danger right away.
I also really liked that the relationship between Katie and Tomohiro grows, not that things don't happen exceedingly fast still (they definitely do) but these two learn a lot about each other that helps the relationship along. After the ending of Book 1, I would like to see what will happen next, though at the same time I'm not yet completely invested in this series. I'm hoping that we get more information on Katie in the next book and understand more about her involvement in all of this.
No. No no no no no. What is it with white authors inserting phonetic Japanese into their stories for """authenticity""". It didn't work for me when [b:Stormdancer|10852343|Stormdancer (The Lotus War, #1)|Jay Kristoff|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438971886s/10852343.jpg|15767096] did it and it doesn't work here either.
I just. No. It's too reminiscent of being fourteen and writing terrible fanfiction. Which, incidentally, is the only demographic I would recommend this book to. If you're a teenager who has just discovered watching anime with the subtitles on, you'll probably love this. Otherwise, definitely give it a pass.
It's just a rehashed version of every other paranormal romance book in the history of existence. The Japanese setting is the only unique bit and even though I believe Sun knows what she's talking about from a well researched perspective, you can't tell me there are no actual Japanese authors who aren't trying to do this.
And I'm sorry, mysteriously our white girl protagonist has an inexplicable link to Japanese lore? No. Just. Why this? I saw someone else mention in their review that it would've made way more sense for Katie to be Japanese-American and yes. That's exactly it.
And that's really only the beginning of the super-problematic elements of this book. But I'll spare you the rest of the details. Seriously, don't bother.
I just. No. It's too reminiscent of being fourteen and writing terrible fanfiction. Which, incidentally, is the only demographic I would recommend this book to. If you're a teenager who has just discovered watching anime with the subtitles on, you'll probably love this. Otherwise, definitely give it a pass.
It's just a rehashed version of every other paranormal romance book in the history of existence. The Japanese setting is the only unique bit and even though I believe Sun knows what she's talking about from a well researched perspective, you can't tell me there are no actual Japanese authors who aren't trying to do this.
And I'm sorry, mysteriously our white girl protagonist has an inexplicable link to Japanese lore? No. Just. Why this? I saw someone else mention in their review that it would've made way more sense for Katie to be Japanese-American and yes. That's exactly it.
And that's really only the beginning of the super-problematic elements of this book. But I'll spare you the rest of the details. Seriously, don't bother.
“It’s not how much time you’re out there. It’s what you’re spending time on and who you’re spending that time with.”
DNF. Read until 29%.
This will not be a legit review since I DNF-ed the book. I will just explain the reasons that made me give up on this one.
With all the hype about this book, I was really excited to experience the things other readers experienced when reading Ink. I was excited to travel Japan based on the things included in the book, especially the cherry blossom. Unfortunately, all the excitement was clouded by the romance.
It’s one of those books that were “it’s not you, it’s me.” The whole insta love, in my opinion, was the reason why I didn’t enjoy the book. The emphasis with Katie’s unhealthy (and unexplainable, in her opinion) attraction towards Tomo overcrowded the beauty of the story. Other people who have already read this book told me that the action happened on the later part of the book and unfortunately, I can’t wait for it anymore. The amount craziness Katie has felt/done for or because of him comes to borderline pathetic and although I tried so hard to not mind it, I still can’t get ignore it.
Almost the entire time I was reading it was spent on being pissed with Katie and her pathetic moves to be seen (though she swears that she wants to keep him away) by Tomo. Her hot and cold attitude towards the guy was so annoying that I can’t connect the two personalities—one that seems to be attracted to Tomo and the other that seems to hate his guts.
Tomo is not so different either. His good guy attitude and jerk attitude doesn’t mix up well and I’m actually spending my time getting pissed with whatever he’s doing instead of understanding him because of the ‘big’ secret he’s hiding.
I would really love to know more about the gods surrounding this story but unfortunately, this story had too much romance for my linking. I could have sacrificed my impression with the characters to finish the whole book but I don’t want to ruin their characters in my mind by being exposed to more romance.
This could have been a very good book and it really did raise my curiosity. I wish I finished this one..
This copy was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to love this book so much. The lore and setting sounded so amazing and what I got was a rehashed Twilight. I felt no connection to the extremely cardboard characters and found it difficult to finish. Also I found the use of Japanese within the dialogue confusing. You're supposed to assume they're always speaking Japanese (which somehow Katie became completely fluent in in 4 months??) but then a random Japanese phrase is inserted and you question if they were speaking it the whole time. It totally took me out of the story to have to reference the mini dictionary in the back. Let's just send this idea to a different author and try again.