Official Review: Blood Bound by K. Carter

[Insomniac07]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Blood Bound" by K. Carter.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Blood Bound by K. Carter is a young-adult novel that falls under the sub-category of contemporary literature. It is the story of Rian Michaels who is forced to move back to his hometown after his cousin and best friend Ian Stephenson’s death. The novel is written predominantly in the perspectives of Rian and Emily with a few pages from Ian’s diary interspersed. Emily Robinson is Ian’s girlfriend and also Rian’s childhood best friend.

The plot is this novel’s best feature. The book makes a commendable attempt to show the readers a way to deal with grief. But its true strength lies in its portrayal secrets within a family and its effect each one of them. Rian, who had initially, only planned on being there for his grieving aunt and Emily, finds his life being completely turned upside down when certain family secrets come to light. To move on after Ian’s death, he and his loved ones are forced to confront these ugly truths. My favorite parts of the novel were the younger trio during the flashback scenes. They were just so cute and adorable, especially when fighting monsters hidden in bushes.

Despite everything mentioned in the above paragraph, I found it really hard to get into this book. Here is a stellar example of how important good writing is to a story. The author tells a wonderful tale with some good twists and drama worthy of a soap-opera, but the writing failed to have me invested in it for long. I would have preferred if there were more descriptions and the whole plot was a bit more fleshed out. Furthermore, the direction of the story was predictable almost from the beginning. Nevertheless, these were not the major issues I had.

My biggest problem was with the characters. They did not evoke any sympathy and I couldn’t relate to any of them. In spite of having an interesting plot and backstories, Rian and Emily are still very much two-dimensional. Also, Ms. Carter uses the common book trope of showing the smartness and goodness of a person by making almost everyone else an airhead or a slut. A girl was labeled as shallow and a slut just because she invited Ryan to a party. Emily could have been a saint, but the rest of the female population were all devils.

Additionally, there were a few grammatical errors and lack of consistency in a couple of scenes. I also noticed a change from the first person to the third person narrative when the story alters from Rian’s to Emily’s point of view. But this didn’t distract me a lot from the plot though there doesn’t seem to be an explicit reason for such a shift. All in all, I rate this novel 2 out of 4 stars and recommend it to anyone who likes the young-adult genre, especially those who like dysfunctional family dramas and teen romance.

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Blood Bound
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Like Insomniac07's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Heidi M Simone]

Very well-rounded review! Sorry that there were some issues with the book. Hopefully your next one will be better!

[Insomniac07]

Thanks hsimone, I hope so too. Glad you enjoyed my review.

[Heidi M Simone]

[kimmyschemy06]

The premise sounds promising. Too bad, though, about the flaws. Great job on the review.

[Insomniac07]

Thank you

[kitsune1997]

This was a great review! The book doesnt sound this interesting though, I'm happy I decided to read various reviews before buying it.

[Insomniac07]

Thanks kitsune1997. Glad you liked the review.

[lmoses]

The plot of this book sounds really good, but I agree with you that if the writing is poor, it can ruin a book's ability to pull you in and enjoy it. I enjoyed reading your review!