May 17 #Bookreview Stained by Ella James #amreading #books
3 out of 5 Black Cats
Stained by Ella James is a YA novel about a girl named Julia who has lived her life in the foster system. She knows nothing about her real parents, and at the start of the story, her foster parents' house is on fire and the foster parents and children inside have burned in the fire. Julia sees a demon above the house that quickly disappears. When I first read this part, it seemed like Julia didn't care very much that the family taking care of her died. I found that a bit cold. Maybe she was in shock, maybe she wasn't close to them. At this time in the story we don't know her relationship with the foster family or how long she has lived with them.
Julia runs away because she doesn't want to return to the foster system. She doesn't express any fear about seeing the demon, which I thought was curious, made me think maybe she was used to supernatural occurrences. She stays the night in a warehouse where an attractive male fighting the same demon she saw before falls through the roof. The male is close to death and at this point we learn Julia can see the auras of other people and can heal people as she heals the mysterious attractive male. I wondered at this point why the demon stopped attacking and left. If the guy was on the verge of death, why would the demon stop? The demon could have taken them both out at this point. I assumed there was a reason the demon stopped the attack, but that reason is never answered in this first book. I'll assume it gets answered in the second or third book, otherwise this is a big plot hole to me.
The two reluctantly team up using Julia as bait to try and catch the demon. The relationship development during this time is entertaining, but nothing new. Maybe if an ugly guy fell through the roof it would have added a more interesting angle to the story, something for the main character to overcome. The two travel back and forth across the United States chasing the demon and learn some interesting information about the birthmark Julia has on her body. The novel ends at an exciting part, but so far, nothing in the story is resolved so you will have to read the next book and possibly the third book to reach any conclusions.
I liked the book. It was well written, although there were enough typos in the piece that they stood out, mostly the use of the wrong word in sentences, a problem a correction program wouldn't catch. The writer will need a human to go through and find those mistakes. The novel is a light read with a simple plot so far. If you are looking for something entertaining that won't require a lot of investment to follow, then this is a great choice. This first book in the series is your typical paranormal romance, no surprises yet, so if that's what you like, you'll like Stained.
I initially chose this book to read next because one of the reviews said this book had the best boyfriend character they'd ever read. Cayne has no memory part of the way through the book, then gets it back and turns cold toward Julia for a while. He deemed the typical YA male character to me. Perhaps in books two and three we see what makes him better, but in this first book, he is a standard male love interest for a YA novel.
If you like paranormal romance then give Stained a try. You will find everything in it that you would find in other YA paranormal romance, which is not a bad thin