Books4Tomorrow: REVIEW: "STAINED" (Stained, #1)

Title: “Stained”

Series: (Stained, #1)

Author: Ella James

Publisher: Barkley’s Books

Publication Date: September 14, 2011

Genre: YA, Paranormal Romance

Reviewed by: Books4Tomorrow

Source: Received for review from author

My star rating: 4/5

SUMMARY

After a fire destroys seventeen-year-old Julia’s home and kills her foster parents, she chases the half-demon responsible across the country and back, determined to avenge her family and discover why a host of celestial baddies want her dead. With Julia is enigmatic hottie - Cayne, who has his own score to settle with the half-demon, and who might be just as dangerous as the creature he and Julia hunt.

REVIEW

When I started this book, I went into it with low to zero expectations. I’ve read Before You Go by this same author awhile ago, and even though the writing was good, I wasn’t too impressed with the story or its characters. Once I got to the second chapter of Stained though, I was hooked.

As far as paranormal romances go, the plot isn’t really new or unique, but it is exciting and in the first two thirds of the book there is a lot of action and enough vagueness which raises loads of questions and keeps you turning the pages to find the answers. Ella James’s writing flows easily and she manages to draw the reader into the story by slowly unveiling the background stories of the two main characters, which of course adds more twists and secrets to the plot.

However, as much as I enjoyed the mystery and intrigue of Stained, I felt that in some places the story was rushed and there were quite a few jumps in logic. Certain things didn’t make sense to me at all and although I found the dream sequences to be imaginative and mysterious, they were also lengthy and didn’t add anything to the development of the story. I also found it strange that a two-hundred-year old character doesn’t know how to drive, but he masters this skill in less than two days and outruns the villains on the interstate, driving like a pro.

Stained is the first book in the Stained Series, so I’m guessing most of the questions I still had unanswered by the end of the book, will probably be addressed in one of the next books in this series. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and although Julia’s character got on my nerves from time to time, I still liked her as she acted the way a real seventeen-year old would. Cayne - mood-swings and all - is definitely worth the read too. Overall, this is a quick and enjoyable read, nothing too series. Judging by everything that had happened in this book, the rest of the series looks promising and I highly recommend it to paranormal romance addicts. Now I’m looking forward to reading Ella James’s Here.