Dec 5, 2014

Book Review: Blessed by Cynthia Leitich Smith




Salam . Well another book review . you like it or not, i'm a bookworm just this entry won't be as long as you expected though cause i quite disappointed really = =" Before you go wasting ur precious time that i know u can pick it up, let me make clear here that i'll just give this book 3 stars out of 5. so if u are already disappointed too then go check my other reviews . you'll particularly love it , i think. but if you are insisted on me reviewing this book, so let's start.

I'll make it short. i know some of you are busy people -.- 

With a wink and a nod to Bram Stoker, New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith unites the casts of Tantalize and Eternal in a delicious dark fantasy her fans will devour.

Quincie P. Morris, teen restaurateuse and neophyte vampire, is in the fight of her life -- or undeath. Even as she adjusts to her new appetites, she must clear her best friend and true love, the hybrid werewolf Kieren, of murder charges; thwart the apocalyptic ambitions of Bradley Sanguini, the seductive vampire-chef who "blessed" her; and keep her dead parents’ restaurant up and running. She hires a more homespun chef and adds the preternaturally beautiful Zachary to her wait staff. But with hundreds of new vampires on the rise and Bradley off assuming the powers of Dracula Prime, Zachary soon reveals his true nature -- and a flaming sword -- and they hit the road to staunch the bloodshed before it’s too late. Even if they save the world, will there be time left to salvage Quincie’s soul?

Conclusive wrap-up for characters

In Cynthia Leitich Smith’s BLESSED, teen restaurant manager and new vampire Quincie Morris finds herself struggling to handle the demands of saving her restaurant, hundreds of souls, and her relationship with werewolf-hybrid Kieren. With help from a beautiful new hire, Zachary, and his friends, Quincie must race to stop Bradley Sanguini’s quest to make himself into a modern Dracula, complete with his own army of fledgling vampire minions. In the process, Quincie also must consider what her vampire soul is worth.

BLESSED combines the casts of TANTALIZE and ETERNAL to provide a conclusive wrap-up to the supernatural story world Smith has created. While the first two books were companion novels, BLESSED is a true sequel that merges the two previous storylines to provide a satisfying ending for each character’s story. Strong themes about faith, redemption, and self-sacrifice run through the novel and are examined in non-preachy ways. Quincie experiences much more character development here than in the first book, and fans of Kieren and Quincie will be delighted to see their relationship developed beyond the first sparks seen at the end of TANTALIZE. The novel also explores the vampire myths of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA and links them in believable ways to a modern setting.

Though I enjoyed seeing Quincie, Kieren, and Zachary’s stories brought to a close, this installment has many of the same weak points as its predecessors. Dialogue comes across as stilted and unbelievable at times, and there are a few abrupt transitions between scenes. Again, like in TANTALIZE, attempts to infuse sensuality into the text felt a bit forced, as though the author was trying noticeably to be edgy. A few items regarding the mythology were left unresolved, and an overreliance on summarizing Stoker’s DRACULA weighed down the middle section of the book. Additionally, while the division of the novel into meal courses felt creative in TANTALIZE, the use of the same structure now felt trite and unnecessary to understand the story.

Although Blessed is the last book in the series I did not feel satisfied. For starters I couldn’t get into this book. It was so long ago that I read the first one to this series that I kind of forgot what happened. Blessed picked up where tantalize left off. I thought it was kind of weird that this picks up after Tantalize when there was a whole other book in the middle there.

Blessed started off with Kieren leaving Quincie. I didn’t like how Kieren left, and that’s the last we heard about him till three quarters into the book. Although Quincie did think about him a couple of times throughout the book, it just wasn’t enough to satisfy me.
The book started out a little slow with Quincie hiring all new employees for her restaurant. The main point of half the book revolves around her restaurant and Bradley. Then Zachary wants to be hired to be a bus boy in the restaurant.

Zachary is Quincie’s guardian angel. Neither Zachary nor Quincie know why she has a guardian angel in the first place. She has no soul, she’s a vampire. I absolutely love Zachary’s character. I loved his character in Eternal and I love his character in Blessed. Zachary helps Quincie find her true self in this book. She kind of reinvents herself, grows up a little bit more.

I liked how Cynthia Leitich Smith put the first two books in the series, Tantalize and eternal together, and meshed the characters together. When I first started reading the parts with Zachary and Quincie I thought they would fall in love. Thankfully they didn’t, that would have ruined the whole book. It was strictly friendship between them.

The ending was abrupt and left unanswered questions.
Does Quince's soul go to Heaven?
How long is Zach earth bound?
Until Kieren dies?
Until Zach saves 100 vampire souls?
Until Quince is 200 years old?
When ???
The book was over 4 hundred pages but ended vaguely.

If you are really bored one weekend,
If you can read the books for free and
If you have absolutely nothing else you would like to read, then, only then I would say go for it and read the book(s)
But, in my opinion there are too many other books out there that are more interesting, have better endings and are worth reading first.

I repeat, the book was just ok..

Quotes:
-“Straightening, I asked, "What do you believe in?""Old love songs, best friends, the collected works of J.R.R.Tolkien, crispy pork egg rolls with just the right amount of grease, the Big Boss and eternity.""The Big Boss?"Zachary pointed up, as if to heaven. "Pious,"I teased.” -“Each second neared our last.We danced.“Kieren . . .”“Shhh . . .”We danced.“I’ll be okay.” Was that me lying? Or him?We danced.“Close your eyes,” he whispered, brushing his lipsagainst mine. “Know that I’m missing you already andthat you’ll always be in my prayers.”When I opened my eyes, I stood alone in the middle ofthe dance floor.” 


Btw, for all bookworm the same species as me, don't miss the Big Bad Wold at MINES . it been held from 5th-19th December . well correct me if i'm wrong. 
Until then, XOXO


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