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Bleak Devotion
Jessica doesn't know how long it's been, only that it seems like forever since she's allowed her feelings to show. Ever since they attacked her city. Monsters which appear human but are void of any expression, and seem bent on destroying all signs of sentiment in others. Their lethal blades shred anyone who shows even the slightest emotion.
After her only remaining friend is killed, Jessica flees the city hoping to find a place where emotions aren't fatal. A place to grieve those she lost and live out her meager existence. When she discovers the world of the emotionless creatures isn't what she believes, the love it leads her to may also be the path to her own death.
After her only remaining friend is killed, Jessica flees the city hoping to find a place where emotions aren't fatal. A place to grieve those she lost and live out her meager existence. When she discovers the world of the emotionless creatures isn't what she believes, the love it leads her to may also be the path to her own death.
220 pages, ebook
First published March 28, 2014
2 people are currently reading
479 people want to read
About the author
Gemma Drazin
4 books4 followersGemma Drazin is the author of short stories and Young Adult Fantasies with romance. She can often be found outside with a book and a treat. When she's not reading or writing she can be found enjoying time with her husband and children.
Gemma Drazin is the pen name under which Janeal Falor writes darkly romantic, futuristic stories.
Gemma Drazin is the pen name under which Janeal Falor writes darkly romantic, futuristic stories.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
February 11, 2015
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Janeal Falor and Gemma Drazin.)
“The monster was silhouetted above her. Six thin, crescent-shaped blades protruded from the backs of both of its arms, screaming death with their every move.”
Apologies to the author, but this book and I did not get along.
The main character in this irritated me a bit. She walked a friend who she knew didn’t have a poker face straight into a store full of aliens who rip you apart if you show emotion, and then wondered why she ended up a shish kebab. Some friend she was.
“A gruesome metallic slash clanged through the air. Slowly, she turned, dreading the familiar bloody sight she knew awaited her.”
She then happened upon some kind people, who were still human, and when they told her two days later that they had an alien living with them, she went ballistic and told them they had to get rid of it, or she wouldn’t stay. Er, he’s been there a lot longer than you have love.
“If you aren’t willing to accept his presence and treat him with respect, you can leave.”
Did it not occur to her at all, that seeing as the other humans are still ALIVE that this alien might not be the ‘monster’ you keep referring to him as? That if he wanted to kill you he’s had the past 2 days to do so? That if he hadn’t saved these humans and looked after them, that you would have been dead from exposure two days ago? Talk about gratitude.
“How can you possibly know that he won’t do you harm?” Jessica tried to keep the hysteria from her voice. “You can’t.”
It wasn’t just Jessica that annoyed me though; no we also had a predictable romance, and a really unnecessary love triangle. I really disliked the fact that one moment Jessica was calling Blade a monster and trying to attack him,
“The only thing she wanted to do was run screaming at this monster who had ruined her life.”
and a couple of chapters later was in love with him! I mean really?! He wasn’t even supposed to have emotions!
“Of course I liked Blade. Everyone likes Blade. You can’t help but like Blade. He’s completely too likeable.”
Then there was the love triangle, and to be perfectly honest I couldn’t really blame the other guy for thinking that he and Jessica would get together – them being a similar age, and two of the very few humans left on earth as far as they knew. But no, Jessica is in love with the alien!
“You can’t really be choosing that monster over me, or even Ben for that matter. There’s no way you would pick one of them.”
(Oh yes she would)
Oh, and did I forget to mention, that these alien’s have no emotions, and if they do feel an emotion, 12 blades pop out of their arms so that they can destroy whatever caused said emotion, and oh yes, if you show emotion in front of them, you will face the same fate? So what does Jessica do? Oh yes, she tries to make out with one.
“Agony rent Jessica. The torment centered on her midsection, radiating out to fill her entire body. Her vision darkened.”
Well, that was your own darn fault you silly girl!
So how did the ending go? Kind-of like beauty and the beast, if the beast never became human, and most of the rest of humanity had been slayed by more of the same beasts. Ugh.
“Somehow in a world where emotions were deadly, they could make love work.”
Of course you can love.
4 out of 10.
“The monster was silhouetted above her. Six thin, crescent-shaped blades protruded from the backs of both of its arms, screaming death with their every move.”
Apologies to the author, but this book and I did not get along.
The main character in this irritated me a bit. She walked a friend who she knew didn’t have a poker face straight into a store full of aliens who rip you apart if you show emotion, and then wondered why she ended up a shish kebab. Some friend she was.
“A gruesome metallic slash clanged through the air. Slowly, she turned, dreading the familiar bloody sight she knew awaited her.”
She then happened upon some kind people, who were still human, and when they told her two days later that they had an alien living with them, she went ballistic and told them they had to get rid of it, or she wouldn’t stay. Er, he’s been there a lot longer than you have love.
“If you aren’t willing to accept his presence and treat him with respect, you can leave.”
Did it not occur to her at all, that seeing as the other humans are still ALIVE that this alien might not be the ‘monster’ you keep referring to him as? That if he wanted to kill you he’s had the past 2 days to do so? That if he hadn’t saved these humans and looked after them, that you would have been dead from exposure two days ago? Talk about gratitude.
“How can you possibly know that he won’t do you harm?” Jessica tried to keep the hysteria from her voice. “You can’t.”
It wasn’t just Jessica that annoyed me though; no we also had a predictable romance, and a really unnecessary love triangle. I really disliked the fact that one moment Jessica was calling Blade a monster and trying to attack him,
“The only thing she wanted to do was run screaming at this monster who had ruined her life.”
and a couple of chapters later was in love with him! I mean really?! He wasn’t even supposed to have emotions!
“Of course I liked Blade. Everyone likes Blade. You can’t help but like Blade. He’s completely too likeable.”
Then there was the love triangle, and to be perfectly honest I couldn’t really blame the other guy for thinking that he and Jessica would get together – them being a similar age, and two of the very few humans left on earth as far as they knew. But no, Jessica is in love with the alien!
“You can’t really be choosing that monster over me, or even Ben for that matter. There’s no way you would pick one of them.”
(Oh yes she would)
Oh, and did I forget to mention, that these alien’s have no emotions, and if they do feel an emotion, 12 blades pop out of their arms so that they can destroy whatever caused said emotion, and oh yes, if you show emotion in front of them, you will face the same fate? So what does Jessica do? Oh yes, she tries to make out with one.
“Agony rent Jessica. The torment centered on her midsection, radiating out to fill her entire body. Her vision darkened.”
Well, that was your own darn fault you silly girl!
So how did the ending go? Kind-of like beauty and the beast, if the beast never became human, and most of the rest of humanity had been slayed by more of the same beasts. Ugh.
“Somehow in a world where emotions were deadly, they could make love work.”
Of course you can love.
4 out of 10.
August 1, 2014
Bleak Devotion by Gemma Drazin follows the story of Jessica and her survival after an alien race invades Earth. Jessica has spent nine months hiding out with her childhood friend Cindy, but when Cindy is killed, Jessica decides it is time to leave and try to find other survivors. She finds them, or rather they find her, at a cabin in the middle of no where during a blizzard. A rag tag group of survivors run by a middle-aged woman named Deborah take her in and make her a part of the family. But they have a secret living upstairs.....one of the aliens!
So this book started with a lot of promise. The main character Jessica is with her friend Cindy and they are going to infiltrate the creatures that have taken over by pretending to be one so they can get food. It all goes horribly wrong and Cindy is killed, leaving Jessica to fend for herself. The whole time I'm thinking "Yes! Awesome dystopian, sci-fi thriller in the making!!" I was wrong. The story turned into Jessica fighting her growing feelings for Blade who happens to be one of the aliens that have taken over the planet.
Now don't get me wrong. I still enjoyed this book, it just turned out to be not what I was expecting. This is more a book about paranormal romance than it is about the dystopian aspects of the society. It is more focused on the romance than the survival. It had some funny moments, some suspenseful moments, and some action, but mostly it was about the romance.
Jessica is the only survivor of her family and her character starts out as a strong, independent heroine type. You know the type, the stereotypical female heroine of YA dystopians, well that was Jessica. Then her friend died and she was still that character. Then she found the cabin with other survivors and all of a sudden she had to learn to live with other human beings again. She had to learn how to be emotional again. Ummmmm......does that ever really go away? Anyways Jessica's strong character becomes a girl that has lost her whole family and best friend. She feels rage and....well cries....a lot! But I don't fault her for that. I would too.
Blade is an alien and the love interest of this strangely, not dystopian, paranormal romance. Blade after seeing what his race does to the humans decides to side with them. He finds Deborah, one of the other characters who is kinda the leader at the cabin, and protects her. She teaches him English and in return he protects her and gathers supplies. He becomes a master at controlling the monster inside of him that is until Jessica shows up. And uh-oh....he has feelings. Blade hates the monster within him and hates himself for not being able to be with the one he loves. It's all very weird.
Luckily the other characters of the story alleviate some of the emotional tension between Jessica and Blade making the story and plot move along nicely. However, the plot was just okay. As I mentioned earlier the story is billed as a young adult dystopian and while it is to a degree, the story does not center on it. Instead it focuses on the unfortunate, star-crossed lovers type relationship that develops between Blade and Jessica. While this made for a good read, I think it could have been better. There were many questions left unanswered in my opinion. Why did they invade? This was answered in literally one sentence. Personally I would've liked a little more back story and some flashbacks to the actual invasion. Instead you are dropped into the story around 9 months after the invasion with not much given on the past. Are there more survivors? What are others doing? What does Jessica plan to do in the future? They can't all stay in the cabin forever, can they?
Overall, I felt this story was just okay. It had a lot of good dystopian elements, but they were not seen through out the plot. If this story had been billed as a paranormal romance, I may have felt differently as I did go into it reading with the expectation that it was a sci-fi dystopian. Would I recommend this book? Sure! It's short, I read it in one sitting, and it is decent. It's just not your typical dystopian novel. If you enjoy paranormal romance then I believe you will enjoy this book.
I received a copy of this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.
So this book started with a lot of promise. The main character Jessica is with her friend Cindy and they are going to infiltrate the creatures that have taken over by pretending to be one so they can get food. It all goes horribly wrong and Cindy is killed, leaving Jessica to fend for herself. The whole time I'm thinking "Yes! Awesome dystopian, sci-fi thriller in the making!!" I was wrong. The story turned into Jessica fighting her growing feelings for Blade who happens to be one of the aliens that have taken over the planet.
Now don't get me wrong. I still enjoyed this book, it just turned out to be not what I was expecting. This is more a book about paranormal romance than it is about the dystopian aspects of the society. It is more focused on the romance than the survival. It had some funny moments, some suspenseful moments, and some action, but mostly it was about the romance.
Jessica is the only survivor of her family and her character starts out as a strong, independent heroine type. You know the type, the stereotypical female heroine of YA dystopians, well that was Jessica. Then her friend died and she was still that character. Then she found the cabin with other survivors and all of a sudden she had to learn to live with other human beings again. She had to learn how to be emotional again. Ummmmm......does that ever really go away? Anyways Jessica's strong character becomes a girl that has lost her whole family and best friend. She feels rage and....well cries....a lot! But I don't fault her for that. I would too.
Blade is an alien and the love interest of this strangely, not dystopian, paranormal romance. Blade after seeing what his race does to the humans decides to side with them. He finds Deborah, one of the other characters who is kinda the leader at the cabin, and protects her. She teaches him English and in return he protects her and gathers supplies. He becomes a master at controlling the monster inside of him that is until Jessica shows up. And uh-oh....he has feelings. Blade hates the monster within him and hates himself for not being able to be with the one he loves. It's all very weird.
Luckily the other characters of the story alleviate some of the emotional tension between Jessica and Blade making the story and plot move along nicely. However, the plot was just okay. As I mentioned earlier the story is billed as a young adult dystopian and while it is to a degree, the story does not center on it. Instead it focuses on the unfortunate, star-crossed lovers type relationship that develops between Blade and Jessica. While this made for a good read, I think it could have been better. There were many questions left unanswered in my opinion. Why did they invade? This was answered in literally one sentence. Personally I would've liked a little more back story and some flashbacks to the actual invasion. Instead you are dropped into the story around 9 months after the invasion with not much given on the past. Are there more survivors? What are others doing? What does Jessica plan to do in the future? They can't all stay in the cabin forever, can they?
Overall, I felt this story was just okay. It had a lot of good dystopian elements, but they were not seen through out the plot. If this story had been billed as a paranormal romance, I may have felt differently as I did go into it reading with the expectation that it was a sci-fi dystopian. Would I recommend this book? Sure! It's short, I read it in one sitting, and it is decent. It's just not your typical dystopian novel. If you enjoy paranormal romance then I believe you will enjoy this book.
I received a copy of this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.
July 25, 2014
**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**
Gemma Drazin’s Bleak Devotion throws us into a world where normal human emotion can be a death sentence. Aliens (sometimes referred to as “monsters”) have invaded Earth–and although they look human, they’re anything but. Upon seeing emotional reactions from humans, the male aliens immediately morph into lethal weapons, with metal blades that come out of their arms and kill anyone in sight. In order to survive, Jessica and her only living friend Carly must hide their emotions to look like one of them. However, when Carly is killed by a monster, Jessica goes on the run and realizes that she’s not the only living human left. But the strangers that take her in have a secret, and it’s not one that Jessica will take lightly.
I did find the premise to be fascinating, which is why I was kind of let down that I didn’t get anymore background information on the aliens’ lives. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave. It followed a very similar formula: aliens invading Earth who looked just like humans, but one of them falls in love with a human.
I think with a few tweaks, Bleak Devotion would have been a lot more appealing to me. Overall, I’d rate it two out of five stars. This book would appeal to fans of dystopian and science fiction.
Read the full review at http://eatbooksforbreakfast.com/2014/....
Gemma Drazin’s Bleak Devotion throws us into a world where normal human emotion can be a death sentence. Aliens (sometimes referred to as “monsters”) have invaded Earth–and although they look human, they’re anything but. Upon seeing emotional reactions from humans, the male aliens immediately morph into lethal weapons, with metal blades that come out of their arms and kill anyone in sight. In order to survive, Jessica and her only living friend Carly must hide their emotions to look like one of them. However, when Carly is killed by a monster, Jessica goes on the run and realizes that she’s not the only living human left. But the strangers that take her in have a secret, and it’s not one that Jessica will take lightly.
I did find the premise to be fascinating, which is why I was kind of let down that I didn’t get anymore background information on the aliens’ lives. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave. It followed a very similar formula: aliens invading Earth who looked just like humans, but one of them falls in love with a human.
I think with a few tweaks, Bleak Devotion would have been a lot more appealing to me. Overall, I’d rate it two out of five stars. This book would appeal to fans of dystopian and science fiction.
Read the full review at http://eatbooksforbreakfast.com/2014/....
April 13, 2014
I'm really glad that i came across this wonderful book. When i first started reading it i thought that the story would be all about the constant struggle of Jessica for survival and her everyday violent encounters with the monsters.
But it was more than that, it was actually better than that. After the monster invasion happens the author instead of giving us a group who fights back those creatures all the time she places Jessica in a peaceful group of people and after that we see her everyday interactions with this group. It might not sound so fascinating at first but of course there are many surprises in the story since a member of this group is very very different from the others and Jessica finds unexpected romance in a world were emotions can lead her to death.
I must say that the author gave me exactly what i want it to see in this book, every time i said "i wish this happens" i would turn the next page and my wish would be granted. I was afraid that we would not see much action in this book but there was an amazing fight scene and the main character was paired with the guy i was rooting for. I enjoyed so much the romance that i wish the book had more pages so i could see more of it.
But it was more than that, it was actually better than that. After the monster invasion happens the author instead of giving us a group who fights back those creatures all the time she places Jessica in a peaceful group of people and after that we see her everyday interactions with this group. It might not sound so fascinating at first but of course there are many surprises in the story since a member of this group is very very different from the others and Jessica finds unexpected romance in a world were emotions can lead her to death.
I must say that the author gave me exactly what i want it to see in this book, every time i said "i wish this happens" i would turn the next page and my wish would be granted. I was afraid that we would not see much action in this book but there was an amazing fight scene and the main character was paired with the guy i was rooting for. I enjoyed so much the romance that i wish the book had more pages so i could see more of it.
July 23, 2014
*I received this book for a honest review!*
The subject matter of this story was so unexpected. I loved that this amazing author came up with something that I have never read about. I mean, I really, really read a lot. And this book took me by surprise.
And I have to say, although I loved the premise of the book. I really dreaded all the tragedy that happened due to the nasty aliens.
The characters were so good. Blade was astonishing and Jessica wasn't far behind. Their impossible relationship was made somewhat possible by sheer force of will. That in itself is amazing. I am a true believer of the power that we have inside. I think that somebody can do whatever his goal is if he really puts his mind to it. I loved that about Blade, that he conquered his nature and wanted to be above his species limitations. And I especially loved that he actually made a difference in the end.
All the other characters were appropriate fillers. I loved the interactions between them.
Of course the reason I gave the book 4 stars is because it was a very short book that didn't quite immerse in the whole world building. This one just needs a sequel. I need more explanations. I want to know more about what happened to the whole of humanity. I need to know how many aliens descended upon the Earth that were able to take down 7 billion humans without retaliation. Because if I know one thing is that humans are capable of the most atrocious crimes against other humans, how could they have just stand by and be slaughtered without declaring war. They declare war nowadays for any minor thing, how could these handful of aliens have a chance?
That being said, I loved the book and I really, really, really hope there is a continuation to the story.
The subject matter of this story was so unexpected. I loved that this amazing author came up with something that I have never read about. I mean, I really, really read a lot. And this book took me by surprise.
And I have to say, although I loved the premise of the book. I really dreaded all the tragedy that happened due to the nasty aliens.
The characters were so good. Blade was astonishing and Jessica wasn't far behind. Their impossible relationship was made somewhat possible by sheer force of will. That in itself is amazing. I am a true believer of the power that we have inside. I think that somebody can do whatever his goal is if he really puts his mind to it. I loved that about Blade, that he conquered his nature and wanted to be above his species limitations. And I especially loved that he actually made a difference in the end.
All the other characters were appropriate fillers. I loved the interactions between them.
Of course the reason I gave the book 4 stars is because it was a very short book that didn't quite immerse in the whole world building. This one just needs a sequel. I need more explanations. I want to know more about what happened to the whole of humanity. I need to know how many aliens descended upon the Earth that were able to take down 7 billion humans without retaliation. Because if I know one thing is that humans are capable of the most atrocious crimes against other humans, how could they have just stand by and be slaughtered without declaring war. They declare war nowadays for any minor thing, how could these handful of aliens have a chance?
That being said, I loved the book and I really, really, really hope there is a continuation to the story.
July 31, 2014
I feel conflicted about this book. I liked it and didn't. While I thought it was going to be a dystopian because of the beginning it turned into a romance.
Aliens have invaded and after seeing her best friend killed Jessica leaves the city. She runs into a group of people that have figured out how to survive but only with their secret, the alien that has befriended them and lives with them.
At first Jessica is freaked out over having Blade in the house with them but eventually she loosens up and they eventually fall in love. Which isn't easy since his races power is the 12 blades that come out of their arms at any sign of emotion. This is something that Blade had been able to control until he meets Jessica. What he feels for her is to powerful for him.
I wish some things had been explained more. Blade tells Jessica about his race evolving into the blades but we never find out why its emotions that trigger them. We're also told many times that the metal is only visible on the back of his arms, but its sounds as if the blades completely cover their arms. I was never really able to get a visual on how they look.
I did like most of the side characters except for Ben and Zach. We're not supposed to like Ben and then when Zach realizes Jessica has feelings for Blade and he doesn't have a shot he turns into a douche. I kind of understand why he would feel that way but he's still a douche.
I liked the ending but I wish there had been a epilogue so that we know how it turns out. We're not told if there's a HEA or not.
I was given an ecopy by the author in exchange for a honest review. Thank you.
Aliens have invaded and after seeing her best friend killed Jessica leaves the city. She runs into a group of people that have figured out how to survive but only with their secret, the alien that has befriended them and lives with them.
At first Jessica is freaked out over having Blade in the house with them but eventually she loosens up and they eventually fall in love. Which isn't easy since his races power is the 12 blades that come out of their arms at any sign of emotion. This is something that Blade had been able to control until he meets Jessica. What he feels for her is to powerful for him.
I wish some things had been explained more. Blade tells Jessica about his race evolving into the blades but we never find out why its emotions that trigger them. We're also told many times that the metal is only visible on the back of his arms, but its sounds as if the blades completely cover their arms. I was never really able to get a visual on how they look.
I did like most of the side characters except for Ben and Zach. We're not supposed to like Ben and then when Zach realizes Jessica has feelings for Blade and he doesn't have a shot he turns into a douche. I kind of understand why he would feel that way but he's still a douche.
I liked the ending but I wish there had been a epilogue so that we know how it turns out. We're not told if there's a HEA or not.
I was given an ecopy by the author in exchange for a honest review. Thank you.
August 1, 2014
After reading Bleak Devotion I feel like I have been on one of the best roller coaster rides out there. I am surprised by how quickly I became engrossed in this novel and by how affected I am by the people who inhabit it. One of the things that I find fascinating is that it manages to be both fantastical and wonderfully real at the same time. It holds on to your emotions as tightly as Blade attempts to hold on to his, without letting up for a second. I think that this was such an interesting concept - a world where emotion can and will lead to not only pain but death, how do you find ways to let not just the good but the bad emotions still play a part in your life? How do you fall in love? In a world were being open is a death sentence should you allow yourself to open when you can and can you accept the consequences of those actions? I think that Gemma does a beautiful job of addressing these issues without getting bogged down in them. There is as much laughter and hope as there is sadness and pain throughout this. I found myself laughing one moment, tearing up the next. Smiling at new love on one page and holding my breath with fear on the next. Jessica and Blade are wonderful characters and I want to know more about them. The supporting cast is a joy as well and I wish that we could see more of their stories. I love that while the premise of this is so huge - a world threatened and conquered all of the action is primarily confined to one house. It gives the novel such intimacy even though there is the constant threat of the outside world invading. I cannot wait to read more from this author and I cannot wait to reread this novel again!
August 6, 2014
(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I was actually really surprised at how quickly I finished this book. I am a fast reader anyway, but I managed to finish this book in just over two hours before my work shift started.
I did find this book really easy to read. I liked Jessica as a character and once her relationship with Blade was established, I did like that, too. Unfortunately, I couldn't really believe in the start of their relationship. A lot of it seemed based on just physical attraction and 'feeling drawn to each other'.
The other characters were interesting as well, but I didn't really like how Zach seemed to become a villain after Jessica rejected him. Then again, I really dislike love triangles, so I could just be biased.
The idea of the aliens was really interesting and I really appreciated that the author made an attempt to make them less like the monsters they appeared, though some of the explanations seemed a bit too... convenient.
I think I really would have liked to see more of a friendship-based storyline, rather than a romance. The romance was just a bit too cliched and love-at-first sight for my liking.
I'd probably read a sequel to this book, because there were some quite sweet parts to it, but right now, I think I'd give it 3.5 stars.
(This review may contain spoilers).
I was actually really surprised at how quickly I finished this book. I am a fast reader anyway, but I managed to finish this book in just over two hours before my work shift started.
I did find this book really easy to read. I liked Jessica as a character and once her relationship with Blade was established, I did like that, too. Unfortunately, I couldn't really believe in the start of their relationship. A lot of it seemed based on just physical attraction and 'feeling drawn to each other'.
The other characters were interesting as well, but I didn't really like how Zach seemed to become a villain after Jessica rejected him. Then again, I really dislike love triangles, so I could just be biased.
The idea of the aliens was really interesting and I really appreciated that the author made an attempt to make them less like the monsters they appeared, though some of the explanations seemed a bit too... convenient.
I think I really would have liked to see more of a friendship-based storyline, rather than a romance. The romance was just a bit too cliched and love-at-first sight for my liking.
I'd probably read a sequel to this book, because there were some quite sweet parts to it, but right now, I think I'd give it 3.5 stars.
January 4, 2015
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
This book was unlike anything I have read and I haven't enjoyed a story as much as this one in ages. I really liked the concept of the story with it's interesting alien twist on the classic 'two people from different backgrounds falling in love who should hate each other' scenario. The characters were described well and the level in which the characters progress through the story is just perfect, the author doesn't pile all the information about them onto the reader right away allowing the reader the opportunity to learn about the character as they grow and actually remember the character better.
The story was well written and original however it did have a few grammatical errors which resulted in a couple of confusing sentences, it looked as if the wording had been changed but some of the original wording hadn't been removed. I found I had to read over them a few times before I could work out what they should have said. Because of this I would say the book definitely needed a more thorough proof read but it didn't taint my enjoyment of the book whatsoever and I can't wait to read more by this author.
This book was unlike anything I have read and I haven't enjoyed a story as much as this one in ages. I really liked the concept of the story with it's interesting alien twist on the classic 'two people from different backgrounds falling in love who should hate each other' scenario. The characters were described well and the level in which the characters progress through the story is just perfect, the author doesn't pile all the information about them onto the reader right away allowing the reader the opportunity to learn about the character as they grow and actually remember the character better.
The story was well written and original however it did have a few grammatical errors which resulted in a couple of confusing sentences, it looked as if the wording had been changed but some of the original wording hadn't been removed. I found I had to read over them a few times before I could work out what they should have said. Because of this I would say the book definitely needed a more thorough proof read but it didn't taint my enjoyment of the book whatsoever and I can't wait to read more by this author.
July 28, 2014
I was given this book to write an honest review.
I'll be honest I didn't pick this book to read and review because I found it appealing but because I thought 'oh go on I'll give it a try' and...........
Im so glad I did!! I just loved this book, I found it entertaining and gripping, it made me laugh, cry and cringe in places. I sat smiling to myself when it came to Jessica and Blades interactions (well most if them).
When reading this you can tell the author has put a lot of work into both the storyline and the exploration of the characters.
I found this book to be original in that I haven't read many books like this, the characters are very likable and all very individual, with their very own stories and experiences.
This book is very well put together and was a great read. I would highly recommend it.
I'll be honest I didn't pick this book to read and review because I found it appealing but because I thought 'oh go on I'll give it a try' and...........
Im so glad I did!! I just loved this book, I found it entertaining and gripping, it made me laugh, cry and cringe in places. I sat smiling to myself when it came to Jessica and Blades interactions (well most if them).
When reading this you can tell the author has put a lot of work into both the storyline and the exploration of the characters.
I found this book to be original in that I haven't read many books like this, the characters are very likable and all very individual, with their very own stories and experiences.
This book is very well put together and was a great read. I would highly recommend it.
May 6, 2018
Aliens have invaded Earth, aliens who attack and kill anything that shows emotion. This is a very interesting idea because most humans show emotion all the time, this is reflected in the face that most humans have been killed in the first 9 months.
Jessica is just trying to survive, but that's far from easy. She shows her youth by making some bad decisions but overall she's doing a pretty good job. I was enjoying the story until Jessica met Blade an Alien who's trying to overcome his nature and not react to emotion. After that it became a stereotypical boy and girl wanting to be together despite the odds story.
I was expecting a dystopian survivalist story, but it turned into a tortured love romance story, which was a bit disappointing.
That said, it's well written and the characters are well crafted, the story moves at a good pace and the narration is top notch so there's lots of positives.
Speaking of the narrations, the character voices were excellent and the tone of the narration was a great match for the moods of the book.
I received a free copy of this book from the author and/or narrator and/or publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.
Jessica is just trying to survive, but that's far from easy. She shows her youth by making some bad decisions but overall she's doing a pretty good job. I was enjoying the story until Jessica met Blade an Alien who's trying to overcome his nature and not react to emotion. After that it became a stereotypical boy and girl wanting to be together despite the odds story.
I was expecting a dystopian survivalist story, but it turned into a tortured love romance story, which was a bit disappointing.
That said, it's well written and the characters are well crafted, the story moves at a good pace and the narration is top notch so there's lots of positives.
Speaking of the narrations, the character voices were excellent and the tone of the narration was a great match for the moods of the book.
I received a free copy of this book from the author and/or narrator and/or publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.
October 5, 2020
Sometimes there is no controlling your heart. But what if that control is the only thing keeping you alive?
Aliens invade earth and kill almost all of the humans. The aliens look like us, but they don't act like us. The few humans that are left have learned that showing emotion will get you instantaneously killed. How will a teenage girl stay alive while she deals with coming of age, new feelings, and falling in love?
This is an endearing story of young love. Jessica is a strong female character stumbling her way into the first real love of her life - an alien! She makes mistakes, tries to repair them, and then makes bigger mistakes. Will she ever figure this out?
I enjoyed listening to Jessica reminisce about her little brother and watching her unlikely romance develop. The story was interesting, and kept my attention. I finished it in less than 24 hours :) I would definitely read more books by this author.
I didn't notice the narrator at all. I only heard the story. To me, that is a sign of a great narrator. There were no production or narration mistakes in the book. It was easy to distinguish one character from the other when they spoke.
Aliens invade earth and kill almost all of the humans. The aliens look like us, but they don't act like us. The few humans that are left have learned that showing emotion will get you instantaneously killed. How will a teenage girl stay alive while she deals with coming of age, new feelings, and falling in love?
This is an endearing story of young love. Jessica is a strong female character stumbling her way into the first real love of her life - an alien! She makes mistakes, tries to repair them, and then makes bigger mistakes. Will she ever figure this out?
I enjoyed listening to Jessica reminisce about her little brother and watching her unlikely romance develop. The story was interesting, and kept my attention. I finished it in less than 24 hours :) I would definitely read more books by this author.
I didn't notice the narrator at all. I only heard the story. To me, that is a sign of a great narrator. There were no production or narration mistakes in the book. It was easy to distinguish one character from the other when they spoke.
September 29, 2020
Bleak Devotion by Gemma Drazin first attracted my attention due to the narrator, Stacey Glemboski. Stacey is outstanding in my opinion. She adds the right emotions to the situations and brings the characters to life, hence the 5 star performance rating. The story is more futuristic than I typically am drawn to, so I'd rate it 3.5 stars and round up to 4 stars. I had requested this requested this review audiobook and have voluntarily written this review. There were many elements of the book that I did enjoy.
October 19, 2020
For fans of The Fifth Wave. It was an interesting and unique story of love and hope in a scary world. I enjoyed the world building and the characters and that it is a stand alone novel.
May 1, 2015
I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Jessica lives in a world where the earth has recently been invaded by aliens who kill when they detect any kind of emotion. After a tragic incident involving her friend, Jessica decides to leave the town she grew up in and hopes to survive on her own and remain hidden from the strange, deadly beings that now inhabit the Earth. She stumbles upon a cabin in the woods and discovers several other humans hiding out there, then she finds out they are living with one of the aliens, named Blade. Full of hurt, anger and fear because of what the aliens have done to her family and friend, Jessica is begged by the others to give the alien a chance because he’s different. Over time, Jessica grows to like Blade and they fall in love. But the relationship seems doomed from the start since any form of emotion can cause the violent streak within Blade to lash out and kill a human instantly.
The title and cover of this book captured my attention and the synopsis sounded really good and I was looking forward to reading it, however, it wasn’t anything like what I was expecting. The book was advertised as a dystopian novel but it seemed to me to be more a science fiction story with romance. The book opens setting the scene of a world that has been invaded by strange aliens who at the barest hint of any kind of emotion from a human, spring sharp blades from their body and kill the human instantly. But once the main character leaves the town and goes to live in the cabin in the woods with other humans and an alien, the story became mostly about the developing feelings between Jessica, a human girl, and Blade, an alien who claims to be different to the rest of his species.
The writing style of the author is fine and it was reasonably well written, but I found it difficult to keep focussed on this book and it was quite hard to get into. It was also quite slow after the first few chapters. I also had difficulty in picturing what the aliens actually looked like, especially in regards to the blades that would appear when emotions were detected. I also found it hard to comprehend how Blade had learned to control his reactions when humans were emotional near him. There was no explanation other than he told others it was difficult and took a long time to master.
Another thing I had difficulty with was the very quick change in Jessica’s feelings towards Blade, the alien being. When she first arrived at the cabin, she was understandably angry and fearful toward Blade because of what his alien race had done to her family and friend as well as turning her entire world upside down. Jessica started to fit in with the other humans but still had anger and fear towards Blade and wasn’t happy about him living in the cabin with them. Then suddenly the next chapter has Jessica being all friendly towards Blade and discovering she has feelings for him and that he has feelings for her as well. There was no indication of how much time had passed, or what made Jessica change her mind about Blade. This was difficult for me to process because there was no explanation for this very quick change of mind on Jessica’s part and from then on, the story just felt really unbelievable, even for science fiction.
I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likeable in this story, and it was a struggle to read right through to the end. There were no plot twists or surprises and I felt the ending was too predictable. There were a number of unanswered questions throughout the story, mainly about the aliens and the invasion of Earth, but also about the development of the relationship between the two main characters.
This book wasn’t for me, and I was somewhat disappointed by it because I was expecting a completely different story based on what it had been portrayed as. I would categorise this book as science fiction and not a dystopian story because the main character isn’t trying to overthrow the invading aliens. The story is set on Earth after an alien invasion with the main storyline being a romance between a human girl and an alien boy. If you like young adult romance stories and don’t mind a science fiction setting, and you like reading about the developing relationship between two people which seems doomed to fail, then you might enjoy this book.
Jessica lives in a world where the earth has recently been invaded by aliens who kill when they detect any kind of emotion. After a tragic incident involving her friend, Jessica decides to leave the town she grew up in and hopes to survive on her own and remain hidden from the strange, deadly beings that now inhabit the Earth. She stumbles upon a cabin in the woods and discovers several other humans hiding out there, then she finds out they are living with one of the aliens, named Blade. Full of hurt, anger and fear because of what the aliens have done to her family and friend, Jessica is begged by the others to give the alien a chance because he’s different. Over time, Jessica grows to like Blade and they fall in love. But the relationship seems doomed from the start since any form of emotion can cause the violent streak within Blade to lash out and kill a human instantly.
The title and cover of this book captured my attention and the synopsis sounded really good and I was looking forward to reading it, however, it wasn’t anything like what I was expecting. The book was advertised as a dystopian novel but it seemed to me to be more a science fiction story with romance. The book opens setting the scene of a world that has been invaded by strange aliens who at the barest hint of any kind of emotion from a human, spring sharp blades from their body and kill the human instantly. But once the main character leaves the town and goes to live in the cabin in the woods with other humans and an alien, the story became mostly about the developing feelings between Jessica, a human girl, and Blade, an alien who claims to be different to the rest of his species.
The writing style of the author is fine and it was reasonably well written, but I found it difficult to keep focussed on this book and it was quite hard to get into. It was also quite slow after the first few chapters. I also had difficulty in picturing what the aliens actually looked like, especially in regards to the blades that would appear when emotions were detected. I also found it hard to comprehend how Blade had learned to control his reactions when humans were emotional near him. There was no explanation other than he told others it was difficult and took a long time to master.
Another thing I had difficulty with was the very quick change in Jessica’s feelings towards Blade, the alien being. When she first arrived at the cabin, she was understandably angry and fearful toward Blade because of what his alien race had done to her family and friend as well as turning her entire world upside down. Jessica started to fit in with the other humans but still had anger and fear towards Blade and wasn’t happy about him living in the cabin with them. Then suddenly the next chapter has Jessica being all friendly towards Blade and discovering she has feelings for him and that he has feelings for her as well. There was no indication of how much time had passed, or what made Jessica change her mind about Blade. This was difficult for me to process because there was no explanation for this very quick change of mind on Jessica’s part and from then on, the story just felt really unbelievable, even for science fiction.
I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likeable in this story, and it was a struggle to read right through to the end. There were no plot twists or surprises and I felt the ending was too predictable. There were a number of unanswered questions throughout the story, mainly about the aliens and the invasion of Earth, but also about the development of the relationship between the two main characters.
This book wasn’t for me, and I was somewhat disappointed by it because I was expecting a completely different story based on what it had been portrayed as. I would categorise this book as science fiction and not a dystopian story because the main character isn’t trying to overthrow the invading aliens. The story is set on Earth after an alien invasion with the main storyline being a romance between a human girl and an alien boy. If you like young adult romance stories and don’t mind a science fiction setting, and you like reading about the developing relationship between two people which seems doomed to fail, then you might enjoy this book.
July 18, 2014
Jessica has seen her world be destroyed around her by monsters. When Jessica and her friend Cindy sneak into town for supplies, Cindy is too emotional and is killed right in front of Jessica. Jessica has to mask her emotions so the creatures that look like humans but aren’t will not kill her too. She escapes and ends up leaving the city hoping that she is not the last human left. When she thinks there is no hope left, she finds some answers.
So I went into this book expecting a dystopian survival story, and yes it was definitely that. But it was also much more a romance than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining because I do love myself some romance, I was just surprised. The book dealt with the destruction of man, society as we know it crumbling, death and hurt, but also hope and love and need.
I did have a few small problems with the story, but they were not huge issues to detract from my overall like of the book. I am sure I am being picky, but I was confused about Cindy. I wanted to know who she was to Jessica, was she someone she already knew? Or did they find each other after everyone was dead? And if that is the case, then how did they know the other was human? The book starts with Jessica and Cindy trying to get supplies and Cindy being killed in front of Jessica, but I wanted a little more back story about how she and Cindy survived beforehand. And Jessica kept saying that Cindy would never leave the city, but never why Cindy wouldn’t leave the city. I was also really confused about the blades on the male aliens’ arms. I could not get a real picture of what they looked like or how they functioned because the description was a little vague and changed a little each time. I knew the blades existed, there were quite a few of them, and they were deadly, but that is all I am positive of. I really wanted to know how they evolved metal in their bodies over time to form the blades, and where all the blades went when not out. Did the arms look normal or really bulky? I really enjoyed the book, I just kept stewing on these insignificant details and would love to have my questions answered.
Jessica was the main character of the book and it was told from her eyes. She was fairly emotionless and methodical in the first part of the book. She had such good instincts and I rooted for her to survive. When she met the others, and especially Blade, she became incredibly emotional. I didn’t know if it was her normal personality or if she just had bottled it in so much she couldn’t help herself. Her instant hatred to Blade was understandable after everything she went through, yet when she got to know him, she had bursts of hate that had no real substance based on what she knew of him. She was really an emotional mess who jumped to conclusions, but she kept it all in her head and her actions were still the strong survivalist I grew to love. I understand why Jessica loved Blade that was incredibly obvious, because he was strong and capable and wonderful, as well as attractive. I just could not quite wrap my mind around why he loved her. I mean really, she was rude, disrespectful, judgmental, hurtful, and violent towards him, yet he had a soft spot for her anyway. She was described as being kind of regular looking with frizzy hair, but there was another girl in the house who was really nice and looked like a model, but nobody wanted her? Hmmm. I felt like their relationship went incredibly fast, without a lot of time to get to know each other. At times, I kind of felt like Jessica might deserve to do some groveling, but Blade was a much more forgiving person than me. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Jessica, and she completely redeemed herself at the end for all her moments of overreacting, but at times it seemed like she was too into herself and not aware of the others.
The ending had a sense of hope to it. Technically this could be a stand-alone book, but I really hope not. I want another journey to this world of destruction, aliens and love. I will most certainly read more about these characters and more from this author.
I received this book from Goodreads and the author in exchange for my honest review.
So I went into this book expecting a dystopian survival story, and yes it was definitely that. But it was also much more a romance than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining because I do love myself some romance, I was just surprised. The book dealt with the destruction of man, society as we know it crumbling, death and hurt, but also hope and love and need.
I did have a few small problems with the story, but they were not huge issues to detract from my overall like of the book. I am sure I am being picky, but I was confused about Cindy. I wanted to know who she was to Jessica, was she someone she already knew? Or did they find each other after everyone was dead? And if that is the case, then how did they know the other was human? The book starts with Jessica and Cindy trying to get supplies and Cindy being killed in front of Jessica, but I wanted a little more back story about how she and Cindy survived beforehand. And Jessica kept saying that Cindy would never leave the city, but never why Cindy wouldn’t leave the city. I was also really confused about the blades on the male aliens’ arms. I could not get a real picture of what they looked like or how they functioned because the description was a little vague and changed a little each time. I knew the blades existed, there were quite a few of them, and they were deadly, but that is all I am positive of. I really wanted to know how they evolved metal in their bodies over time to form the blades, and where all the blades went when not out. Did the arms look normal or really bulky? I really enjoyed the book, I just kept stewing on these insignificant details and would love to have my questions answered.
Jessica was the main character of the book and it was told from her eyes. She was fairly emotionless and methodical in the first part of the book. She had such good instincts and I rooted for her to survive. When she met the others, and especially Blade, she became incredibly emotional. I didn’t know if it was her normal personality or if she just had bottled it in so much she couldn’t help herself. Her instant hatred to Blade was understandable after everything she went through, yet when she got to know him, she had bursts of hate that had no real substance based on what she knew of him. She was really an emotional mess who jumped to conclusions, but she kept it all in her head and her actions were still the strong survivalist I grew to love. I understand why Jessica loved Blade that was incredibly obvious, because he was strong and capable and wonderful, as well as attractive. I just could not quite wrap my mind around why he loved her. I mean really, she was rude, disrespectful, judgmental, hurtful, and violent towards him, yet he had a soft spot for her anyway. She was described as being kind of regular looking with frizzy hair, but there was another girl in the house who was really nice and looked like a model, but nobody wanted her? Hmmm. I felt like their relationship went incredibly fast, without a lot of time to get to know each other. At times, I kind of felt like Jessica might deserve to do some groveling, but Blade was a much more forgiving person than me. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Jessica, and she completely redeemed herself at the end for all her moments of overreacting, but at times it seemed like she was too into herself and not aware of the others.
The ending had a sense of hope to it. Technically this could be a stand-alone book, but I really hope not. I want another journey to this world of destruction, aliens and love. I will most certainly read more about these characters and more from this author.
I received this book from Goodreads and the author in exchange for my honest review.
January 25, 2015
This review (and others) can be found on My Full Bookshelf Reviews
A free copy of this book was received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I want to start off this book with my favorite quote from this book. Now, usually, people's favorite quotes are either funny, or something really powerful and/or romantic. This book had a lot of those things, but the one quote that stood out the most to me is a description. That may sound odd, but I think that my fellow readers will understand once they've read the quote:
Maple shelves brimming with books lined the room. Several wide chairs and a rocking chair scattered the inner area with an assortment of end tables accompanying them. Blankets were scattered among the chairs, adding to the cozy feel.
This is about one of the characters' private library. A wonderful, beautiful private library. Even in an alien-invaded, dystopian world, the author managed to put in a library that I would really want to visit. I love it!
Anyway, to the actual review.
I absolutely DEVOURED this book. It's thrilling, romantic, and completely amazing. I hope there's a sequel because I want more of these characters!
There is not a dull moment in this book. Bleak Devotion starts with a very suspenseful beginning and it only goes uphill from there. The plot has a lot of thrilling scenes, but there are also romantic ones. A romance has to be really good for me to like it rather than simply tolerate it, so that means that the romantic scenes in Bleak Devotions are really good.
The world that Gemma Drazin crafted is...well, it would suck to live on Earth if this is what it was like, but I loved to read about it. The aliens start off like zombies meets Wolverine, which is cool, but slowly throughout the book more and more is revealed about them, and they get even better.
I absolutely LOVED Blade and Jessica. Blade was my favorite character, though. I loved how the author portrayed him and his constant struggle to keep from turning in order I also really like how Jessica was portrayed; from complete loathing of Blade, to a growing friendship,
Even though Monique came in later, she was another favorite character of mine. One of the reasons I would love to see a sequel for this book so badly is because I would like to get to know her better!
My least favorite character was Zach. When I came to the paragraph where Jessica was contemplating a relationship with him, I wrote down "NO NO NO NO" on my kindle notes. He started off as a pretty nice guy, I suppose, I was just rooting for *ahem* someone else over him.
There are some tiny grammar errors in this book, but they are so miniscule I didn't even bother highlighting them. Most people probably wouldn't notice them; I only caught one or two, and if I am being honest, I barely even remember what they were because I was so caught up in the story. Even if you are a stickler for grammar, you probably won't be very upset.
Bleak Devotion, to put it simply, was addictive. I am wishing so hard that we will get some more stories about these characters right now; it's a book I highly recommend!
A free copy of this book was received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I want to start off this book with my favorite quote from this book. Now, usually, people's favorite quotes are either funny, or something really powerful and/or romantic. This book had a lot of those things, but the one quote that stood out the most to me is a description. That may sound odd, but I think that my fellow readers will understand once they've read the quote:
Maple shelves brimming with books lined the room. Several wide chairs and a rocking chair scattered the inner area with an assortment of end tables accompanying them. Blankets were scattered among the chairs, adding to the cozy feel.
This is about one of the characters' private library. A wonderful, beautiful private library. Even in an alien-invaded, dystopian world, the author managed to put in a library that I would really want to visit. I love it!
Anyway, to the actual review.
I absolutely DEVOURED this book. It's thrilling, romantic, and completely amazing. I hope there's a sequel because I want more of these characters!
There is not a dull moment in this book. Bleak Devotion starts with a very suspenseful beginning and it only goes uphill from there. The plot has a lot of thrilling scenes, but there are also romantic ones. A romance has to be really good for me to like it rather than simply tolerate it, so that means that the romantic scenes in Bleak Devotions are really good.
The world that Gemma Drazin crafted is...well, it would suck to live on Earth if this is what it was like, but I loved to read about it. The aliens start off like zombies meets Wolverine, which is cool, but slowly throughout the book more and more is revealed about them, and they get even better.
I absolutely LOVED Blade and Jessica. Blade was my favorite character, though. I loved how the author portrayed him and his constant struggle to keep from turning in order I also really like how Jessica was portrayed; from complete loathing of Blade, to a growing friendship,
Even though Monique came in later, she was another favorite character of mine. One of the reasons I would love to see a sequel for this book so badly is because I would like to get to know her better!
My least favorite character was Zach. When I came to the paragraph where Jessica was contemplating a relationship with him, I wrote down "NO NO NO NO" on my kindle notes. He started off as a pretty nice guy, I suppose, I was just rooting for *ahem* someone else over him.
There are some tiny grammar errors in this book, but they are so miniscule I didn't even bother highlighting them. Most people probably wouldn't notice them; I only caught one or two, and if I am being honest, I barely even remember what they were because I was so caught up in the story. Even if you are a stickler for grammar, you probably won't be very upset.
Bleak Devotion, to put it simply, was addictive. I am wishing so hard that we will get some more stories about these characters right now; it's a book I highly recommend!
July 15, 2014
Bleak Devotion is one of those stories for me that was so similar to another book that I’d read and enjoyed that I couldn’t help liking it. It does need some work in some areas, but overall it is a pleasure to read and I went through it fairly quickly.
Its biggest benefit for me was how much it reminded me of The Host. The Host is one of my guilty pleasures simply because it’s such an inanely long story with rarely anything action-wise happening, yet I loved it. In that book, we see the human race wiped out from the alien’s point of view. The alien learns to fall in love with a human, and learns that maybe humanity is worth saving. In this case, we see the human race wiped out from the point of view of a survivor. Then the survivor falls in love with an alien, learning that maybe not all aliens are destructive and hell-bent on wiping out humanity.
I also really enjoyed the main gimmick with the aliens. It goes beyond just Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which told us that showing emotion let the aliens know who was human. While this is true in Bleak Devotion as well, it's actually not a tool the aliens use against the human race on purpose (at least, not always). The aliens have an instinctual response to emotion, so the slightest bit will set them off and lead to the human (literally) being shredded. It was a good twist and I appreciated it.
I did have two issues with the book, ones that I think are fairly large but also easy to alter should the author choose to do so. The first is how often Jessica cried. For someone that's been living on the run for 9 months and apparently feels confident enough to basically go into the lion's den with no emotion, she cried a hell of a lot. Nearly every interaction with Blade let to her crying and it got to the point where I was just huffing out a breath of air every time I read it, thinking, "Really?" Again, for someone who's supposed to be the best human at holding in her emotions (she even says so in the book) she spends quite a bit of time crying.
The second thing was how quickly Jessica's opinions of Blade changed. It felt like I read one paragraph, and she hated him. The next chapter....suddenly they're friends and she's sitting next to him on the couch and apparently noticing how attractive he is. The turnaround was too abrupt, and I needed more buildup before I could actually accept that it felt real.
There were also some small grammatical things that needed to be fixed, like "gas petal" (pedal) and "it can easy or hard" kind of stuff.
Its biggest benefit for me was how much it reminded me of The Host. The Host is one of my guilty pleasures simply because it’s such an inanely long story with rarely anything action-wise happening, yet I loved it. In that book, we see the human race wiped out from the alien’s point of view. The alien learns to fall in love with a human, and learns that maybe humanity is worth saving. In this case, we see the human race wiped out from the point of view of a survivor. Then the survivor falls in love with an alien, learning that maybe not all aliens are destructive and hell-bent on wiping out humanity.
I also really enjoyed the main gimmick with the aliens. It goes beyond just Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which told us that showing emotion let the aliens know who was human. While this is true in Bleak Devotion as well, it's actually not a tool the aliens use against the human race on purpose (at least, not always). The aliens have an instinctual response to emotion, so the slightest bit will set them off and lead to the human (literally) being shredded. It was a good twist and I appreciated it.
I did have two issues with the book, ones that I think are fairly large but also easy to alter should the author choose to do so. The first is how often Jessica cried. For someone that's been living on the run for 9 months and apparently feels confident enough to basically go into the lion's den with no emotion, she cried a hell of a lot. Nearly every interaction with Blade let to her crying and it got to the point where I was just huffing out a breath of air every time I read it, thinking, "Really?" Again, for someone who's supposed to be the best human at holding in her emotions (she even says so in the book) she spends quite a bit of time crying.
The second thing was how quickly Jessica's opinions of Blade changed. It felt like I read one paragraph, and she hated him. The next chapter....suddenly they're friends and she's sitting next to him on the couch and apparently noticing how attractive he is. The turnaround was too abrupt, and I needed more buildup before I could actually accept that it felt real.
There were also some small grammatical things that needed to be fixed, like "gas petal" (pedal) and "it can easy or hard" kind of stuff.
July 30, 2014
EXCITEMENT is one word I would describe this story and then some.
I thought this book had a very strong beginning. I was hooked and intrigued of where it would go once we were introduced to Jessica - who by the way was a pretty awesome, kick-ass character in the beginning. :)
This book pretty much had me excited - as mentioned before - and I thought it had the right amount of everything.
The author did a brilliant job with the writing. Had me not been able to put the book down, though there were some grammar errors and missing words throughout, the awesomeness of the story did overshadow them a little.
The characters were nicely written and Jessica and Blade were my favourite (obviously). I thought that they just fit together and it was a really perfect romance between the two. I was a little unsure about how she would go from hating him and transitioning to liking him. It did seem sudden her change of attitude towards him but it was done well. Even though I loved them as a couple, I do wish we could have seen a little more from Blake with what he liked about Jess.
Also Jessica seemed to cry a lot after she was found by the group. She lost a little bit of that bad-assery we were first introduced to with her personality... but she was still likeable throughout the entire book.
The other characters were written really well and they blended well with the story. I do like how they all varied and had a backstory to them.
Zach in the beginning, made me roll my eyes and yell at him to take several seats, but I think I enjoyed him more after Jess declared her preference of Blade over him. He was a bit more edgy and very solid as a character.
Really enjoyed this book - more than I thought I would and if it were a series - which it should be turned into - then I would be one of the first in line to get it. This story ticked all the right boxes for me and I would recommend everyone to get their hands on it.
I received a free copy of this book from the author, in exchange for an honest review.
Happy reading y'all! :)
I thought this book had a very strong beginning. I was hooked and intrigued of where it would go once we were introduced to Jessica - who by the way was a pretty awesome, kick-ass character in the beginning. :)
This book pretty much had me excited - as mentioned before - and I thought it had the right amount of everything.
The author did a brilliant job with the writing. Had me not been able to put the book down, though there were some grammar errors and missing words throughout, the awesomeness of the story did overshadow them a little.
The characters were nicely written and Jessica and Blade were my favourite (obviously). I thought that they just fit together and it was a really perfect romance between the two. I was a little unsure about how she would go from hating him and transitioning to liking him. It did seem sudden her change of attitude towards him but it was done well. Even though I loved them as a couple, I do wish we could have seen a little more from Blake with what he liked about Jess.
Also Jessica seemed to cry a lot after she was found by the group. She lost a little bit of that bad-assery we were first introduced to with her personality... but she was still likeable throughout the entire book.
The other characters were written really well and they blended well with the story. I do like how they all varied and had a backstory to them.
Zach in the beginning, made me roll my eyes and yell at him to take several seats, but I think I enjoyed him more after Jess declared her preference of Blade over him. He was a bit more edgy and very solid as a character.
Really enjoyed this book - more than I thought I would and if it were a series - which it should be turned into - then I would be one of the first in line to get it. This story ticked all the right boxes for me and I would recommend everyone to get their hands on it.
I received a free copy of this book from the author, in exchange for an honest review.
Happy reading y'all! :)
August 1, 2014
I would like to thank the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Doing so does not sway my review in any way.
Ingenious, original, nail-biting and just plain spectacular doesn't even come close to how I feel about this book. I can honestly say that I've never read anything quite like this. For those who read and enjoyed Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, you will find yourself eating up every page of this book.
This dystopian book has to do with an alien invasion, but instead of just centering on bits and pieces, you get the sense of how it has affected the survivors featured in this novel, the changes that they have gone through and the side of the aliens that have been exterminating the human race. You find out so much more about the alien history, their fight for survival, why they came to Earth and what they want, but through the eyes of an alien that has seen through the atrocities and knows what his race is doing is wrong and trying to find his way through it and coming out the better man.
There are lessons to be learned through this story. Lessons of tolerance, lessons of how history can repeat itself if left unchecked, lessons of trust, hope and love. You will find yourself wondering how someone could love such a hurtful being that realizing a split second later, how just one change can create a world full of changes.
A great story, very well written, never dull and extremely vivid with characterization and scenery. I would love to read more about Blade, Jessica, their group of friends and further interactions with the aliens as a whole. Their story has so many possibilities and would be amazing to dive in to.
Well done, Gemma Drazin, very, very well done.
Ingenious, original, nail-biting and just plain spectacular doesn't even come close to how I feel about this book. I can honestly say that I've never read anything quite like this. For those who read and enjoyed Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, you will find yourself eating up every page of this book.
This dystopian book has to do with an alien invasion, but instead of just centering on bits and pieces, you get the sense of how it has affected the survivors featured in this novel, the changes that they have gone through and the side of the aliens that have been exterminating the human race. You find out so much more about the alien history, their fight for survival, why they came to Earth and what they want, but through the eyes of an alien that has seen through the atrocities and knows what his race is doing is wrong and trying to find his way through it and coming out the better man.
There are lessons to be learned through this story. Lessons of tolerance, lessons of how history can repeat itself if left unchecked, lessons of trust, hope and love. You will find yourself wondering how someone could love such a hurtful being that realizing a split second later, how just one change can create a world full of changes.
A great story, very well written, never dull and extremely vivid with characterization and scenery. I would love to read more about Blade, Jessica, their group of friends and further interactions with the aliens as a whole. Their story has so many possibilities and would be amazing to dive in to.
Well done, Gemma Drazin, very, very well done.
April 25, 2014
it had been too long since the monsters appeared. they looked like human but were void of any expression. they were determined to destroy all humans. to survive, Jessica forced herself to hide her feelings, appearing as emotionless as the monsters, just so she could scavenged for food among them. after her last remaining friend was killed, Jessica fled the city in hope of finding a place where she would be free of the monsters. she met Deborah, who led a group of humans into surviving the harsh situations by growing food themselves and generating electricity through windmills. just when Jessica thought herself free from the monsters, she discovered that the Deborah and the surviving humans were hiding a monster among them.
i received a free e-book from the author in exchanged for a review. when i first started reading, the book led me into feeling like i was reading a dystopian novel. especially when the zombies-like alien figure started appearing. as confusing as how it started, the story then took a huge turn after Jessica reached the hideout and i started to get what everything was about. at this point, i was pleasantly surprised with how straightforward and captivating the book had become. not being a huge science-fiction fan, i didn't expect myself to fall in love with Blade, but it happened long before i had a chance with Jessica. while it was easy to sympathize her misfortune, being with Blade truly made her a far more lovable character. i just couldn't get enough of them being together, also not forgetting the tears and goosebumps i happily enjoyed just by reading about them. i was glad to find a somewhat different dystopian plot that didn't end up being too much or too heavy along the way, restricting the boundary turned out to be perfect choice to explore the storyline, making it a welcoming and pleasant change.
my review: here
i received a free e-book from the author in exchanged for a review. when i first started reading, the book led me into feeling like i was reading a dystopian novel. especially when the zombies-like alien figure started appearing. as confusing as how it started, the story then took a huge turn after Jessica reached the hideout and i started to get what everything was about. at this point, i was pleasantly surprised with how straightforward and captivating the book had become. not being a huge science-fiction fan, i didn't expect myself to fall in love with Blade, but it happened long before i had a chance with Jessica. while it was easy to sympathize her misfortune, being with Blade truly made her a far more lovable character. i just couldn't get enough of them being together, also not forgetting the tears and goosebumps i happily enjoyed just by reading about them. i was glad to find a somewhat different dystopian plot that didn't end up being too much or too heavy along the way, restricting the boundary turned out to be perfect choice to explore the storyline, making it a welcoming and pleasant change.
my review: here
July 25, 2014
Firstly I'd like to thank Gemma Drazin for giving me this book in exchange for a honest review
I was immediately drawn to this book not only because of the cover but the description sounded so good that I instantly signed up to review this book. Now aliens aren't usually my kind of book but because I have been pleasantly surprised in the past I'm usually open to read genre's I never normally go near. I'm glad I found this book because it was a really good read however it did leave a few things open at the end so I'm hoping there will be a sequel (which I would love to read so I could see what happened with these characters)
Jessica's life was turned upside down the day "they" arrived and by they I mean aliens. At first glimpse they seem like emotionless, cruel creatures but what Jessica soon learns is that not all of them are that way and that perhaps her hatred and pain are clouding her judgment and are standing in the way of her seeing the one person who could make her love when loving is a dangerous emotion.
I really enjoyed this book however I was tempted to give it a 3 stars only because of the ending and how I wished there were at least an epilogue or a more dramatic scene because for me the ending needed a little more especially since I got so drawn into the book that I couldn't put it down and felt a little let down in the end but once I thought about it I decided it deserved a 4 because of everything I loved about it
I was immediately drawn to this book not only because of the cover but the description sounded so good that I instantly signed up to review this book. Now aliens aren't usually my kind of book but because I have been pleasantly surprised in the past I'm usually open to read genre's I never normally go near. I'm glad I found this book because it was a really good read however it did leave a few things open at the end so I'm hoping there will be a sequel (which I would love to read so I could see what happened with these characters)
Jessica's life was turned upside down the day "they" arrived and by they I mean aliens. At first glimpse they seem like emotionless, cruel creatures but what Jessica soon learns is that not all of them are that way and that perhaps her hatred and pain are clouding her judgment and are standing in the way of her seeing the one person who could make her love when loving is a dangerous emotion.
I really enjoyed this book however I was tempted to give it a 3 stars only because of the ending and how I wished there were at least an epilogue or a more dramatic scene because for me the ending needed a little more especially since I got so drawn into the book that I couldn't put it down and felt a little let down in the end but once I thought about it I decided it deserved a 4 because of everything I loved about it
July 25, 2014
I have to start by saying this book was truly original. Yes it is about alien invasion but it manages to tell the story from a very unique perspective.
Aliens have invaded earth and have pretty much destroyed humanity. To show any human emotion means certain death at the hands and 'blades' of the aliens. Jessica has somehow managed to survive in this world despite seeing her whole family, and pretty much everybody she has ever known, killed. She is now on the run and trying to escape the city in hopes of finding other survivors.
The story started out as a strong dystopian survival story, which I absolutely loved. It was action packed and full of suspense. But then, sadly, it turned into too much of a love story for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a bit of romance in my books but I liked it peppered into the action, not for it to be the main story line. I would have preferred a little more back story about the invasion and how Jessica and Cindy managed to survive.
I did enjoy the characters in this story. Blades struggle to maintain his control over the monster within was very believable. And Jessica's journey to forgiveness and acceptance for Blade was an emotional rollercoaster ride. I just found the journey too quick and lacking in action.
Overall though I really did enjoy the story. It was a very good read and I am rating it a 3.5 out of 5. Thank you Gemma Drazin for the opportunity to read this book and I will look for more from you in the future :)
Aliens have invaded earth and have pretty much destroyed humanity. To show any human emotion means certain death at the hands and 'blades' of the aliens. Jessica has somehow managed to survive in this world despite seeing her whole family, and pretty much everybody she has ever known, killed. She is now on the run and trying to escape the city in hopes of finding other survivors.
The story started out as a strong dystopian survival story, which I absolutely loved. It was action packed and full of suspense. But then, sadly, it turned into too much of a love story for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a bit of romance in my books but I liked it peppered into the action, not for it to be the main story line. I would have preferred a little more back story about the invasion and how Jessica and Cindy managed to survive.
I did enjoy the characters in this story. Blades struggle to maintain his control over the monster within was very believable. And Jessica's journey to forgiveness and acceptance for Blade was an emotional rollercoaster ride. I just found the journey too quick and lacking in action.
Overall though I really did enjoy the story. It was a very good read and I am rating it a 3.5 out of 5. Thank you Gemma Drazin for the opportunity to read this book and I will look for more from you in the future :)
April 28, 2014
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Had I known about this book prior to getting a review request, this would have been one of the few books I would have bought myself to read and review. I'm a big dystopian fan these days, and this one was obviously a little different, with its futuristic alien feel to it.
Imagine not being able to show how you feel. Imagine having to watch the people you love, die before your eyes because they were scared and you couldn't even blink an eye. That's what has happened to Jessica. Holding onto the last bit of humanity she has, with her best friend, she does what they can to survive this world with horrible monsters that kill you at the slight show of any emotion. Jessica has to turn a blind eye when they kill her only remaining hold onto her humanity and she flees to escape everything.
She stumbles onto a cottage where everything she has seen and learned in the past year is about to change.
This book was an awesome read. I found myself thinking about it when I wasn't reading it and found myself to also be excited to sit down and read it. I would definitely recommend this book to any dystopian lover! Heck, anybody really. This book was a great book from page one to the end
Had I known about this book prior to getting a review request, this would have been one of the few books I would have bought myself to read and review. I'm a big dystopian fan these days, and this one was obviously a little different, with its futuristic alien feel to it.
Imagine not being able to show how you feel. Imagine having to watch the people you love, die before your eyes because they were scared and you couldn't even blink an eye. That's what has happened to Jessica. Holding onto the last bit of humanity she has, with her best friend, she does what they can to survive this world with horrible monsters that kill you at the slight show of any emotion. Jessica has to turn a blind eye when they kill her only remaining hold onto her humanity and she flees to escape everything.
She stumbles onto a cottage where everything she has seen and learned in the past year is about to change.
This book was an awesome read. I found myself thinking about it when I wasn't reading it and found myself to also be excited to sit down and read it. I would definitely recommend this book to any dystopian lover! Heck, anybody really. This book was a great book from page one to the end
July 31, 2014
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Dystopian and SciFi blended into one? Count me in! This is the first I've read in this collaborative genre and I hope it's not the last, especially from this amazing author. If you aren't keen on romance, stay away as I would go so far to call it a dystopian-scifi-romance novel (bit of a mouthful!). Even with the romance thrown in, the plot works. This greatly helps the flow of the book, which was a quick read, especially towards the end.
What I especially loved were the characters. They are very well written and done in a way that you really want to cheer them on. I never thought I'd be saying this but I too would probably find myself falling for a handsome, emotionless alien. The only downside for me was that the female lead was quite annoying; given the environment, you'd think she would be tougher and more level-headed but she falls into the unfortunate trend of unstable and needy female. However, the author's character writing and development is great so here's hoping we see some stronger female roles in the future! :)
In all, a very nice one-off story set in an amazing setting. Definitely worth checking out!!
Dystopian and SciFi blended into one? Count me in! This is the first I've read in this collaborative genre and I hope it's not the last, especially from this amazing author. If you aren't keen on romance, stay away as I would go so far to call it a dystopian-scifi-romance novel (bit of a mouthful!). Even with the romance thrown in, the plot works. This greatly helps the flow of the book, which was a quick read, especially towards the end.
What I especially loved were the characters. They are very well written and done in a way that you really want to cheer them on. I never thought I'd be saying this but I too would probably find myself falling for a handsome, emotionless alien. The only downside for me was that the female lead was quite annoying; given the environment, you'd think she would be tougher and more level-headed but she falls into the unfortunate trend of unstable and needy female. However, the author's character writing and development is great so here's hoping we see some stronger female roles in the future! :)
In all, a very nice one-off story set in an amazing setting. Definitely worth checking out!!
July 31, 2014
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Dystopian and SciFi blended into one? Count me in! This is the first I've read in this collaborative genre and I hope it's not the last, especially from this amazing author. If you aren't keen on romance, stay away as I would go so far to call it a dystopian-scifi-romance novel (bit of a mouthful!). Even with the romance thrown in, the plot works. This greatly helps the flow of the book, which was a quick read, especially towards the end.
What I especially loved were the characters. They are very well written and done in a way that you really want to cheer them on. I never thought I'd be saying this but I too would probably find myself falling for a handsome, emotionless alien. The only downside for me was that the female lead was quite annoying; given the environment, you'd think she would be tougher and more level-headed but she falls into the unfortunate trend of unstable and needy female. However, the author's character writing and development is great so here's hoping we see some stronger female roles in the future! :)
In all, a very nice one-off story set in an amazing setting. Definitely worth checking out!!
Dystopian and SciFi blended into one? Count me in! This is the first I've read in this collaborative genre and I hope it's not the last, especially from this amazing author. If you aren't keen on romance, stay away as I would go so far to call it a dystopian-scifi-romance novel (bit of a mouthful!). Even with the romance thrown in, the plot works. This greatly helps the flow of the book, which was a quick read, especially towards the end.
What I especially loved were the characters. They are very well written and done in a way that you really want to cheer them on. I never thought I'd be saying this but I too would probably find myself falling for a handsome, emotionless alien. The only downside for me was that the female lead was quite annoying; given the environment, you'd think she would be tougher and more level-headed but she falls into the unfortunate trend of unstable and needy female. However, the author's character writing and development is great so here's hoping we see some stronger female roles in the future! :)
In all, a very nice one-off story set in an amazing setting. Definitely worth checking out!!
August 3, 2014
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Fist of all, I must say I expected something completely different when I read the synopsis, but I really enjoyed it. This book is about some kind of aliens invading our world and finishing with the human race, although some of us still struggle to survive. This aliens turn into monsters when they register emotions, so sneaking past them may be tricky. The main character, Jessica, somehow finds a way to survive, although being on her own proves to be difficult. Thought the story we learn more about this creatures, how to survive and that love is possible even during times of crisis.
I really liked the book. I found it really interesting, enjoyable, easy to read and quite awesome. It is the kind of book you cannot stop reading. I must admit I enjoy the sci-if/dystopian gender, and Bleak Devotion didn't fail. Although, I just admit, there was kind of too much romance for my taste.
The characters are nicely developed and realistic. Some of them may even remember you about someone you know. I also like how different they are from each other, adding a nice touch to the book. I specially liked Jessica, Blade, Deborah and Erin.
Finally, I must say I recommend it.
Fist of all, I must say I expected something completely different when I read the synopsis, but I really enjoyed it. This book is about some kind of aliens invading our world and finishing with the human race, although some of us still struggle to survive. This aliens turn into monsters when they register emotions, so sneaking past them may be tricky. The main character, Jessica, somehow finds a way to survive, although being on her own proves to be difficult. Thought the story we learn more about this creatures, how to survive and that love is possible even during times of crisis.
I really liked the book. I found it really interesting, enjoyable, easy to read and quite awesome. It is the kind of book you cannot stop reading. I must admit I enjoy the sci-if/dystopian gender, and Bleak Devotion didn't fail. Although, I just admit, there was kind of too much romance for my taste.
The characters are nicely developed and realistic. Some of them may even remember you about someone you know. I also like how different they are from each other, adding a nice touch to the book. I specially liked Jessica, Blade, Deborah and Erin.
Finally, I must say I recommend it.
April 23, 2015
Characters: Jessica kinda irritated me. Part of me understood why she was acting the way she was, but I think overall, it was kind of childish and overkill. Well, at least in the beginning. She started maturing throughout the book. Blade was pretty amazing also, and I would have loved to have read parts from his perspective. The other characters were all well-written and distinctive.
Plot/Content: Aliens (or Monsters as Jessica refers to them) invade Earth and the remaining people have to learn to survive. I liked the whole idea of how emotions played into the story.
Romance: The love triangle-ish was unnecessary, because it was obvious who she was going to end up with (well at least it was for me). I feel like it took away from the romance that was developing between Jessica and Blade. I also think it made me really irritated and not like Zach, because of his actions and words, and I liked him for the most part until that.
Other: The book was slow at certain times, but it holds your attention. I loved how the story was brought to a complete and satisfying ending.
*Note: I received this book free from Janeal & Sarah, Author Services and Janeal Falor in exchange for an honest review.
Plot/Content: Aliens (or Monsters as Jessica refers to them) invade Earth and the remaining people have to learn to survive. I liked the whole idea of how emotions played into the story.
Romance: The love triangle-ish was unnecessary, because it was obvious who she was going to end up with (well at least it was for me). I feel like it took away from the romance that was developing between Jessica and Blade. I also think it made me really irritated and not like Zach, because of his actions and words, and I liked him for the most part until that.
Other: The book was slow at certain times, but it holds your attention. I loved how the story was brought to a complete and satisfying ending.
*Note: I received this book free from Janeal & Sarah, Author Services and Janeal Falor in exchange for an honest review.
July 26, 2014
A tale beyond visions, the universe is mighty and as many universes as there are it makes one wonder how alone we really are. This story is about an alien nation that invades earth because they see us as no more than a bunch of cockroaches. Humans are emotional creatures whereas the aliens are not. Not that they do not have emotions but have come to peace with no being able to reveal them. This story tells the fine lines between love and hate and how quickly they can both change. The author tells about the alien nation as one that had done to them what they are now doing to the human race but cannot seem to see it the same way. Blade the only known male alien that has learned to control his anger in view of emotions has quit killing the humans and started helping them but how far is he willing to go? How far will the humans allow him to go? The characters here are not perfectly described but they are still well done. At the end of this story you will still have questions but this is a series so it is expected. I would recommend this to sci-fi fans and readers who like the fine lines to be drawn out.
July 26, 2016
Had I known about this book prior to getting a review request, this would have been one of the few books I would have bought myself to read and review. I'm a big dystopian fan these days, and this one was obviously a little different, with its futuristic alien feel to it.
Imagine not being able to show how you feel. Imagine having to watch the people you love, die before your eyes because they were scared and you couldn't even blink an eye. That's what has happened to Jessica. Holding onto the last bit of humanity she has, with her best friend, she does what they can to survive this world with horrible monsters that kill you at the slight show of any emotion. Jessica has to turn a blind eye when they kill her only remaining hold onto her humanity and she flees to escape everything.
Read full review at Step Into Fiction
Review completed by: Ashley
Imagine not being able to show how you feel. Imagine having to watch the people you love, die before your eyes because they were scared and you couldn't even blink an eye. That's what has happened to Jessica. Holding onto the last bit of humanity she has, with her best friend, she does what they can to survive this world with horrible monsters that kill you at the slight show of any emotion. Jessica has to turn a blind eye when they kill her only remaining hold onto her humanity and she flees to escape everything.
Read full review at Step Into Fiction
Review completed by: Ashley
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