Review: Indelible by Dawn Metcalf

Title: Indelible (The Twixt #1)
Author: Dawn Metcalf
Published: July 30th 2013
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*An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review*

Some things are permanent.
Indelible.
And they cannot be changed back.
Joy Malone learns this the night she sees a stranger with all-black eyes across a crowded room—right before the mystery boy tries to cut out her eye. Instead, the wound accidentally marks her as property of Indelible Ink, and this dangerous mistake thrusts Joy into an incomprehensible world—a world of monsters at the window, glowing girls on the doorstep, and a life that will never be the same.
Now, Joy must pretend to be Ink’s chosen one—his helper, his love, his something for the foreseeable future...and failure to be convincing means a painful death for them both. Swept into a world of monsters, illusion, immortal honor and revenge, Joy discovers that sometimes, there are no mistakes.
Somewhere between reality and myth lies…
The Twixt.

What a pretty cover this book has! I was allured to it ever since I first saw it. Then I read the blurb and wowzaa!! I knew we were meant to be. Turns out though, our story wasn’t exactly written in the stars. What originally felt like an original, intriguing world, turned out to be a frustrating teenage romance disguised as a unique paranormal story.

“Lehman?" Joy said. The word sounded familiar. "What does that mean?"

Inq shrugged as she considered the overhead lights. "A human who has been chosen by one of our kind. Confidante, contact, significant ... "

"Slave," Ink said dully.

"What?" Joy snapped.

"Or lover," Inq added. "It loses something in translation.” 

When we first met Joy, I admit, I would have freaked out over that window and those creepy noises a little, too. Ok, I’m lying. I would have freaked out a lot. However, when she learns about Ink and Inq, it doesn’t take a lot of time for her to trust them. Her character—the often lonesome, completely average girl with a fabulous best friend—was so full of clichés. The one relationship I was actually invested in was Joy and her brother, but this wasn’t explored to the length I was hoping for.  Safe to say that there are some female character I just don’t resonate well with and unfortunately Joy was one of them.

As for the romance, the L-bomb was so unexpected that I remember to have blinked my very rounded eyes multiple times since I just could not believe what I was reading. I do think there’s insta-attraction and you can take a very quick liking to another person but come on! You can’t possibly love someone you’ve practically just met. Who isn’t even human, tried to stab your eyes and take away your sight and has managed to put you in danger by doing that because many weird non-human creatures are intrigued by you. Doesn’t that weird you out? Apparently it doesn’t seem unnatural to Joy. Also, I have this weird dislike for ears and Ink practically devoured them when he touched her. Nope! Not creepy at all. All this time while I was reading Indelible, I kept imagining Bella and Edward and, in my opinion, there wasn’t much of a difference between the two couples.

All that said, I did like one thing in addition to Joy and her brother—the world. As a whole, it was fascinating and kept me turning the pages. On the other hand, I still don’t understand the system in its entirety because there are nuances I couldn't grasp or they just weren't explained thoroughly. Lehmans, Ink, Inq, demons—there’s a lot to keep up with. Also, at first I took a liking to Inq, but then she became so self-absorbed and what with all the talk about humans being just a fun way to spend time? There went the half point I would have added to my rating for her character.

I’m tempted to read what happens next and if the world is developed to even greater lengths, but I’m also not sure if I want to spend time with Joy. I guess a 16 year old me would have enjoyed this far more and I hope that teenagers who pick this up will swoon like I swooned when I read Twilight back in the day. Now, 5-6 years later it doesn’t feel all that natural or special and Twilight jokes have become a regular thing in my life. Unfortunately, all the other YA books I read prior this gorgeous arc, were far more enjoyable for me, hence me ending this review with a 2 star rating.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

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