Author: Dawn Metcalf
Published: July 30th 2013
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Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
*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
