Review: Pretty Good!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2013
Ruined was a stay-up-all-night read filled with romance, banter, violence, and angry, hot demons. It was pretty good! I admit I was nervous about reading it because I'm wary of the turn most New Adult books seem to be taking lately, but reading this does remind me why I like reading good NA.ROMANCEIt's a little like a hate-then-love romance, but the "hate" part wasn't so much hate, but more anger. Jax and Sam already had an established connection, so they already had feelings (and were aware of them) when the book began. However, Jax felt like he was too dangerous to Sam—like he would end up hurting her badly—and fought those feelings and tried to push them away in order as protection. So, the romance had the banter and the struggle-with-feelings like many hate-to-love romances seem to have, and I loved it! The two had a lot of chemistry, and the struggle with their feelings for each other and other other roadblocks to their relationship kept things pretty interesting.BACKGROUNDRuined is demon book. It's one out of many I've read and enjoyed, but what was cool about this book in particular was the Cain and Abel background. Jax was cursed, which meant that there was a demon taking residence in his body his entire life. He grew up with a thirst for violence because the demon was part of him and was under a constant struggle to keep his impulses under control so he wouldn't hurt the ones he loved. I really liked the concept behind the curse and the demons of this book, though I would've liked to see more background to it—more explanation and details in the origination of the curse. Maybe that'll happen in the sequel. The whole Cain and Abel tie-in was really cool, and not something I had ever seen before, and it would be nice to see more of it.OVERALLRuined was a pretty good read. It's probably the only NA demon book I've ever read, which is refreshing. It was nice to read a good, interesting paranormal NA. The romance was a really good one—I liked the couple from the very beginning—and so were the concepts. I do recommend it if you don't mind darker books (with a lot of violence and cuss words—lots of them). I liked this quite a bit and I'm looking forward to the sequel!Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.