e-ARC, 377 pages
Release Date: June 25. 2013
Published by: Harlequin Teen
Paper gods, #1
Source: Netgalley (This galley was sent to me in exchange for a just and honest review.)
For fans of: Different cultures, Fantasy, Romance, Sparkly Covers, YA
I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look. Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.
A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.
And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.
On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.
Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they’ll both be targets.
Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive. (From Goodreads)
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I read Shadows by Sun, I just knew that I was going to love this. Unfortunately I did not. I thought I was going to learn so much about Japanese mythology but most of my questions went unanswered in the end.
What I most disliked about the book, was the first third of it. It was a bit confusing and the switching of Japanese and English and back and forth was weird for me. I felt like it needed a smoother transition. Then, the biggest drama filled thing that I remember from the first part of the book was what happened between Myu and Tomo, and after that I was a little disappointed.
What I did enjoy was the romance. We all know I love me some swoony scenes, and this one definitely has some. I loved the way that Tomo and Katie interacted together. Well once they gave in and stopped avoiding each other.
All in all, I’m not a huge fan of books that take a long time to get going, so I was a little disappointed when this one did. I wanted so bad to love it, but I just couldn’t get into it. Then, as I reached the end, there were still some things I did not understand. I just couldn’t get into it like I wanted.
