Stained (Stained #1) by Ella James
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Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Seventeen-year-old Julia is finally living the good life. She's traded a hard cot in a Memphis orphanage for her very own room in a perfect little house, on a perfect little street, with a perfect set of parents who picked her to be their daughter. But Julia is hiding a secret - and one fall night, she returns home from a friend's house to find that her secret has found her. Her 'forever home' is ashes. Her parents are dead. And, in the sky above the flames, a winged creature hunts her. The Nephilim King, Samyaza, has taken everything from Cayne. After struggling in the darkness for years to piece together his shattered life, Cayne is finally ready to confront his past and avenge the loss of everything he loved. He tracks Samyaza to a Memphis warehouse, where he winds up flat on his back, in the healing hands of a beautiful, dark-haired girl he doesn't need to know. Unbeknownst to either of them, they are already bound. Cayne's past holds the answers to Julia's future. But what will pose the greatest threat to her? The bounty placed on her head by the leaders of two Celestial realms, or giving her heart to a man who is bound, by birth, to break it?
3 out of 5 (good)
I was actually fluctuating between a 2-star or 3-star review for this book. There are four books listed for this series, and Stained is most definitely an introduction to the series, with a lot of back story and character building. There were parts of this book that had me shaking my head in disbelief and confusion. Things became a bit clearer when they arrived at the seer's house - oh, the irony! (Rosa or Rosalina, I can't remember her name right now).
Julia and Cayne as characters are hard to describe because I have absolutely no idea who they are, or what they're doing. Cayne is suffering from memory loss when we first meet him, and he slowly becomes almost likeable. However, once he regains his memory, he reverts back into a first class tool which Julia apparently can't get enough of. They literally go from one minute and he is leaving her, to the next minute and they are in bed together (fade to black). WHAT?!?!?!
With a multitude of characters and situations that can be quite confusing, I have no idea who, what, why or when. This book also ends on a cliffhanger, leaving me no clearer on what I am reading. This is most definitely a marmite book, but I'm afraid it's not one for me.
* Verified Purchase - December 2012 *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Ella James is the USA Today bestselling author of fifteen teen and adult love stories. She's an angst-a-holic who loves exploring difficult situations and the emotions of the people caught up in them. Also, smut. But always, always romance. Ella's obsessions include vanilla cream soda, hiking, other obscure, crunchy stuff like rock collecting, and the antics of her 2.5 little monsters. (Monsters 1 and 2 will meet Monster 3 in November). To find out more about Ella's projects and get dates on upcoming releases, find her on Facebook at facebook.com/ellajamesauthorpage and follow her blog,www.ellajamesbooks.com. Questions or comments? Tweet her at author_ellaj or e-mail her at ella_f_james@ymail.com. Ella is represented by Rebecca Friedman of the Rebecca Friedman Literary Agency.
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