My Blood Approves
By: Amanda Hocking
ISBN-13: 978-1453816721
Available in ebook format and paperback
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
In the first of Amanda Hocking’s My Blood Approves series, we are introduced to seventeen-year-old Alice Bonham. When things take a turn for the worse while out with a friend, she is rescued by a mysterious young man named Jack. Suddenly, her life turns into a crazy roller coaster ride. As things seem to spin far beyond her control, she recognizes a strange connection is growing with Jack. Things get even more complicated when she meets his brother, Peter. It is as if her body itself is both drawn to and repelled by his presence. But it appears that Peter cannot even stand the sight of her. To make matters worse, Peter and Jack are both vampires, and Alice is caught in a truly bloody love triangle.
It is pretty obvious in the beginning (even from the title) what the story is going to be about, so there was no shock when it is revealed that Jack and his family are vampires. The addition of the gorgeous, but mysterious, brother, Peter, was a nice twist. Hocking did a great job building the tension between Alice and Peter and the brothers, Jack and Peter. She even managed to leave some questions unanswered at the end, giving the reader time to anticipate what might arise in the rest of the series.
I enjoyed the diversity of the characters. The fact that Alice’s mother is basically absent bothered me somewhat, but otherwise how would these teenagers have been able to stay out at all hours of the night every night? Milo, Alice’s brother, is probably one of Hocking’s best characters in this story. He has such charm about him, although he is not as important a character in this book as he is in the following books of the series. He is something that I felt kept Alice grounded when things could have really been hard to follow. He was also the perfect way for Hocking to interject a bit of wit that had nothing to do with vampires or supernatural events.
This was one of those “I-guess-I’ll-try-it-out” reads for me. I had not heard much about these books, but I had read Hocking’s Trylle series, which I really enjoyed. The first chapter immediately reminded me of another extremely popular young adult vampire series, so I was a bit put off. Pretty soon, although there are countless similarities, it was apparent that for all intents and purposes Hocking was creating her own story. I am certain that these books are endlessly compared to Twilight; actually I know they are because I have read lots of reviews about it!
Aside from the writing being a little rough at times and the story being a bit less fresh and unique, I still was unable to put the book down and finished it in two short reading sessions. I have already recommended this and Hocking’s other books to friends who share my reading interests, and overall I truly wasn’t disappointed with this book or the series. This was unquestionably a great escape from my tiresome mommy life—who doesn’t want to be a carefree seventeen-year-old loved desperately by two gorgeous guys at least for a little while?!?!
