Book Review (rant?): Descended by Blood by Angeline Kace

Descended by Blood by Angeline Kace

Series: Vampire Born #1
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publication Date: August 26, 2011
Format: ebook
Pages: 263
Source: Angeline Kace

Brooke Keller is a high school junior who has never spent much time living in one place. She is finally in a town long enough to almost snag the boy of her dreams, until her life is threatened after killing a fanged man in his attempt to kidnap her. Brooke begins a dangerous journey in an effort to find out who is after her and how to stop them. In a world with powerful and prejudiced vampires, Brooke must tap into the side of her that she never knew existed at the risk of losing her life in order to save it.

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 Tons of bloggers have hyped this book up since before it was released. I mean, they were GUSHING, and I was like, "Bro, I want this book so bad!" Then one day I was totally creeping checking out her website and there was a review request form and I filled it out. I knew it had been released for a while so I figured Angeline wouldn't even see my request, but she did and she sent me a kindle copy. I was so excited! I could not wait to get started. Unfortunately, I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be and as much as everyone else seemed to be. The unique-ish world building gave this novel a lot of potential, but I just wasn't feeling it.

Descended by Blood begins with a bang. There is this lion that attacks the main character Brooke and her friend, but somehow Brooke manages to control it. There's this creepy guy in a trench coat. Though the seen itself is sort of strange, the tension sets readers up for things to get epic, then it all just...fades away. The next 25% of the book is nothing but relationship drama with a little sprinkling of, "Oh, whadya know. This dude is following me, but I don't think I'll tell anyone. Now let me get back to worrying about my boyfrannnn!" Then BAM! The plot picks back up when a creepy vampire guy tries to kill her and Jaren, her boyfriend. It was weird pacing, though it got better, and I don't think the book started off in a good place. The lion scene wasn't actually much of an inciting incident because afterwards everything pretty much fell back to normal. 25% of a book should not be dedicated solely to developing a relationship. A lot of the development was actually unnecessary.

I didn't like Brooke. She was selfish and annoying. She worried about the wrong things. She was a hypocrite of sorts. She whined, cried all the time, and jumped to conclusions. She hears that Jaren was caught talking to his ex at the park, and she automatically assumes they're getting back together. She starts bawling her eyes out and going on about how her heart is broken. She doesn't give him a chance to explain or anything. And when she finds out that he kissed aforementioned ex-girlfriend, she freaks even though he clearly states that the kiss made him realize how much he cares for Brooke. He tells her he loves her and she thinks she loves him too, but he apparently "tarnished" it. Then, she thinks it's perfectly acceptable to be all over Mirko because she and Jaren technically broke up. Seriously, she bawled her eyes out at least four times throughout the book. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with girls crying in books. But when she cries about everything, or cries when she should be, like....I don't know--saving vampire kind? Excuse me if I get a bit annoyed. I wanted to shake her....or punch her. But I'll admit, I do like her a liiiiiittttle bit more when she does decide to step up to the plate and realizes that she needs to do more than sit around and worry abut her guy problems.

Then there's Mirko and Jaren. Everyone raves about Mirko, but honestly? I didn't find him all that swoon-worthy. I suppose he had his moments, but it was obvious he was trying to be aloof and sexy and it felt completely artificial. I did like learning about his past. It was sad what he went through, but it made me wonder--what does he see in Brooke? The man is tough. He went through some pretty heavy crap...and he falls for a whiny teenager? I'd love to see more depth to his feelings for her. And Jaren? At first he seemed like a great guy. He's sweet and obviously cares a lot about Brooke. Sure, he had a moment of doubt when he kissed his ex, but he knows it was a mistake and immediately goes to talk to Brooke about it. His dad is an extreme jerk, but he doesn't let that keep him down. Then he discovers that Brooke is a half-vampire and transforms into someone else entirely. He breaks up with Brooke because he "needs time" but then flirts with this other vampire girl. He feels like he can stake a claim over Brooke even though he dumped her. It's infuriating.

The only character I really liked in this book is Kaitlynn, Brooke's best friend. She's there for Brooke through everything, and supports her no matter what. A real best friend is something that is not seen too often in YA anymore. I really enjoyed the parts with Kaitlynn and I wish she was in it more.

The writing itself was pretty good. Angeline has a way with describing things that is really beautiful, although at times it can become a but much. The world building is original and well done. I didn't have any confusion. And the plot was interesting and engaging. These are the things that kept me reading and will make me read the next book. I can't wait to see what happens. Hopefully, I'll enjoy it more than I enjoyed this novel. The book wasn't bad, but there were a lot of things I didn't like and I didn't connect to it in the way I would have liked.