Review: Ruined

Title:  Ruined
Series:  The Eternal Balance #1
Author:  Jus Accardo
Age Group:  New Adult
Published:  December 30, 2013 by Entangled Embrace
Source:  Bought

Hell is looking for a way to break loose…

Jax lost the genetic lottery. Descended from Cain, the world's first murderer, he's plagued by a curse that demands violence in exchange for his happiness. He left everything behind, including the girl he loved, but thriving on the pain of others is lonely… And it's killing him.

After a series of heartbreaking losses, Samantha put rubber to pavement and headed for college as fast as her clunker could carry her. But she can't outrun her problems. When an attack at school drives her back home, she's thrown into the path of a past—and a guy—she's been trying to forget.

Sam strains Jax's control over his darkness, but running isn't an option this time. Someone—or, something—followed her home from school: a ruthless monster with a twisted plan centuries in the making. Forced together to survive, and fighting an attraction that could destroy them both, Jax and Sam must stop a killer bent on revenge.

My Review:  I was really looking forward to reading this book.  Considering most NA books are almost exclusively Contemporary, I was excited to see how a Paranormal novel would do in the genre.  While Ruined was a fairly good read with a really interesting twist on the story of Cain and Abel, it just didn't hook me like I had hoped it would.

The main characters in this book really stood out.  I liked them at times and at others I absolutely couldn't stand them.  Either way, I thought they were both complicated and interesting.  Jax was so such and angry and I felt so bad for him.  He had really been dealt a bad hand in the game of life.  Everything that he did seemed to just bring him more and more pain.  Even when he got something he wanted, he was so busy hating himself that he could never enjoy it.  I liked how Samantha was unafraid to speak her mind and how she was stubborn in her beliefs and ways.  Her faith in Jax was amazing but I liked how if didn't make her a push over when it came to him.  She was consistently bad ass and just plain awesome, though not without her faults.  I had some trouble connecting with her though I don't know exactly why because, like I said, she was awesome!  There was just something that didn't connect with me.  Their relationship was awesome, though!  There was tons of tension between the two and it really led to some charged scenes! 

The overall story was really good but I felt like it didn't quite pack the punch emotionally wise that it had the potential to.  There was a lot of humor and lightness and I was really expecting something darker.  Not that I was opposed to the humor and lightness, it just wasn't what I had been expecting.  

Ruined was an interesting novel that, despite its darker topic, kept its humor and romantic tension but just didn't hook me the way I thought it would.  However, I'm excited to see how the story unfolds with the rest of the series and find out what our characters are going to end up doing.  

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