Customer Reviews

Ashes

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I liked that the book moved along quickly, I didn't feel like I wasted any time reading about things that didn't matter. There are a few characters I would have liked to have gotten to know a little better, but all in all a fun read and I can't wait until the sequal.

The premise of the story is fairly simple. Gorgeous new student enrols in the school. Heroine dislikes him at first, but slowly falls under his spell. They fall in love. Throw in some bad guys who want the hero dead. Hero and heroine defeat the bad guys and everyone lives happily ever after.

Sounds familiar? Well, that's because the story is truly not that original. Many elements closely resemble that of other teen vampire fiction (I kept on thinking of Evermore by Alyson Noel, and there was some resemblance to Stephanie Meyer's Twilight), but those were MUCH MUCH better written.

Coupled with truly amaturish writing (the story sounds like it's written by someone with the vocab and grammer of a 12 year old child with access to a thesaurus that they don't know how to use properly), a very simplistic predictable plot and inconsistent behaviour from the protaganist (she hates him one minute but falls madly in love with him immediately after), and it ruins any potential the story had for becoming a fun read. I felt myself grimacing a lot while reading and wanting to put the book down. But I kept at it, hoping that somehow it would get better.

Unfortunately, it didn't.

Even the twist at the end was introduced too abruptly to be credible. Seemed to me that it was thrown in for the sole purpose of trying to get you to buy the next book.

For those who enjoy the YA vampire genre, I would recommend saving your money for other novels like Sucks to Be Me by Kimberly Pauley or Evernight by Claudia Gray.

All aboard the Ashes express! You want a vampire novel? Here you go. After reading the last page, and talking to the author about her plans for the second book, I can't wait to see her take on such ago-old folklore. You will, of course understand what I'm referring to when you read the end, and I must say it completely caught me off guard.
I adore fantasy based books, and this one was no exception. Ashes is quick paced and full of action, suspense and romance.
Spoiler ahead, shield your eyes if you haven't read the book!
I couldn't have been happier when, unlike other books *clears throat* the reader doesn't have to wait an eternity for Sidney to turn. I liked that part way more than I should have.

I had just finished the twilight series and was looking for a good book. This was definatley interesting and kept the pages turning. Can't wait to read the new one.

Ashes is a poorly and sloppily written book.
The story present a definitely lack in consistency and style. The relationship between the central characters is not very realistic. I thought this was a very clumsy book that really clutched at straws right from the very first chapter.

Ashes is not the worst book I have read but it reads like a story outline. It moves to fast and doesn't give any time for character development. There needed to be more to the story. The story idea is great but needs to be more. It seemed so rushed and made it hard to care.

I love everything vampire and this book was great. In the begining it was a lot like Twilight but not at the same time.
Bad:
-I wished there would have been more description when it came to clothing and things, I felt like I had to use my imagination to come up with their styles.
-They fell in love really quickly.
-Sometimes it felt like people gave in to quickly, just for the sake of progressing the story along.

Good:
-Cael's character, he was happy go lucky and exited about what he was, never once refering to himself as a monster.
-A lot happend in a short time, which I think is a good thing.
-No down time/reflecting periods.
-Humor "as tight as spandex on an 80's rocker"
-Sidney's special abilities made it fun, and it was interesting to experience them with her.
-Cael didn't know anything about who he was, just that he was a vampire, so we got to learn all about it first hand as they found out the answers together.
-The behind the scenes look at the whole vampire hierarchy thing.

So basically the good outweighs the bad, and although at the end I was left wanting more I will gladly wait for the second one come out and purchase it immediately. I also plan on reading the other book by the author to kill the time.

Ashes was an "I wish I were Twilight" book told from the perspectives of the female and male lead.

The main character, 16-year-old Sidney, lives an ordinary life, nothing special. She's got parents who don't pay attention to her and a younger sister who is crying out of that attention so loudly it seems to make her parents dismiss it even more. Sidney notices her younger sister behavior and attire but fails to get through to her. Sidney's best friend, Moon, is a quirky hippy chick who seems loyal enough to Kaye, until a guy is involved. Enter drop dead gorgeous male character, Cael. Cael is the new guy in school and immediately all of the girls attach themselves to him like magnets. All the girls except, of course, Sidney. She notices the attraction but thinks he enjoys the attention and considers him an ass. Go figure.
Eventually Sidney warms up to him and he lets her in on his secret, the reason women are so drawn to him. Cael is a vampire. Sidney is immediately thrown into his world when she's kidnapped by the head vamp's henchman and taken to his lair where she'll be held prisoner and fed from by the head vampire himself.
I don't want to give much more of the story away for those of you who want to read this book. It held my interest but wasn't layered enough to be considered good.

**Note: Poor Stefanie Ellis. She's got the worst publisher ever. There are SO many misspellings and grammatical errors...it was difficult for me to keep up with the story. I wanted to grab a red pen and correct everything!!

I found that this book moved waaayy too fast for me; not in the sense that I couldn't keep up, but in the sense that there was too many ideas being put into one book. I think that ideas are okay, and with some improvement, they could have been better. This book easily could have been two, maybe even three. I also think that it must not of had a person read it over thoroughly because there are so much grammatical errors it drove me insane. I was disappointed with this book, to be frank. I don't see myself wasting my money on the next book in this series.