Customer Reviews

The Blooding

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I wanted to like Maris, really I did. She's a teenager whose mother should never be allowed anywhere near an impressionable child. She's told Maris over and over again how worthless she is (never outright but by dismissing her and her abilities). The slightest mistake Maris makes is held up as the failing of a lifetime and something she should be flogging herself over for years to come. The one big mistake she makes truly is a bad one, but I can understand why it happened, what put her in that position. I can understand Maris completely; I just can't like her.

I thought I could through the first few chapters. She wasn't fleshed out and neither were any of the other characters, but I thought that might change and I'd grow to like her and the others. She seemed like a good kid in a bad situation, going from the emotionally abusive, overbearing mother into an au pair job where the parents screamed and yelled behind closed doors and made the whole atmosphere oppressive. I wanted to feel for her and the children under her care. But none of the characters were ever anything more than two-dimensional, and it's hard to care much about cardboard, even when it talks.

And then suddenly Maris turns into a Lolita. Out of nowhere she's fantasizing about Derek, a guy who's nearly twice her age, and he seems to be watching her in turn. That's just creepy in a bad way.

Then Barb, the mother, dies, and it gets much, much worse. Suddenly Maris wants to stay in England any way she can, even by spreading malicious gossip about Barb when she really doesn't understand anything that's going on. Her attraction to Derek goes into overdrive, which makes absolutely no sense when she's previously been frightened by him and thought that he was a jerk. Which he is. Emotionally abusive, controlling and, as it turns out, a bit homicidal.

I guess, Maris a teenager, I really shouldn't have expected her to think beyond her hormones and make a decision based on actual information instead of her own hopes and desires. But I had hoped that I'd be wrong, that she wouldn't go and do something stupid and then, worse, mope around and wangst about it. But she does. Constantly. For pages. When she's not throwing little tantrums about not going out hunting. Oy.

At least, in the end, she's not so self-centered and whiny that she can't do the right thing. Saving one life at the expense of another isn't such a bad thing, in this case, and I'm glad she could do that. But by that point I didn't care enough about her or any of the other characters to get too happy about it.

There is no good resolution in this book, which makes sense in Maris' case. She made her choice and she's going to have to learn to be an adult and live with it. However, we never did know what happened to the children, and that's a big oversight. But by that point in the book, I was so anxious for it to be over with that I really didn't care all that much.

The story just drags and drags and the characters are never developed, so they wind up as dull as the prose. There is a time or two when it actually threatens to be exciting, where something truly scary might just happen...but then it dies and you're left with more wangst and illogic courtesy of teenage hormones.

There are enough moments of interest to stop me from giving this one star, but not nearly enough to make me even consider giving it three. If there were half star options, this would probably be a 1.5 rating. Don't waste your money here and unless it's the only book left in the library, give this one a miss.

"The Blooding" by Patricia Windsor starts out fine. Maris is a teenager who wants to escape her mother, and when a chance to be an au pair in England pops up, she takes it. She soon finds out that all is not what it appears to be. This is a depressing book, and includes suicide. The mother of the children seems ignored and put down by her husband. The father shows way more interest in Maris then he should. (And out of nowhere she returns that interest.) He 'bloods' her- making her a wolf like him.

It goes downhill from there and this story does not end happily. I would NOT recommend this book.

I hated it and if it was possible to give this book lower than a one, trust me I would! The plot is also slow moving and the description is horrid!
The relationship between the young girl and the man who's over thirty is appalling and the characters have almost no personality. The mood is darker and depressing but the plot is simply stupid- sorry to say. My thoughts: Read this book if you wish but don't be too dissapointed if it's nothing spectacular... It will keep you busy at least.

(PLOT: A young girl who's mother places no trust in her sends her off to help out an old friend with her children in England. While in England weird things begin to happen, the woman sufferes from a mysterious illness and Maris- the main character keeps hearing people come in and out at around 3am and hears someone being sick and finds blood in the bathroom.
To make a long story short Maris ends up trying to find out this family's secrets and falls in love with the father who is like 20 years older than her and gets entangled in a swirl of dark secrets, family fueds, death, and werewolves.)

I liked "The Blooding" as it was a bit more subtle and creepier then "Blood and Chocolate" which it sometimes gets compared to. It is not a very fast paced book but it still a good read. I suppose the bottom line is what sort of werewolf story you prefer.

Maris would do nearly anything to get away from her mother, who is constantly criticizing everything Maris does and making her feel terrible about herself. So when she has a chance to go and work as an au pair in England for two small children, she jumps at the opportunity. Vicky and Adam, four and six years old, are cute and friendly and seem to be wise beyond their years. It is obvious they are keeping some sort of secrets.

Barb, the kids' mother, says she has a disease called Tired All The Time, or TATT. She sometimes can't get up out of bed, and she often looks pale and sickly. Derek, the kids' father, scares Maris a bit with his intensity and the callous way he treats Barb. Even Vicky and Adam sometimes seem nervous around him.

Slowly, though, Derek becomes more appealing to Maris. When tragedy strikes the family, she feels like she might have the opportunity to become even closer to Derek. But does she really know what she's getting herself into?

This story was very slow. Just looking at the cover and the description, you can tell what secret the family is hiding. It is infuriating, the way Maris fails to connect the dots and remains ignorant for so long. The worst part of the story, though, was the incredibly creepy start of a relationship between Maris and Derek. This book ended up being just a terrible cliche--married man hits on the babysitter--with a twist.

I enjoyed reading the book and it was very interesting how everything came out in the end. I gave the book four stars because it was probably one of the best books that I have ever read.I liked how Maris dealt with everything and how determined she was not to leave England. I couldn't put this book down because I wanted to see what else was going to happen. The suspense never stopped and that's one of the things that made me more interested in the book. I hope to see a second part to this story because it interested me very much.

This book was boring some of it was preety good like telling the life of werewolves. But still it was boring.

I am extremely disapointed with this book. The reviews built the book up on a pedastool, and it fell off. I am not exactly happy with myself because I bought the hardcover and found it to be a waste of money.

This book I could not stand. Where were the persons motives? No thrill. This book was empty it should have at least carried some feeling. I found the characters shallow and stupid. This book did not even compare to 'The Christmas Killer' now there was a book! That one contained excitment and emotion which this one really lacked. That book made you feel the characters plight. This book disappointed me especially since I have read the authors other book which is a great book that I still have in my collection.

this book was very VERY slow, with no gore and maris seemed to be having PMS throughout the entire book because here opinions kept changing for absolutely no reason. The only time anything actually happens is at the very end of the book, and the ending is pretty boring. This took me a while too read because it is such a slow pace, i wouldn't recommend reading it.