Promises to Keep (Den of Shadows 9)by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
258 pages
Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 12, 2013)
Borrowed the book from the library
4 STARS
Jay comes from a line of witches with a long history battling vampires. He takes his chosen path as a hunter seriously, about the only thing in his life he treats this way. Otherwise the nineteen year old lives a nomadic existence. Then he scores an invite to the vamp party of the year. No witch or hunter would dare attend, except for Jay. That one night changes the world as we know it. (And I blame Jay completely.)
This is not a stand alone book. And those Den of Shadows fans out there might want to familiarize themselves with the series again before diving into this read. Rhodes is one of my favorite authors. She has an easy style of writing that I love. Jay is charismatic and one of the most interesting characters I've come across. He lives for the hunt, both for the rush and adventure of it, and because he believes it's his duty to stand between innocents and evil. I also enjoy the wide range of morality the vampires possess. At times you find yourself rooting for an evil bloodsucker and then you shake your head, "but she's one of the bad guys, right?" I like that.
I wish I had studied up before reading Promises to Keep because a lot of names were mentioned (especially in the recap at the end). Also as much as I love Jay, part of his drive seemed too ego driven for me to fully cheer him on. There were times I wanted to shake his shoulders and tell him "Knock it off and stop making everything worse!" My last gripe has to do with his flirting and romantic interests. Rhodes took this aspect of the book in two different directions, then watered it down to the point I felt like I was misreading the signals. Did Jay want to hook up with the hot male vamp or was he falling in love with the partly evil female vamp? I would have been happy either way, but the wish-washy back and forth left me annoyed.
I gave this book 4 stars despite my issues with it because I couldn't stop reading it and because I really did enjoy my time with Jay and all the chaos he triggers.
I've never read Rhodes before, but I'm definitely interested since she's one of your favorites. I love the thing you said about finding yourself rooting for the evil guys and then really thinking about it. I love it when that happens! Excellent review :D Jaclyn @ JC's Book Haven.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jaclyn. I do like when the lines are blurred. I even like when the lines are blurred and then cleared up again with everyone returning to their old sides, like Eric in the Sookie books. If you try this author, I suggest her shapeshifter series, The Shapeshifters: The Kiesha'ra of the Den of Shadows, which has wonderful fantasy elements, great world building, and slow build romances with unlikely matches. Thanks for stopping by and commenting! You are going to love your back episodes of The Voice (especially this week's)!!!
DeleteI haven't heard of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes before. In fact I just checked her out on Goodreads now and added Hawksong (The Kiesha'ra #1) to my ever piling TBR list. And I saw some pretty cool and funny reviews. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
I never heard of her before I found one of her books on sale at a used book store. After that one, I hunted down the rest. Let me know if you ever get to Hawksong. My TBR list is insane and what do I do, take on an 11 book series. Oh, I just picked up Mars Needs Moms from the library!
DeleteWow! That's awesome. I hope you and the boys will enjoy it like I did. I loved the graphics in particular. It's great, so I still don't understand why critics said it's bad. In fact, they killed that movie. And I hate it when a movie I enjoy so well fails at the box office. :(
DeleteI have never heard of this series. But it is not in my normal genre. But it looks like an interesting read. I may have to check it out! Melody @ JC's Book Haven.
ReplyDeleteHi Melody! I really enjoyed your review of The Indigo Spell. I still can't put words together to review that one. I know this isn't your typical read. After my current read, I'm hitting mysteries again for a stretch. Funny how you can feel a book mood coming like a storm rolling in. Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to more of your reviews!
DeleteThis is a new series for me, but it sounds interesting. Wow, book 9 already? I like when they are longer than 3 books. I would have been frustrated with Jay as well
ReplyDeleteI think most people were because there was so much to love, but a couple things that make me growl out loud while I was reading. I even complained to my 4 year old about him. John agreed with everything I said.
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