Ruined Review: Ruined Expectations In a Good Way

Ruined by Amy Tintera 4/5 stars

I started this book last year and thought it wasn’t for me. This weekend I was sick and ran out of reading material (not really I just wanted something new). So I tried this again because I had gotten almost halfway into it.

I do not know what I was thinking! Seriously sometimes I just want to face palm my past self. Me right now loved this book, why didn’t you love it past Grace?!

Why I loved it:

1. It’s new. There are elements of the story that have been done before, but everything under the sun has been written you just need to write your version of it. And Tintera does that perfectly. It was a brand new story for me that kept me interested the entire time.
2. The characters are so intriguing. Em is strong but also vulnerable so that she doesn’t seem like a monster or robot. Her strength comes from trying to make up for weaknesses that others see in her and that was well played through the book by Tintera. Cas is quiet. I don’t know if it’s because I like quieter boys in general but there seems to be a pattern with me. He’s a subtle character but just as complex and emotional as Em. Their relationship was so delicate and new that I was sometimes scared to breath and would hold my breath until the next page.
3. The kingdom politics were so complicated and convoluted. Tintera really shows are there are no perfect political systems. All kingdoms involved in the book are power hungry and twisted in their own ways. It all comes down to the lesser evil.
4. The play on right and wrong was done perfectly. Tintera shows the grey areas with the two main characters as they both come from different worlds with different evils and how to stop them. Both Em and Cas want what’s best for their kingdom and both of their parents have done evil things for different reasons and no one’s truly in the right because someone is always getting hurt and I thought this take on life and its difficulties was truthful and made me bite my fingers because I could see both sides but also wanted everyone to get along!

I know that I’ve taken to putting a quote into my reviews for the last couple, but with this book, everything is important for plot and I don’t want to accidentally spoil it for anyone, so I’m not going to include one but trust me the writing is great.

I really enjoyed this book now I can’t believe I didn’t like it last year! I am a little glad that I only have to wait a month for the next book, Avenged, to come out because waiting an entire year for a book desecrates my soul day by day because I have my priorities straight (heavy sarcasm)