Title: Ignited [Ignited Series 1]
Author: Desni Dantone
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Rating: 5 Stars
Description/Synopsis:
Seventeen year old Kris Young is on the run from a throng of superhuman golden-eyed freaks hell-bent on seeing her dead, and she doesn’t know why. Good thing she has her guardian angel to protect her…sort of.
Kris is aided by Nathan, the mysterious man that ends up being anything but angelic when he rescues her for the fourth time in fourteen years. Even if the handsome hero illusion is shattered by his harsh treatment of her, he knows how to fight this strange enemy and is determined to keep her safe at all costs.
As the body count rises in their wake, Nathan introduces Kris to a world in which not everyone is human and the battle lines between good and evil are clearly drawn. Kris’s piece in the puzzle is something neither is aware of and, as they uncover the truth, neither is prepared for what they find. Overcoming twists and revelations that shatter both of their lives, they discover that nothing is as it seems and nothing, least of all their hearts, are safe.
WARNING – SPOILERS MAY ENSUE BEYOND THIS POINT – REVIEW BELOW
I can honestly say that I was surprised how much I like this book. I picked up Ignited on a whim because it was only .99 on Amazon and I liked the look of the cover. I didn’t particularly know what the book was about, but it had a lot of positive reviews, and I was willing to give it a try. I am so glad that I did.
Ignited by Desni Dantone is the story of Kris, a seventeen-year-old girl whose life has been plagued with tragic accidents and mysterious circumstances. As the story unfolds Kris slowly begins to learn that her tragic, but rather ordinary life is anything but; she’s being hunted by supernatural beings on both sides of an ancient war, and she has no idea why. The story firmly sits in the YA Urban Fantasy category with some tones of romance to spice things up, and just enough action and danger to keep the story moving along at a good chug.
Technically speaking, the story is well written. There were a few moments when my editing pet peeves made me cringe (mostly conjunctions being used to start sentences), but other than that, there weren’t a lot of spelling or punctuation errors involved. The narrative moved along smoothly at a decent pace, and I didn’t find myself stumbling over the language at any particular point.
The characters were well-fleshed out, and delightfully sarcastic in the best ways. Kris was a strong female lead who was often unexpectedly shoved into situations that could have broken her—and would have broken just about anyone else—but somehow, despite her bouts of breaking down into tears (I can’t really blame her for that), she escaped relatively unscathed. She took the conflict in stride and managed to hold her own. Nathan and Alec were both sinfully sexy and equal parts broody, flirty, and dangerous. Though love triangles aren’t every one’s cup of tea, I enjoy a good battle of the hearts, and both the male leads put up a good fight. There was no clear winner for me.
The world building of this book was an interesting stray from the norm. I was convinced I knew what the supernatural aspect of this story was when I started the story, and quickly found out that I was entirely wrong—and boy was I glad! There’s been a few Greek mythology based stories to come out the last few years, but they’re still relatively few and far between, so it was nice to delve into a relatively untouched category of paranormal fantasy—I’m so tired of vampires and werewolves right now.
I really don’t want to ruin this story for everyone, so I’ll keep this review deliberately vague… but overall, I really enjoyed the story. There wasn’t anything that stuck out at me as negative as I read through the book. I liked the characters, the plot, the writing style…all of it. I’d certainly recommend this series to anyone who’s looking for a new YA Paranormal Romance to pick up—I know I’ll be moving on to pick up the second book in the series shortly.
Author Unpublished 