Book Review: Ink.

Title: Ink.
Author: Amanda Sun.
Series: Yes, #1.
Pages: 326.
Source: Publisher.
Publisher: Harlequin Teen.
Published Date: 6/25/13.
Links:
Goodreads.
Barnes and Noble.

Summary:

"On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive."

My Thoughts:

*Thank you, Harlequin Teen, for sending me a copy of Ink for review*

Katie Greene has just recently lost the biggest part of her life; her mother. And although she wanted to move to Canada and live with her grandparents, Katie is forced to move to Japan and live with her aunt; due to her grandpa's health.

She is thrown out of comfort zone and into an entirely different world! Katie doesn't speak Japanese; she doesn't even know how to eat with chopsticks, but that doesn't really matter, because right now Katie is taking bento boxes crammed with peanut butter jelly sandwiches to school.

Forgetting one day to take off her school slippers, Katie heads back into the school building to change into her normal shoes, but she bumps into a intense break up between Tomohiro, a very cute boy, and his soon to be ex-girlfriend. Katie can't make out too much of what the two are arguing about, except that Tomohiro is a HUGE jerk and that he had gotten another girl pregnant. Knowing she should keep as much distance from Tomohiro, Katie is intrigued by him and is finding herself following him and always looking for him in the crowd.

After seeing him standing in the door way of her class, the drawing in her notebook starts to move before her eyes, and her pen explodes, getting ink everywhere, Katie knows something more is going on. And she knows Tomohiro is involved somehow, someway...

Tomo is somehow connected to the Kami. A group of gods, who have the power of the ink, and it runs through their veins. And Katie is somehow connected to the ink. But neither of the two know why, or how. But is Katie willing to risk her life? Is she willing to stay in Japan, instead of moving in with her grandparents?

Final Verdict:

The cover of Ink is a art piece, and I think it deserves to be in this review! I absolutely love the picture, and if you get the chance to pick up the book, look at it, look at the back, look at the details; its absolutely amazing!

Before going into reading this book, I didn't read the synopsis, nor did I read any other reviews. I wanted to go in blind and see what I would think about the story and it's characters without any other influences. When I realized that Ink was taking place in Japan and that Amanda Sun even included the Japanese language I was ecstatic! I love books that include a different language! It's fun looking up the words while I read, and see what the words mean. It's fun! And you learn a lot!

In the first few chapters I had no idea why Katie was so interested in a guy, who just broke up with his girlfriend, had gotten another girl pregnant, and is known for being a jerk and getting into fights. I already started having bad feelings about Katie and her judgement. I know we all make dumb decisions, but I found myself a bit frustrated when she was following him around, or making a show in front of the entire school, after only knowing him (barely) for a day.

But once Katie overcame her lust or infatuation with Tomo, I saw a different side of her that I really liked, just as I did with Tomo, himself as well. He was known to be a bad boy, but after truly getting to know him, it's not true. He cares a lot about Katie, and is willing to push people away from him to keep them safe.

Besides the two main characters there were also other people who I found enjoyable! Katie's two best friends, as well as her aunt. I felt that all three brought a bit of humor into the story, and I felt that Katie's aunt brought her down to earth, and back to what's going on in life; the death and grieving of her mother. While I wished that the reader would have been informed more about Katie's mother and father, I feel that will come in later installments.

Overall Ink is beautifully written, and filled with the Japanese language! This story made me laugh, made me cry, and made it almost impossible for me to lay the book down, until I was finished...and even then it was hard!