Review: Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun

REVIEW

Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun

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Ink by Amanda Sun

Pages: 369

Published by Harlequin Teen on June 8th 2013 

Series: Paper Gods #1

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mythology, Romance

Source: Borrowed from public library

My rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: 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 review: In Ink, Katie is an American that goes to live with her aunt in Japan after her mother dies. At first, Katie hates it. She feels all alone- alone because she isn't fluent in Japanese, alone because everything is foreign to her, alone because she has no one to vent to and be herself with, and alone in the grief of her mother. She goes to a Japanese school and one day she witnesses a particularly bad breakup between Tomohiro, the school "bad boy", and his girlfriend. When the breakup gets physical, Tomohiro's notebook falls to the floor scattering his papers everywhere. He does not know that Katie is there until she reacts to seeing one of his drawings move on the paper. 

After that Tomohiro and Katie have brief encounters- he trying to intimidate and size her up, she determined not to take his guff. After what Katie saw in the drawing, she is determined to find out what Tomohiro is up to. She follows him to his secret spot, and a awkward friendship strikes up between them. As it so happens, Tomohiro's mother is also dead, so they have something in common. 

After finding out Tomohiro's secret, Katie is as confused as ever and a bit scared. On top of that, there are Japanese gangsters after them, not to mention a secret society supposedly trying to help him that may or may not be all that it's cracked up to be. 

What I liked: Ink is unlike anything that I have read before. Going into this, I was unsure if this would be a book that I would enjoy. After starting it, I simply could not put it down! Literally. I only had two hours of sleep in the past two days because I NEEDED to finish this book. And to be honest, I didn't want it to end. One of the things that I likes best about Ink is that it is unlike anything that I have read before, so two thumbs way up to Sun for that. The other thing that made me fall in love with this book is the characters and the character building. There is absolutely nothing bad that I could say about the main characters. I adore the way that they came together despite their cultural differences. When they are together is FEELS meant to me. It feels right. I couldn't get enough of the dialogues between the main characters. I just wanted more and more. This is definitely going on my favorites shelf.

What I disliked: If there was anything that could make this book better, it would be the ending. I though that it could have used a little more oompfh. I also thought that the supernatural parts of the story could have been explained a little better. It doesn't take away from the story, but the nerd inside me cannot rest until I know specific key points. Not just a vague understanding. I toss things around in my head, and I can't do that very well without a more concise explanation. =P

Takeaway: This book is truly amazing! The cover leaves me breathless, the story is compelling, and the character, oh my goodness, the characters are fantastic! I would recommend this book to all that love YA fiction.