Wisdom by Amanda Hocking

I found Amanda Hocking while browsing Amazon recommendations. Honestly, I bought her book Switched because it was fairly cheap compared to most of the books I was looking at so I was willing to take a gamble on a new author. I read Switched (see the archives for a review) and moved on to the My Blood Approves series. Wisdom the fourth book in the series was released this past Monday.

Here is the summary from Amanda’s site:

“Seventeen-year-old Alice Bonham's life feels out of control after she meets Jack. With his fondness for pink Chuck Taylors and New Wave hits aside, Jack's unlike anyone she's ever met.

Then she meets his brother, Peter. His eyes pierce through her, and she can barely breathe when he's around. Even though he can't stand the sight of her, she's drawn to him.

But falling for two very different guys isn't even the worst of her problems. Jack and Peter are vampires, and Alice finds herself caught between love and her own blood...”

While My Blood Approves isn’t the most original novel on the market (see the bookshelves for hundreds of vampire YA romance novels), it has many merits that quickly endeared the series to me.

First of all Alice and Jack’s relationship develops normally. They spend time together as friends and then love grows from the relationship. The way their relationship evolves is genuine and not based on some crazy predestined draw.
Second Alice is her own person and makes her own decision between the two guys. She does not simply become a “trophy” and does not agree with everything Jack or Peter say. I see her as a strong female lead character which goes a long way for me in a novel.

The plot changes in each book and is always resolved the major problems by the end of the book. Many of the series I have been reading don’t resolve the main problem at the end of the book and I find that quite annoying.

Amanda Hocking is a great writer and is an undiscovered treasure in the YA paranormal world. Although I must admit I prefer her Switched series I also enjoyed My Blood Approves. I give the series as a whole a 4/5.

Be sure to check out her series on Amazon along with her most recent release Wisdom.