Review: Red by Alyxandra Harvey

Title: Red
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Publication: March 10th 2015 by Entangled Teen
Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal 
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
Rating: 4/5

 

Bad girls burn hot…

Red is the color of Kia Alcott's hair.
It's her temper, which blazes hot and always gets Kia into way too much trouble.
And it's the color of fire. Fires that Kia can start…just by thinking about them.
When her latest “episode” gets her kicked out of school, Kia is shipped off to her grandmother, who works for the wealthy Blackwoods. It's an estate shrouded in secrets, surrounded by rules, and presided over by a family that is far from normal…including the gorgeous and insolent Ethan Blackwood.

Ethan knows far more about the dangers of the forest surrounding the estate than Kia can ever imagine. For this forest has teeth, and Ethan is charged with protecting the outside world from its vicious mysteries.

But inside, even the most vibrant shade of red doesn't stand a chance against the dark secrets of the Blackwood family…

It's been two years since I read a book written by Alyxandra Harvey. I've always been a huge fan of hers but due to to many other books her books that I still have to read got put aside for a while. So I'm so glad I got to read this new book of hers because it reminded me of how much I adore her books. And I couldn't get over how good this book was. It might not quite be five stars but it's absolutely a solid four stars for me!

After Kia Alcott gets expelled from her school for starting a fire and burning her best friend, her father —not knowing his daughter did it with her mind by accident —sends Kia away to live with her grandmother who lives and works for the Blackwoods at a huge estate. The closer Kia gets to Ethan Blackwood the more freaky things start happening. It's then that Kia starts to unravel the secrets of the estate, the cabal that Ethan unwillingly is a part of and the surrounding woods. 

Alyxandra Harvey always has a knack for writing awesome female characters. Kia is no exception. She's snarky, fun to read about and wants to find out what's going on + she's a freaking firestarter. Can't get more badass than that! 

Ethan was also a great character to read about. Him and Kia have both alternating points of few. I must admit I wasn't into Ethan's POV right away. I mean, it was interesting to get inside his head and read about the world he grew up in but initially I just wanted to keep reading about Kia. But I got over that soon enough, the more I found out about him, his friend and the cabal.

A huge part of why I loved this book was that it had a lot of different supernatural creatures. It's kind of hard to say more about these particular creatures without giving too much away but they play a integral part in the story and they really fascinated me, even though what was done to them was really wrong.

The romance between Kia and Ethan was really well-written. There's definitely no insta-love whatsoever. At first Kia even thought Ethan was stuck-up because of his wealth and Ethan did pretend to not like her at first. But slowly they grew towards each other and I just thought it was a really sweet love that was blossoming even though both Kia as Ethan quite had some baggage. I think they were pretty perfect for each other. 

All in all, Red by Alyxandra Harvey was a fun and enjoyable read. It had humor, a lot of action, amusing characters and sweet romance. I also liked how the end was pretty well wrapped up. Certainly not a bad start for getting back to reading this author's book after two whole years.

Quotes:

She tilted her head, suddenly looking amused. "You're like Bruce Wayne." I blinked, confused. She blinked back. "That's just sad," she said when I didn't look any more enlightened. "Batman," she explained. "Millionaire hot guy by day, vigilante by night?" "You think I'm hot?"

"Shit, Ethan. You can't go alone."
I tossed her a cocky grin. "Relax, sweetheart, this is what I'm trained for."
She threw a snowball at my head. "Call me sweetheart again. I dare you."

About the Author:

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Alyxandra Harvey lives in a stone Victorian house in Ontario, Canada with a few resident ghosts who are allowed to stay as long as they keep company manners. She loves medieval dresses, used to be able to recite all of The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson, and has been accused, more than once, of being born in the wrong century. She believes this to be mostly true except for the fact that she really likes running water, women’s rights, and ice cream.

Among her favourite books are ‘The Wood Wife’ by Terri Windling, ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte, and of course, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennet is her hero because she’s smart and sassy, and Mr. Darcy is, well, yum.

Aside from the ghosts, she also lives with husband and their dogs. She likes cinnamon lattes, tattoos and books.