Forever Obsession: Red

ASIN: B00TODXQSW
Pages: 198

Publication Date: March 10, 2015

Source: Entangled Teen and NetGalley

Appearance:

Summary:

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…

Hello everyone and welcome to my review of Red by Alyxandra Harvey. I received an e-copy from Entangled Teen and NetGalley so thank you so much to both of them! This book read super fast and I ended up liking it a lot more than I expected. It also pulled me out of a reading slump that I was slowly falling into for no apparent reason. Anyway, let's get into the review!

Red follows a girl name Kia Alcott who was the ability to set things on fire if she can't control her temper. After accidentally setting her best friend on fire, she expelled from school and sent to live her grandmother who works as a housekeeper for the rich Blackwood family. Upon arriving, she senses that something is not normal and the family seems to be hiding a secret, particularly Ethan Blackwood. Ethan thinks of Kia as nothing as a nuisance, another dumb person that he has to protect from the forest of dark creatures that prowl around Blackwood Manor. What he doesn't know is that something new is haunting the forest and Kia may be someone who can help stop it.

The world that Red is set in is so fascinating and the writing just flows so lovely together. I picked this book up and read threw it in a day and absolutely adored it. The Blackwoods are this super rich family who basically own a magical beast zoo. However, it's not all pretty because these animals are kept locked in cages and some are released for the simple fun of hunting them and mounting them on a wall. There is also this secret society of mythical beast hunters/protectors/people called the Cabal. The whole concept of the Cabal is kept relatively in mystery throughout the book and has this creepy aura around it. In order to join, you need to pass a trial by killing a mythical beast and bringing back a trophy. If you are unfit to join, the Cabal will wipe your memory which could potentially lead to you going mad. However, we only get the see the messed up version that Mr. Blackwood believes and the end does elude to the fact the society may not be all bad, just old fashioned. I still wished I could have known more, but it helped to create a really mysterious feel throughout the book.

Kia Alcott is such a fiery character and I mean that with pun full intended. She's snarky and fun and not afraid to jump into a dangerous situation if it means protecting someone she loves. That alone makes a great character in my book. She also struggles with controlling her anger which I think everyone can relate to. Imagine setting something on fire every time you lost control of your temper. As cool as her power or curse is, there are also setbacks. She gets physically injured every single time fire erupts from her skin which I thought was kind of unique. The ability is powerful but at the same time harms her.

Ethan Blackwood came off as an incredible jerk in the beginning, but once you got to know more about the crazy world that he lived in and the huge weight on his shoulders, you start to understand why he's so uptight all the time. After everything he's been thought, he's got this huge sense of duty and loyalty and what's even cooler is that you get to read half the story from his POV. I loved reading from his perspective because if gave a great inside view to the world of the Cabal and helped me to understand the world a little better.

The romance between Kia and Ethan was pretty decent as well. As you probably guessed, no insta-love here and you actually got to see the relationship progress which I definitely liked. Admist the romance, there's a new creature lurking the forest and when I found out what it was, I was actually pretty creeped out. The story doesn't exactly follow the legend as I know it, but it still managed to create a really scary monster that controlled the story. The plot twist involving the monster definitely threw me off and I'm still confused as to how and what happened, but I guess that's part of the allure right?

There were a whole bunch of other memorable characters, specifically Abby (Kia's grandmother) and Sloane (Ethan's friend). Both of them are so lovable and funny and amazing that you grow to really enjoy every single moment with them. Some other characters were a bit annoying such as Justine and her crew, but like Ethan, everything she did was to protect their secret and she turned out, kind of decent at the end. The ending was actually amazing, while some events did make me sad, people got what they deserved and it was overall really satisfying.

So those are my thoughts! I highly recommend this book even if you're not into paranormal because it's a super fun read and will definitely keep you engaged throughout the story. Don't forget to pick up a copy on March 10 when it comes out!