Blood Ties by Gabriella Poole

Title: Blood Ties (Darke Academy #2)
Author: Gabrielle Poole
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Published: February 4th, 2010
Genres: Young Adult / Paranormal / Romance
Source: Library

This term the secretive Darke Academy has moved to New York, and Cassie Bell is no longer the innocent new girl. Now she is strong, determined, and hiding secrets of her own.

Cassie has been introduced to the world of the Few and is struggling to come to terms with her astonishing powers, a dangerous romance, and the malevolent spirit inside her, demanding to be fed. When an old enemy returns, bent on revenge, Cassie is tested to the limit. Can she rescue her friends from a horrific fate, or will she end up destroying them to save herself?

That's the description of my reading experience with this book, but strangely, the experience is relevant to both parts of the description!

Blood Ties opens with Cassie really fighting off her hunger. As we already know she was initiated into the Few the previous term, and now has the spirit of Estelle residing inside of her. She hasn't fed all through the break for fear of draining someone, losing control. Understandable. Soon enough, though, she heads back to the Academy for another term.

I started reading this book with so much excitement, and fortunately the first few chapters kept my excitement up! I loved the whole Cassie needing to feed, fainting on the airplane, and Isabella having to bring her to Sr Alric. It really set the whole ominous theme of the book in place, and was thrilling to read! Usually I'm not very fond of the 'dark' and 'scary', but in this book, I really enjoyed it! I don't think I can pinpoint my favourite thrilling moment because I had so many.

Unfortunately, there was a major aspect I didn't like so much. If you've read this series, you'll know that the author, Gabriella Poole, does this thing sometimes, where she writes a chapter, outside of the Academy, in which someone is either killed or attacked mysteriously. However, being somewhat difficult to interest, I completely zoned out during said chapters. Even when there was violence and fighting and stuff, I still found it incredibly difficult to get into these story subplots. This might have been due the fact that random, underdeveloped characters were placed in front of us, and attacked. Or that the main character, Cassie didn't feature in the chapters. But nonetheless, I felt I had to trudge through, sometimes even looking ahead to see where the chapter ended..

I loved, and still love, the characters in this book. I love Cassie's character, how she's strong and stubborn, and the focused Ranjit too! I enjoyed how their relationship didn't render them both desperate and pitiful and seemed to grow stronger everyday. I loved Cassie's eccentric roommate Isabella, who is possibly the most adorable character I've ever read of, and Richard, the classic lady's man. The majority of them were developed from the previous book and the development was smooth and realistic. Well, as realistic as you can get in a paranormal romance, haha. 

One thing I could have done without, in terms of characters, was the introduction of so many minor characters. The minor Few members really don't play that big a role in the books, and I thought bringing in so many of them was unnecessary. I could barely keep up with the names!

All in all, I did actually really enjoy this book, but there were some things that just really put me off. I'd say it's worth reading if you've already read the first book in the series, because the next two books are more enjoyable. 

Thanks for reading guys, see ya!

Blogmas Day 5: Darke Academy Secret Lives Book Review

Title: Darke Academy Secret Lives
Author: Gabrielle Poole
Genre: YA/Paranormal
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Publication Date: August 6, 2009
Sources:  Easons  Amazon


The Darke Academy is a school like no other. An élite establishment that moves to an exotic new city every term, its students are impossibly beautiful, sophisticated and rich. And the more new scholarship girl Cassie Bell learns about the Academy, the more curious she becomes.

What sinister secrets are guarded by the Few - the select group of student who keep outsiders away? Who is the dark stranger prowling the corridors at night? And what really happened a year earlier, when the last scholarship girl died in mysterious circumstances?

One thing Cassie will discover is that a little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but knowing too much can be deadly

This was one of the first books I took out, when I first became a member of my local library, and back then I had all the time in the world to read, so I finished it in, roughly, two days. Now I know that's nothing for some of you crazy readers out there, but I was eleven, and it was a pretty big deal for me! Haha

The actual reason I picked the novel up, was because of its brilliant cover! The colours, the girl's eyes, how could it not catch your attention! Thank God I did, because I loved the book!

Starting off with the 'incident' that happened a year earlier, I can imagine the book slightly confused a lot of people, myself inclusive, because after the prologue, it skips a year, without telling the readers, or at least I don't recall it doing so, and I spent the entire chapter wondering where Jessie was and what happened to her! Haha. I did cop on eventually and realised the time skip.

Straight away, by only reading a few pages, you know that some of the students at this prestigious academy, are supernatural. Sure you can see that from the book cover! But the thing that I really enjoyed, is the new, refreshing concept of life essence-feeders, but not vampires. I'm sure a lot of people dismiss it as a vampire knock-off, but I was glad to read something different for once! I also loved the fact that the academy changed location every term. Doesn't that sound so cool??

Writing-wise I thought the story moved along at a satisfying pace, fast-paced to suit the exciting parts of the story, and not so fast at other times. I do agree that some of the chapters weren't too exciting to read, to say the least, but the writing style made up for that. It's easy to read and has a good flow, you know? 

Characterisation in Darke Academy, I thought, was really well done, especially for the main character Cassie, and the spirit, Estelle, she hosts later on in the story. She's one of the few female protagonists that I actually like, and even though she falls hopelessly in love with Ranjit Singh, she doesn't completely lose her mind. She can control herself!

All in all, I thought the first book in the Darke Academy series was a really good read! I was entertained for most, if not all, of the book, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys vampire fiction, or paranormal romance!