Crimson Groves
When it comes to my reading habits, I have been on a Scandinavian Mystery Marathon lately. So, when I picked up this book about Vampires, I came back to Vampires with a fresh mind. Let’s face it, when picking one book, the sheer number of books available in the market makes you wonder about how original a book can get when you have already read about a bunch of them. Ashley Robertson’s Crimson Groves introduces us to Abby – an average teenager who is nursing a broken heart and works at a bar. Enter Bronx as a handsome distraction from her aching heart. He manages to capture Abby’s attention long enough to get a chance of turning her. What follows is a long stint within four walls for Abby. While she tries to learn how to control her craving for blood, she has only Bronx for company. Little by little, we learn about the world that the author has created. A world where there are blood donors for the vampires, where the ‘bitten’ and the ‘unbitten’ are not allowed to socialize, where magic exists and where everyone has a secret.
It was an interesting experience to read this book. While the character of our protagonist Abby seemed pretty average to me, I felt that Bronx was a character that everyone would love to hate. You know how you hated Umbridge? Yeah, that’s how you are going to feel about Bronx! Very irritating and you’d wish that he’d just drop dead at times... but at the same time you know that the story wouldn’t have been the same without him. The plot again isn’t something extraordinary, but something that I ‘liked’. The narration style was smooth. The only thing is that when I stand back and look at the story again, I feel as if the ‘incidents’ were a bit rushed. When Bronx finally lets Abby out, things happen in quick succession and are packed in a very short period of time.
Overall, this book was quite a fast read and fun. Take a chance with it…
