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· 29,183 ratings · 1,820 reviews

Start your review of My Blood Approves (My Blood Approves, #1)

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I never had this much fun, I swear. This thing is the most unintentionally funny book I've ever read. I can't even say half of what I want to say about this, so please, read it! So... *ahem*

Mary Sues of the world! Hear ye, hear ye!

I never had this much fun, I swear. This thing is the most unintentionally funny book I've ever read. I can't even say half of what I want to say about this, so please, read it! So... *ahem*

Mary Sues of the world! Hear ye, hear ye!

I've met quite a few of you in my day, but what I have for you now will be beyond your wildest imagination. It will rock your plain non-matching socks. It will take 'average' to such high levels, not even your great-great-grand-kids will be able to see it. You will weep. You have a boyfriend who stalks you and you feel good about it? This girl does it better. You think you are stubborn? You think you can argue with a lamppost? You think you are the best goddamn Mary Sue out there? Well guess again!

Meet.... Alice.

We start off on an average night, where Alice and her best friend Jane are desperately trying to get into a club with fake ID's. We quickly find out Jane will some day turn into a lovely streetwalker and Alice is destined to be her ugly, not-sexy sidekick for the rest of her life. When they can't get in the club, Jane wants to walk home but then suddenly, they are being followed. (what else is new)

I think some quotes are the best way to show you exactly how funny this thing is.

The street ended with a parking garage, and
Jane ran into it, and rather dumbly, I followed her.

At least she has a little bit of self-knowledge, right? Lucky for her, our pink-shirted hero Jack comes storming in in his Jetta (eat my dust Cullen), saving the day. Jane spends the rest of her night trying all her best moves on Jack: groping him, shoving her boobs (and other various body parts) in his face but he is too busy being smitten with Alice; the one girl who isn't trying to get in his pants. *whispers 'She actually does, but her ~amazing skills make sure it looks like she doesn't'*.

The first clue about Jack being different (besides the fact that everybody, except Alice, wants to have sex with him, right here, right now): his skin is neither hot nor cold. Well... I guess the cat's out of the bag then folks, because I'm pretty sure my skin is neither hot nor cold during a regular day. Also he doesn't eat, he killed a dog with his bare hands, he is really really really rich and his 'siblings' don't look anything like him. Her first conclusion: Werewolf! I'm sorry sugar, his name is JACK. Not JACOB. She gets points for trying to use her 3 braincells though. But I am getting ahead of myself so back to the Jetta: at some point Alice passes out during the car ride home, and then when she finally gets home this happens:

The text message was from Jack, and I felt
my heart beat faster. Somehow, when I had been sleeping, Jack had
gotten my phone number from my cell and programmed his number into
mine.

I'll beat the shit of the first random stranger who touches my phone without my permission while I'm unconscious. God knows where he put his hand trying to find it and how many of my messages/emails he read. Naturally, Alice feels all warm and fuzzy.

The next day we meet Milo, the younger brother who is a great cook and the mother, who is never around. And to show you how amazing this girl is after she dragged herself out of her bed with a hangover at 5:30 in the evening:

"What's wrong with you?" Milo asked, glancing up at me. "What's wrong with you?" I countered, utilizing my quick wit.

From that point on, Alice and Jack are inseparable. Jack is actually a nice guy, and I liked him a lot. He's sweet, smart, cute and a great friend with an overdeveloped gaydar. He immediately notices Milo is, in fact, gay and Alice decides to help her 'newly discovered gay brother' with his already difficult situation by confronting him with it in the middle of a hall full of kids at school. BUT SHE WHISPERED IT. SO IT WAS TOTALLY OKAY.

After a while of not dating each other, Jack decides it's time for her to meet the so-called parents: his brothers and sister in law. Who are loaded and own a Lamborghini. The sis treats Alice like she's the Barbie doll she always wanted. (she plays with her hair constantly, it's creepy as hell, but to her, it feels naturally!) Alice even feels a little uncomfortable about all that attention! Her, the girl nobody notices suddenly being the center of the universe! Who would have guessed.

So by now, you probably think Jack & Alice... Star-crossed lovers, right? WRONG. Meet Peter, Jack's brother. Apparently, Alice and Peter are drawn to each other, and even with her having fuzzy feelings for Jack, she feels absolutely no shame in throwing herself shamelessly at Peter, time and time again, even while Jack is watching. And this is when we find out what the hell the title is all about: Their. Blood. Approves. Of. Each. Other. They are meant to be, drawn together, unable to resist each other, instant chemistry, heart beating faster, over the moon, intensely, head over heels in love, pure, raw animal passion. He rejects her btw. *grins*

The rest of the book is pretty much about how everybody adores Alice, (geez, it's getting really embarrassing now, even for her) how hard is it to keep her orgasms in check every time she so much as thinks about Peter, while Jack is giving it's all he's got, and then suddenly she moves in and of course everybody just assumes she'll want to become a vampire. So... to hell with school and an education, to hell with her gay brother and her slutty best friend! Hello new vampire life!

I had some troubles with a scene where she bit her lip on purpose to get Jack so aroused he'd bite her. He can't btw, because Peter 'owns' her. It was sad, pathetic, disturbing and wildly erotic at the same time.

There are so many amazing quotes in this book, mostly ones that made me laugh very loud. I wish I had a paper copy of this book because that way I could mark the page every time I felt like facepalming. And trust me, there would be a lot of those. Gah, there are so so so so much things I want to say about this book!

I can't wait to see what happens next, sequel here I come!

...more

I bought this because I literally had $1 available credit on my visa. I've read some articles about the author and her newly earned bazillions and I thought, "Self, is there a better way to piss away your hard earned last dollar than on a self published e-book? No, self, there is not."

The first half was a quick, mostly enjoyable read. It really felt more like I was reading a novel turned in to be work shopped in creative writing 101 - in fact my reading enjoyment would have been increased if my

But the jig is up, the fun is over, Elvis has left the building, add another cliche here - I'm still determined to read, but it's going to be interrupted by the next good book/website/cat that catches my eye - as it seems I am now trapped in the middle and the enjoyably bland narrator is crying ALL THE TIME. It is truly wearing my patience.

Also, there are a lot of tiny time shifts and I'm finding the story is getting a little messy. She goes home, she cries, she sleeps, she wakes up, someone picks her up, she goes to their house, she cries, she goes home, she cries, she sleeps ...

I ... am torn. On the one hand I think this is a more entertaining version of Twilight and on the other hand I just admitted that I read Twilight.

***

Well, it's finished.

I think she is a good storyteller - the pace was right and the characters were likable. But goddamn, I need to read something substantial and well written to get the poorly phrased sentences, bad word choices and shitty grammar out of my head.

Also, two stars because I finished it and that is saying something in my recently acquired fuss-fest reading style.

Did that sound bitchy?

...more

Jul 09, 2016 Mizuki rated it did not like it

20 'one of the worst books ever' Negative-Stars.
For starter, now I can confidentially say I've finally encountered a book which can make Cassandra Clare's, Stephenie Meyer and Marie Lu's novels look like decent literature, and this book is My Blood Approves, by Amanda Hocking.

So you ask what has gone wrong in this book...? Oh let's me think about it.......just where should I begin?

Warning: F-words here and there, don't like don't read.

(1) The story is a Twilight's doppelganger

Plain Jane main gir

So you ask what has gone wrong in this book...? Oh let's me think about it.......just where should I begin?

Warning: F-words here and there, don't like don't read.

(1) The story is a Twilight's doppelganger

Plain Jane main girl meets mysterious handsome boy who saves her from danger? Checks. Endless details of the boring daily life of the Plain Jane main girl? Checks. Vampire boy finds the girl irresistible because her blood is 'special'? Checks. Vampire boy has a rich adoptive family of attractive older vampires? Checks. All of the vampires in the boy's family are sexy and hot-as-fuck? Checks. Plain Jane main girl eagerly wants to ditch being human and embrace vampirism without a backward glance at her mortal family? Checks.

Need I go on?

(2) Meets Alice, an irredeemable spoiled brat and a Mary Sue who can put Bella Swan into total shame

Before I started reading this book, I just couldn't believe how irritating and hateful our Plain Jane main girl, namely Alice, can get. Now it's official: comparing with Alice, Bella Swan from Twilight suddenly looks like a decent and thoughtful character. Plus only Clarissa Fray from City of Bones can outdo Alice at being a completely hateful spoiled brat. Oh boy, how sad.

For example, Alice and her younger brother Milo are raised by a single mother. Said mother has been working 12 hours per-day, 70-plus hours per-week to make ends meet,but has the 17 years old Alice ever thought about getting a part time job to help her family? No. Never. The thought has never crossed her mind.

Plus, instead of looking after her 14 years old younger brother Milo when their mother is absent, Alice allows Milo to take charge of housekeeping duties. So Milo has to cook and wash FOR BOTH OF THEM whilst Alice is out wandering around streets and clubs at night, hanging out with her BFF and hooking up the hot guy Jack, whom she had just met.

To make things even better, Alice doesn't care about her own education, she refuses to do homework even when her brother Milo has to step in to remind her. Look, see. Alice even thinks (view spoiler)[immortality and being a vampire is far more important than continuing her education. (hide spoiler)]

*sighs* Because we all understand making out with your hot, perfect undead boyfriend is far more important than learning and going to school. Totally makes sense.

By the end of the book, Alice's mother is mad with her for being away from home *all night* without even one phone call, and instead of apologizing Alice runs away from home and goes stay with her rich, hot vampire boyfriend.

Not to mention, Alice is...to be frank, stupid. Even though I fully understand we can't expect every single 17 years old kid to be mature and smart, still how stupid must you be to step into the car of a total stranger in the middle of the night, especially right after you had just narrowly escaped being harmed/gang-raped? How stupid must you be to trust a guy who messed with your phone when you passed out? How stupid and thoughtless must you be to throw perfectly fine vegetables away just because you accidentally cut your finger (especially when your family isn't so well-off)? Just how stupid must you be to remain entirely carefree when hanging out with...blood-drinking VAMPIRES who are struggling not to eat you for dinner? I truly have no word.

(3) Creepy relationships gets disguised as romance, creepy guys get disguised as sexy love interests

Since the story is a photocopy of Twilight, so I am not the one bit surprised that Jack, the vampire, is attracted to Alice because her blood is special and irresistible. 'I want you, I love you because you smell so good I want to EAT you!' How romantic.

Trust me, I'm a huge vampire fan but all the talks about the vampire guys get excited by the sound of the girl's pulsing and the smell of her blood is just so fucking goddamn creepy, and gross. If a guy talked like this to me I swear I will tear him apart.

Plus, Jack also inserted his own phone number into Alice's cell *without consent* while the girl passed out. I have no word.

As to love interest number 2, we get Peter, who is a even bigger creeper than Jack, his 'younger brother' (alright, alright, so instead of a werewolf as the third wheel, we get a vampire one). I don't have many things to say about him aside from the fact he toys with Alice in a 'hot and cold' way, like a cat would toy with a mice it is about to kill. And at the very end the guy finally (view spoiler)[drinks Alice half to death (hide spoiler)], but Alice still lusts after him anyway! Again, just how fucking romantic.

(4) Alice is the most annoying narrator ever.

It is not easy to hear the thoughts of a 17 years old kid for an entire book, it is nearly unbearable to hear Alice's monologues (which make her sound like a dull eight years old) and her endless complaints about...well, everything and everyone.

(5) Many things in the story are just ridiculous.

Jack is a 20-something man who is jobless and out of school, he also lives off his older brother, but he is still considered by everyone (especially Alice) as a dreamboat.

Everyone--- and I do mean everyone, wants to jump Jack's bones. Alice wants him, her brother Milo wants him, their mother wants to push him to the floor and do him then and there. To tell the truth it really is embarrassing.

(Link: http://maidendawn.deviantart.com/art/...)

Just as embarrassing is the fact that 100 pages into the story, we get two hot male vampires interest with our Plain Jane main girl Alice already.

Since this book is a photocopy of Twilight, therefore all of the vampires that show up have to be unbelievably hot and attractive.

The story and the writing itself is so immature that it reminds me of an eight years old little girl playing Princess Game with her Barbie dolls while daydreaming about hot undead boyfriends. And you are telling me books like this get printed and people actually pay to read them? How sad.

(6)Where is the plot? Where is the story?

200 pages into the story, I realize this book is one big fat fucking piece of NOTHINGNESS. Things happens but there is barely a story, there is no development, no character's growth, no revelation, no plot twist, no moral lesson, no climax, NOTHING. All we get is a Mary Sue drooling over hot guys.

Reading this book felt like a fucking chore, I nearly gave up for many times before I crawled my way to the ending...which mocks me and laughs at me right in my face with its absolute POINTLESSNESS. So here is the final insult: I'd wasted my time for NOTHING.

Final words: with this fucking piece of crap (which I decline to call it a 'novel'), Amanda Hocking successfully wins the honor of being a worse author than Stephenie Meyer and Cassandra Clare. Good job, Ms. Hocking. Good job.

Pre-review below:

09/07/2016: Today I found the simplified Chinese translation of this book sitting in the library's shelf. So, free book! Free badly written romance! Free jokes! Here I go!

PS: and I honestly have no idea whether this simplified Chinese translation got any permission from the original publisher or not...

Edited@17/07/2016:

70 pages into the story, I am told that everyone loves the male lead, namely Jack, and I do mean everyone: the Main Girl Alice loves him, her younger brother has a crush on him, their mother wants to jump the guy's bones since the first time she meets him.

That is getting ridiculous, and embarrassing.

Edited@24/07/2016: Thoughts before finish reading the whole book:

I've read 150+ pages into My Blood Approves but absolutely nothing has happened, all I've gotten so far is the Plain Jane main girl Alice's monologues which bored me into tear (who wants to read a teenager girl's monologues when the thoughts in her mind makes her sound like a dull 8 years old?) and the long, useless description of the irresistible male vampires and their irresistible perfection.

So far I can tell you this book is even worse than the infamous Twilight, but I shouldn't be so surprised because bad writing like this can also be found in the Trylle series by the same author. The story and the writing is so immature that it reminds me of an 8 years old girl playing Princess Game with her Barbie dolls while day-dreaming about a handful of hot guys drooling over her.

And you are telling me books like this got printed and people have been actually paying their hard earned money to read them? How sad.

This review and this particular paragraph concludes my feeling to this book so beautifully:

This book is annoyingly TOO similar to Twilight, it could be it's awful cousin Martin. Where Twilight sucked, this one sucked even WORSE. At least Twilight was an original idea (with Bella and Edward's undying [pathetic] romance and the sparkling, and etc, etc, etc) but My Blood Approves was just...no. I see why the author self-published the book, because she knew she sucked so bad that no publishing company would allow such crap (although her Troll series, or whatever it's called, is getting published, but I didn't read those yet and it's beside the point).

...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm not even 60% done with this book, but I might as well be. My god, Alice. You're a fucking imbecile. A whiney, boneless, emotional protagonist that I'd like to meet just to shove over someplace high. You're like Bella Swan, except - and I can't believe I'm saying this - Bella has a far more deductive mind than you. You know that part in Twilight where she goes, "Vampire."? Never did I think I'd applaud her observational skills, but here I am. Jack's entire family has no goddamn temperature. H I'm not even 60% done with this book, but I might as well be. My god, Alice. You're a fucking imbecile. A whiney, boneless, emotional protagonist that I'd like to meet just to shove over someplace high. You're like Bella Swan, except - and I can't believe I'm saying this - Bella has a far more deductive mind than you. You know that part in Twilight where she goes, "Vampire."? Never did I think I'd applaud her observational skills, but here I am. Jack's entire family has no goddamn temperature. He's incredibly fast and strong and capable of fending off five thugs about to jump your bones. His heartbeat is incredibly slow. PRAY TELL, WHAT CAN HE BE???

Of course he's a werewolf. Of course.

You know those books written in third person with the purpose of allowing the reader some omniscience? Well, I guess Hocking tries, but I can't help but feel like my detective skills are being severely underestimated. I'm very insulted if she thinks my idea of a good book is to be clenching my teeth and yelling, "OMGZZZ HE IS A FUCKING VAMPIRE I GET THE HINTS CAN WE MOVE ON PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE?"

This might have worked back then when Dracula was still a novelty, but this "suspense" only works now for real, unconventional monsters. Like in Rick Yancey's books. Or whatever the fuck Barrons is in the Fever series. You don't get to say things like, 'he stiffened at the sight of the bloody cut on my finger' and 'caressing my throat' and expect people to have a migraine over the nature of your "monster". Sheesh.

"Suspense" aside, it doesn't help that Alice's life revolves around Jack, much like Bella's (and even then she had Jacob as a distraction. Imagine Twilight with Edward as the only love interest). She meets Jack in the first chapter. From then on it's Jack-this, Jack-that. And he's all Let's-hang-out-every-day-Alice. BTW my entire family loves you, and although I know you find this creepy, together with how often I evade your questions, try to suppress any self-preservation instincts and just be the family pet, ok?

Gah, my eyes just can't stop spinning in their sockets. Hocking has no flair for character-building or relationships. I'm bored out of my brains and this will probably be the last book I'll read from her. I'm kinda upset this is going to be my first book for 2012.

On second thought, this is exactly the kind of book I'll have a blast reading one-star reviews for. It's exactly the kind of book that makes me friends on goodreads, based on taste alone.

...more

Apr 25, 2011 Haya rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: idiots

Teenager Alice Bonham's life feels crazy after she meets Jack. With his fondness for pink Chuck Taylors and New Wave, he's unlike anyone she knows. Then she meets his brother, Peter. Even though he can't stand the sight of her, she's drawn to him. Falling for two 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.

This book sucked so bad, it should be banned, and the author should be exiled to another galaxy. I

This book sucked so bad, it should be banned, and the author should be exiled to another galaxy. I just can't believe there are a healthy amount of reviews that gush about how amazingly awesome this book is--and I actually believed them. There were the usual ME NO LIKE DIS AT ALL! reviews, but with over a bajillion people going on and on about how kewl it is, I simply had to see for myself.

I picked up my ereader with high expectations.

I put down my ereader with smoke coming out of my nose and ears.

This book is annoyingly TOO similar to Twilight, it could be it's awful cousin Martin. Where Twilight sucked, this one sucked even WORSE. At least Twilight was an original idea (with Bella and Edward's undying [pathetic] romance and the sparkling, and etc, etc, etc) but My Blood Approves was just...no. I see why the author self-published the book, because she knew she sucked so bad that no publishing company would allow such crap (although her Troll series, or whatever it's called, is getting published, but I didn't read those yet and it's beside the point).

Now, with the bad points of this awful story:

1. The Characters: Alice. Alice, Alice, oh darling [stupid] Alice. She pissed me off throughout the whole book. She is a whiney, demanding, dependent, naive, stupid, pathetic, mentally deranged crybaby. I'm serious. Throughout the book, she is either complaining, whining or crying. She does or says nothing that makes the reader like her at ALL. On the contrary, she makes the reader, or at least me, wanna grab her from the story and throw her across the universe, until she gets sucked in a black hole and never returns.

Jack. He's 24. I get that he saves Alice, but what I don't get it why the FRICK would she accept a ride from him when he's a total stranger, and hang out with him from then on. I mean, he tells her that he's 24, but even after he tells her (which was at the very beginning of the book), she still hang out with him. I mean, shouldn't she stop and think whether he's some creepy pedophile or something. I mean, so what of he saved her life? Maybe he wants to end it himself, did she think of that?

And what I mostly don't get is why she's all OMG! OMG! OMG! when he saves his number in her cell the night they first meet when she passes out (or sleeps, I really can't remember which). If a guy had done that to me, I'd slap him so hard, his face would become a pancake. It's like she can't believe she's gotten a guy's attention, now she's willing to do WHATEVER it takes to keep him on her leash. Jesus!

I'm sorry. Back to Jack.

I don't mind immature guys, like playing around and stuff, I find that actually cute, but Jack is like,

IMMATURE, underlined a hundred thousand times. He's also a stalker, a pedophile, a pansy, and just plain annoying.

Alice's brother Milo is an okay character, but I just wish he'd act more like a fourteen year old. He reminds me of Jamie in The Host, who is attached to Melanie and acts like a kid more than a fourteen-year old. He and Alice have an open relationship and they casually talk about sex and Milo's sexuality. Aren't there supposed to be limits between brothers and sisters when it comes to certain subjects? Well, I don't have a brother and my two younger sisters and I aren't really close, so I don't know, but I think that there should be limits somewhere. Hmm...

Ezra, Mae and Peter were...okay. Nothing remarkable. Just annoying.

2. the writing style: The book was written by a preschooler. There were SO many typos and grammatical errors and subject-verb disagreements. Moreover, in some areas in the story, the paragraphs and realizations weren't quite connected to each other perfectly well. For example: Alice would be all (and I DO NOT quote): I fell in love with Mae, nothing sexual or lesbian, but she's so nice, and so is Jack. It suddenly dawned on me that I was a little in love with Jack…

Seriously? Seriously? SERIOUSLY? With all the stupidity she dumped in this book, she can't add a few lines to connect to that? It doesn't take a ROCKET SCIENTIST to figure THAT out!

3. The plot: Just think of

Twilight and you've got your plot! (:

So, to wrap up, this book is TERRIBLE. The characters are PATHETICALLY ANNOYING. The writing style is HORRENDOUS. And it's a MAJOR waste of TIME.

I have a migraine right now.

...more

After years of meaning to read this series and never quite getting around to it, I'm finally getting around to it. As I understand, Miss Hocking's is one such author who blazed such a trail through self-publishing some odd-years back so - nowadays - it's been mistaken for a beaten path to success.

I was overall entertained by this story - snappy remarks, snazzy mythos - but sometimes the plot stalled out due to characters hedging around need-to-know info well-past the point of secrecy. The back and forth bordered on filler, which frustrated me since I feel certain central characters were underdeveloped and a lot was left unexplained in the metaphysical department.

Nonetheless, I felt this is a solid and mostly fun start for a series and am interested to see how it pans out eventually. It made use if tropes, but had it's own charm so I'll say it was a decent time that kept me turning pages.

...more

Wow! I still can't believe I brought this ebook from Amazon for 76p!
I originally thought that the price would speak for itself but it completely surprised me and now I have no idea why Amazon are selling it so cheap!

I LOVED this story. I loved the way it gripped me all the way through - I loved the characters and I loved the way the author did not just stick to an original love triangle. I felt the story was unique and it left me cheering for both TEAM JACK & TEAM PETER! I can't not wait to re

This book has a fantastic story line and is a definite must for anyone who is into the supernatural romance.

...more

the funny thing about this book, is that it is almost an exact replica of twilight, yet soo much better. and thats saying something because this book sucks.:p there's no goody goody edward/bella in this one, and there is a better sense of humor,, and thats why it gets two stars,, aha(: the funny thing about this book, is that it is almost an exact replica of twilight, yet soo much better. and thats saying something because this book sucks.:p there's no goody goody edward/bella in this one, and there is a better sense of humor,, and thats why it gets two stars,, aha(: ...more

I read the first couple of pages. Alice and her friend Jane are chased by four big burly men and are rescued by another guy, then they decide that it's OK to get into the car of a complete stranger because he saved them from being raped or killed.

Apparently a rescue is the new sweets from a stranger.

I'm sorry, it just made me LOL. Not for me.

Apparently a rescue is the new sweets from a stranger.

I'm sorry, it just made me LOL. Not for me.

...more

So, this woman just got a $2 million advance from St. Martin's for a series of her books. I bought this one for .99 off Kindle/Amazon, which is where she got started. I admire her energy and self-starter mentality--she's basically made herself into a cottage industry worth millions now, after a handful of paranormal romance novels. But I read this one after reading Alden Bell's brilliant, fascinating, edge-of-seat-gripping The Reapers are the Angels, which has style and substance and tone and re So, this woman just got a $2 million advance from St. Martin's for a series of her books. I bought this one for .99 off Kindle/Amazon, which is where she got started. I admire her energy and self-starter mentality--she's basically made herself into a cottage industry worth millions now, after a handful of paranormal romance novels. But I read this one after reading Alden Bell's brilliant, fascinating, edge-of-seat-gripping The Reapers are the Angels, which has style and substance and tone and reads, to me, as pretty feminist or at least it hands you a fully-realized teenaged female hero who kicks ass. And Hocking does none of that. Her writing is drab, boring, plotless, structureless. It's the same navel-gazing loops of vanilla prose that Meyers can spew out endlessly for the Twilight shlock--like a soft-serve fro yo machine. Neither Hocking nor Meyers seems particularly interested in challenging traditional, boring-ass gender roles, and they both trade shamelessly on the tiredest vampire and romance-heroine cliches. So, while I appreciate Hocking's entrepreneurship and her apparently blase attitude to being wooed by the publishing industry now that she's selling millions of her books, I can only wish that I lived in a world where this crap wouldn't sell a single copy, and books like Bell's would fly off the shelves. ...more

Let me sum this book up with a Douglas Adams quote:

"For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen."

Let me sum this book up with a Douglas Adams quote:

"For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen."

...more

Most people won't believe me when I say this, and some might even think I'm an idiot for saying it! I liked this book way more than Twilight! I found Alice to be so much more tolerable than the ever annoying Bella Swan. She meets Jack and she doesn't turn into a complete blubbering fool for starters.

Jack is an awesome character as well. I just really liked all of the characters in this book.

I picked this book up to get a cheap .99 read on the Nook, but I kept reading all 4 of the books so far,

Jack is an awesome character as well. I just really liked all of the characters in this book.

I picked this book up to get a cheap .99 read on the Nook, but I kept reading all 4 of the books so far, because of the fun yet sometimes intense and truly engaging stories.

I also liked this more than the Trylle series, but everyone else seems to enjoy those so who knows?

...more

The main character is a teenage girl, Alice, who is probably one of the worst characters ever. She obviously doesn't like her 'best friend' Jane (and who would, she's even worse than Alice), but for some strange reason they're still best friends.
At the beginning of the book she out with Jane, they get attacked and then (how predictable) a mysterious guy shows up and saves Alice (Jane doesn't need saving, because she already run away or something). The three of them go for a coffee. Jane and the The main character is a teenage girl, Alice, who is probably one of the worst characters ever. She obviously doesn't like her 'best friend' Jane (and who would, she's even worse than Alice), but for some strange reason they're still best friends.
At the beginning of the book she out with Jane, they get attacked and then (how predictable) a mysterious guy shows up and saves Alice (Jane doesn't need saving, because she already run away or something). The three of them go for a coffee. Jane and the waitress are all over the guy (Jack), but (of course), he only has eyes for Alice (this scene really reminded me of a similar scene in Twilight).

"There was something about him that made me trust him implicitly."

She hears him laugh: "Somehow, it warmed me through and through, and I realized that I would trust him with anything."

"But sitting here, in the booth with him, nothing had ever felt more natural or safe. This was where I was supposed to be."

So they start hanging out more and more, and everyone he meets is in love with him except for Alice. Because she's SPECIAL. She figures out that he's different, but doesn't know how, exactly. There's a scene where she slices herself and he gets weird. How shocking!

"What exactly are you saying?" Jack narrowed his eyes at me, but there was a brightness to them. He was hoping I would figure it out.
"You were bit, but there's hardly a wound, and-and you have like super human strength and… everything in the whole world wants to have sex with you and… you don't have a temperature!" I spouted. Biting my lip, I didn't look at him. I was trying to figure it all out, but none of it made sense. I could feel him looking at me, but I just couldn't put the puzzle together.
"So?" Jack asked encouragingly.
"So…" I threw my arms up in the air, feeling completely exasperated. "I don't know! You're a werewolf!"

The only character that was a little bit interesting was Peter. He's another vampire, Jack's brother. I liked his backstory. What I didn't like is Alice's ridiculous "OMG, I can't think of anything else when he's around" reaction. And she wants him to bite her, because, er, I don't know. I never really understood Alice. But if Peter doesn't want to, there's always Jack. It seemed to me sometimes that she doesn't really care which one she ends up with. As long as he's a hot vampire, she's happy.
Between Jack and Peter, I was rooting for Peter. But than I realized, if he 'won', he would have to spend the rest of his eternal life with Alice. Why would I want the poor guy to end up with her? She would bore him to death.

There are more books in the series, but there's no way I'm reading them.

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review by Megsly

*Warning: possible spoilers ahead.*

review by Megsly

*Warning: possible spoilers ahead.*

I had never heard of the My Blood Approves series, and to be frank, when I first heard the name I wasn't too intrigued. The name didn't strike me as being the name of an awesome book, and to be honest, I've admitted before that I am the type to judge a book by it's cover, and it's name. However, this book was recommended to me by a girl I actually used to babysit when I was in high school. She's in high school now, has happily jumped on the Twilight bandwagon, and has a love for YA Paranormal novels, which seems to be the primary genre on my to-read list. And since she means a lot to me, I had to give it a shot. Plus, despite the rather campy name the book cover is quite lovely to look at.

My Blood Approves follows Alice Bonham, a 17 year old girl who has a rather blah outlook on life. She goes to school but she really doesn't care about it. She goes out clubbing with her sex happy friend Jane (seriously, this girl sleeps with anything and anybody, it was kind of a shocker considering this is a YA novel) but yet...doesn't really care to go clubbing. She and her 14 year old brother Milo practically live alone, since her mother works night shifts as a dispatcher and is never home, but she doesn't really care to cook or clean or take care of the house. She's rather...blah, to be honest...until the night that she and Jane leave after several denials to get into clubs and are cornered in a parking garage by four men intent on raping them. In swoops our soon to be hero, Jack, a good looking but not too attractive 24 year old man driving a fancy car ready to save the day!

Okay, let me just say that for the first half of the book, I was rather put off. It was so Twilight-ish that I just could not get into it. Alice, the apathetic female lead in My Blood Approves, is pretty but not too pretty. She does okay in school, she's not stellar by any means. Yet, this pretty boy that catches the eye of every freaking female (and non-hetero male) with a 5 mile radius, is downright obsessed with her. He drives fancy cars, loves to drive fast, has a beautiful family who live in a spectacular mansion outside of town. She does everything she can to see him, puts off school and stops seeing her friends, stops spending time with her brother, Milo, who quite frankly I think is an amazing character, and becomes this Jack obsessed female...even though...she's not attracted to him?

Wait, she's not attracted to him? Hold on, let me reiterate, she's not attracted to Jack? Yup, okay so maybe this isn't as Twilight-ish as I had originally assumed...so I read on...and HOLY SUCKER PUNCH BATMAN! This book is nothing like Twilight! Nice!

Jack, as you've undoubtedly presumed, is a vampire. He's a nice, realistic take on the vampire. Hocking links vampirism to the earliest plagues, linking it as a method to control the population growth by creating a virus that causes humans to mutate into blood consuming people. The sun doesn't harm them, though due to their acute senses, it does make them a bit tired. They prefer the night, but they don't have to stay in at night. They cannot drink animal blood, so these aren't the veggie vamps of Twilight and Vampire Diaries lore. These are "Hey, I'm gonna have sex with you and gnaw on your neck and you're gonna love every freaking minute of it," vampires, which I like. Bite me, please!

Jack, who's been a vampire for 16 years, is still very teenage like in his antics, though he's nearly 40 years old. Mae, who is married to Ezra, Jack's creator, is nearly 80 years old. She's kinda Esme - like, very motherly and adoring. I like her, she's like-able. Then there's Ezra, who's a 300 year old hottie...and saving the best for last, Peter...who, if I remember correctly, is a 200 year old Adonis!

And, sadly enough, Peter is the explanation to Jack's involvement with Alice, and Alice's lack of attraction to Jack. This is an epic love triangle of crazy proportions...I'm still trying to sort it out in my head, but I don't want to spoil anything for you! All I can say is, even though I spent the first half of the book scratching my head and going, "Haven't I read this before, but by a different author?" I was very pleasantly surprised by the second half.

The plot is a touch confusing, the characters haven't been completed developed, but this is the first book of five (maybe more, I just know of five for certain at this time) so I'm sure there will be much further development of plot and characters as time progresses. Also, in consideration, the characters are very accurate to the modern woe-is-me, angst ridden teenager who thinks the entire world around them doesn't understand them, so it is definitely a book teens can relate to. Also, it addresses issues they face, parental issues, sexuality issues, peer pressure, so once again, it's probably a hell of a lot more relatable to a 15 year old than it is to me, who's teenage years are becoming a fuzzy, less than pleasant memory.

The writing is fluid and fun, and though there are mentions of sex, partying, alcohol, drugs and general @*^$%, the over all message is abstinence. Yes, Alice parties, but no she doesn't do drugs or have sex or drink, so this book is geared towards older teens, which makes it an easier read for a late mid-20's girl like myself. Over all, I'm eager to read the next installment in the series! Hopefully it's even better than this one!

-Story Elements (plot) – 7
-Character Development - 6
-Grammar & Punctuation - 8.5
-Prose – 8
-Paranormal Element - 10
Total Score: 7.9/10
(total score is derived from the average of the 5 individuals scores)

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What do you get when you pair absolutely atrocious writing, self-editing and stolen plot lines? This book. I wanted to like it...I really did but when someone takes so much story-line from other writers and then throws in redundancy, poor grammar and spelling I can't take it. I'm honestly shocked I finished this book. Its like a bad fan-fiction version of The Vampire Diaries and Twilight. The similarities are astounding so I doubt its just a "vampire thing" or just a coincidence. Similarities be What do you get when you pair absolutely atrocious writing, self-editing and stolen plot lines? This book. I wanted to like it...I really did but when someone takes so much story-line from other writers and then throws in redundancy, poor grammar and spelling I can't take it. I'm honestly shocked I finished this book. Its like a bad fan-fiction version of The Vampire Diaries and Twilight. The similarities are astounding so I doubt its just a "vampire thing" or just a coincidence. Similarities between this book and TVD and Twilight start right off the bat. From the main character's dangerous moment with a few guys in a seedy part of the city where she is rescued by a handsome, mysterious man to him taking her to see his family which is odd but overly welcoming. Then you throw in the love triangle and dialogue that nearly matches The Vampire Diaries and Twilight and I thought I was going to vomit. I love when other writers find inspiration in other works and maybe even allude to that work...but just outright taking plot lines and slightly twisting it doesn't just make me sick, it makes me bored!
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This author came recommended to me by amazon and since it was only a .99 ebook I decided to give it a try. The first thing I noticed about this book was that it is a knockoff of Twlight. Second, was that it badly needed to be edited. There were times in the book I had no idea who was speaking, which can be very frustrating. The story is about Alice and Jack. At first they are drawn to each other but not in a sexual way, which they repeat several times throughout the book. When Jack introduces Al This author came recommended to me by amazon and since it was only a .99 ebook I decided to give it a try. The first thing I noticed about this book was that it is a knockoff of Twlight. Second, was that it badly needed to be edited. There were times in the book I had no idea who was speaking, which can be very frustrating. The story is about Alice and Jack. At first they are drawn to each other but not in a sexual way, which they repeat several times throughout the book. When Jack introduces Alice to his "family", she is instantly attracted to his "younger brother", Peter, who is extremely rude and mean to her. Then we are thrown into a love triangle between Peter, Alice and Jack. Jack wants Alice, Peter doesn't, but since she is "his" then he won't let Jack be with her and Alice feels attracted to both but she doesn't know why. Personally I wouldn't recommend this book. It is the first book in the series and at first I was compelled to read the second one just to find out what happened in the first, but then I thought better of it. ...more

Alice Bonham is an average seventeen year old high school student. She has a younger brother, who acts more like an older brother, and a best friend who maybe doesn't have her best interests at heart, but who's going to notice her without being Jane's sidekick?

So, that's how she finds herself in her current situation, running for her life, in clothes that don't fit, and blisters on her feet from borrowed high heels. Why is she running for her life? Because Jane wanted to go clubbing. But, neither one can know that there are scary things out there wanting for them. When they start for home after a dismal failure at clubbing, a gang of guys thinks it's time to party with Jane and Alice as the party favors. Hence, the said running for her life.

In rides Jack Townsend, not on a white stallion, but in a silver Jetta. He fights off the bad guys and rushes in to save the damsels in distress. Jane immediately falls under his magnetic spell, but Alice is having none of that, she's had enough excitement. And, that's what make Alice special to Jack. Her lack of total worship. Not that he's all that worthy or unworthy, he's just Jack. But, he is sweet and cute, and he's the only guy who has ever liked her more than Jane. And that makes Jack special to Alice. His total lack of Jane worship. What Alice doesn't know is Jack has secrets, and those secrets are the things that can go bump in the night.

My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking is a quick little YA read, and it's... OMG... Good! It's another twist on the vampire genre, which I have somehow become totally hooked on. In this tale of vampirism, it's a communicable virus spread by the sharing of blood, either on accident or on purpose, but the individual being turned doesn't have to have their blood drained first. I mean, yeah, if there's been a feeding frenzy accident and a person has become drained, and you want to save their life, the vampire shares blood, but draining isn't necessary for turning. It's not the replacing of the human blood for vampire blood, but more of a bonding of their bloods to create a vampire. The turning is of the human body to a vampiric body, better than before... stronger, faster, prettier... kind of like the Six Million Dollar Man on steroids. (btw... now it would be six billion...) So, that how our hero and heroine find each other. Jack, big strong sexy vampire guy meets sweet delectable Alice, who has a penchant for getting herself in trouble. At first, it seems Jack wants Alice for himself, but then we meet his brother, Peter, and Alice finds herself connected to Peter somehow, but Peter refuses Alice, and then Jack finds himself drawn to Alice, not for her blood, but for the person that she is, for the love he feels. The problem: Peter may not be ready to relinquish Alice and he'll kill to protect her.

My Blood Approves is another indie authored book, and I've decided I really enjoy discovering indie authors. Not only is this a fun fast read, and not only did I fall in love with the characters, but it can be picked up on the ebook sites, B&N, Amazon, Smashwords, and others for a mere 99 cents! Can you think of a better way to spend a buck that picking a good read? I mean, really, a MacDonald's cheeseburger cost 99 cents, and My Blood Approves is way more satisfying, way less fattening, and it tastes way better too. I'm so happy I saw this on the book sites, and after looking at it for a couple of weeks, I decided, why not? So it's not from a big publisher, so what? What matters is that this is an excellent read. Ms. Hocking designs her own book covers, does everything involved to get the book ready for publication, and so far as I can tell, she doing a wonderful job! There are a few grammatical errors and a few places where a word was left out, so a tiny bit more editing could be done. These few minuscule errors took nothing away from the book, I'm not a perfectionist or a purist, what matters to me is a story that I can fall into, with characters I want to get to know, and Alice, Jack, Peter, Mae, Ezra, and little brother Milo, drew me in. And to my readers out there in blogland, it was worth much more than the 99 cents I paid to read it, and I immediately downloaded Fate, the second book in the series (again a bargain at $2.99!), and Flutter will be next, followed Wisdom. Ms. Hocking also has another series that will be visiting my iPad very shortly called the Trylle Trilogy: Switch, Book One is also a mere 99 cents! It's about changelings and trolls, and I can't wait to try it. I highly recommended this series to YA lovers out there, paranormal romance and urban fantasy lovers. I would love to say that Twilight lovers would enjoy this series and I believe they definitely will, but there are no sparkles here, no strolls in the sunlight, and these vampires are definitely not vegetarians. They like they're blood fresh, warm, full of pheromones, but they're willing to settle for the local vampire blood bank or bar. Just a taste of what the story holds in store for those who'd like to try it. Come on, give it a try....you know you want to....you won't be sorry!

I picked up this book for my own enjoyment. All opinions expressed are my own.

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In Amanda Hocking's first novel Alice Bonham is the 'less sexy sidekick' to her outgoing party-hard friend Jane, the one who can find alcohol as easily a normal person could find water. Alice lives with a mom she barely sees and a little brother charged with the task of cook for her, because she is too accident prone to do it herself. She was the normal run-of-the-mill teen girl until everything changed, after a late night encounter of the vampire kind, when Jack saved her from an unwelcome enco In Amanda Hocking's first novel Alice Bonham is the 'less sexy sidekick' to her outgoing party-hard friend Jane, the one who can find alcohol as easily a normal person could find water. Alice lives with a mom she barely sees and a little brother charged with the task of cook for her, because she is too accident prone to do it herself. She was the normal run-of-the-mill teen girl until everything changed, after a late night encounter of the vampire kind, when Jack saved her from an unwelcome encounter with a group of male would-be attackers.

How about we start with the bad?

To be honest, from the outset I was a bit put off by the heavy Twilight vibes this story was giving off; A young woman saved from an unpleasant group of men by a young guy of the fanged variety? A human girl immune to the affects of said vampire, whilst they obviously still work on every other person in the vicinity? And that's not to mention the similarities between the characters, which have been well documented in other reviews such as this one. It rings just a few too many bells. To be honest it initially felt as though I was reading a Twilight fan fiction.

Another thing that got me right from the start was some of Hocking's use of language, in certain places words just seemed awkward. For example:
'"This is truly infuriating," Jane said, flicking her cigarette to the dampened sidewalk and smashing it with her stilettoed boot.'
There are two things that annoy me in this sentence. Firstly the language used by Jane, who then goes on to whine about alcohol and throw herself at Jack. The way in which she speaks here seems far removed from the character Hocking is trying to portray. Secondly the use of the word 'smashing', it seems a little over the top in terms of the previous words in the sentence, and seems to contrast rather sharply with the carefree notion of 'flicking'. It also makes me cringe, having been standing in stilettos all night the last thing I would even think about doing is stamping an already fragile foot.

The other thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the name dropping of all the bands and pop culture references. It drove me insane. Everyone has their own personal preference in regards to what parts of modern life they include in their writing, but I really don't care if the trousers he is wearing are Dickies or if he is obsessed with Guitar Hero.

I did enjoy the way in which Amanda went about introducing her characters, and I also liked the idea of Milo's plot line, even if it could have done with additional development in some places. Some of the relationships could have also used some additional work, the way in which Alice sees Jack is decidedly naive and that between Alice and Jane is rather choppy, are they actually friends at all?

For some time what annoyed me the most about Alice was her inability to identify Jack for what he was from the beginning, come on: Only out at night, never actually eating, weird around blood... It was driving me nuts that she couldn't figure it out. It took some time but then I really thought about it, would I be so quick to believe he were a vampire if I were in her position? Probably not (although that's not to say it wouldn't occur to me, I've read way to many books like this).

My Blood Approves actually ended up being a relatively entertaining read. Twilight similarities aside there was enough of a difference that I think I may actually read the next in the series.

I award this book three stars out of five, I liked it, but it didn't blow me away in any sense of the word. As with Twilight this book is a pleasant piece of fluff, people bash it but it has it's place. Twilight convinced thousands (a conservative estimate) of teen girls to read and influenced the young adult book market for the better. This is obviously shaping up to be a popular read too.

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I liked this book. I enjoyed the storyline and the characters and although not completely unique in every way the author managed to bring the story to some new and unique places.

Before I got the book Amanda was awesome. She told me that she wouldn't promise that it would be mistake free. And it wasn't. But most of it wasn't that obvious to me. There were a few errors grammatically wise that I wouldn't have noticed much if I hadn't been aware that there would be some. The main things that bothered me were parts that I felt didn't quite flow or didn't match up. Sometimes I felt like maybe I had missed some details somewhere. But it wasn't often and for the most part it didn't bug me too much.

I did feel like smacking the main character several times. Alice just seemed a little too stupid at times. Like she knew something was up supernaturally with them but didn't figure it could possibly be that they were vampires. That bugged me a bit. But teenagers just are stupid (sorry guys, it's true. I was stupid too!). So once again although it bugged me a bit it certainly didn't make me hate the book or anything.

Most of the characters were pretty good but I really liked Alice's brother, Milo. He seemed the most real to me and the one I could visualize the best. I also liked Jack and thought that his personality was pretty great.

With the love interest... hmmm... I just didn't know where it was going until pretty far into the book. No, I take that back. We still don't know where it's going! But that's where the second, third and fourth(?) book come in. But I guess what I'm saying is that I didn't really 'feel' the connection right away. She had to actually come out and say it. But I got the feeling that that's just how Alice and Jack were. Personality wise.

I get sick of people always comparing books to Twilight. I pretty much think that is wrong, wrong, wrong. But here I'm going to do it. I admit I got a Twilight vibe from this. The setting is different. The vampires are different. There aren't werewolves (as far as we know so far). And the characters are different. This is no Twilight rip off. But the way Alice interacts with Jacks family gave me the Twilight vibe. And the way Alice handles everything reminded me of Bella and how she handled everything. I think that that might not really be a bad thing though... and Twilight fans might like this more because of that. There were other small things that reminded me of Twilight but I could be here all night if I really started nit picking everything to pieces.

Overall I enjoyed the story and things that may be considered 'mistakes' or 'poor editing' didn't take away from the overall feel of the book. I didn't have a hard time getting into it and I actually had a hard time putting the book down. I read it mostly all in one day. I'm actually quite anxious to read the next book! I skimmed the snippet in the back and now I really want to read it!

You can enter to win this book on my blog www.candacesreadingblog.blogspot.com through June 29th, 2010

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I enjoyed My Blood Approves, the introductory novel in the MBA series. If you like books involving hot young vamps and the pretty teenage girls they can't help but love, this book is for you.
Alice is a regular teen girl, who after an almost attack in a parking garage, meets Jack. She finds him attractive, but doesn't fall all over him like her slutty best friend Jane does. Her lack of interest in Jack, peaks his in her. As Alice and Jack start to hang out more, her attraction to him deepens. The I enjoyed My Blood Approves, the introductory novel in the MBA series. If you like books involving hot young vamps and the pretty teenage girls they can't help but love, this book is for you.
Alice is a regular teen girl, who after an almost attack in a parking garage, meets Jack. She finds him attractive, but doesn't fall all over him like her slutty best friend Jane does. Her lack of interest in Jack, peaks his in her. As Alice and Jack start to hang out more, her attraction to him deepens. There's just something about him. When he invites her to meet his family, Alice feels a closeness to them that she's never felt to her own family, except her younger brother Milo. Jack's brother, Ezra, and sister-in-law, Mae, are genuine and friendly, alhtough Jack's other brother, Peter, seems to hate her for no reason, despite the fact that she can't help feeling drawn to him.
As Alice and Jack's relationship continues to grow, Alice has a hard time reconciling her feelings for both Jack and Peter. She loves Jack, but aches for Peter when she is away from him.
When she discovers why she cares for Jack and his family so much, things become way more complicated.
That's all I'll go into for now, I don't want to give everything away. I found the voices of the characters to be authentic and age appropriate. I also enjoyed Miss Hocking's use of pop culture references. They put me in the moment without being cheesy or forced like they sometimes can be. ...more

Hum... I do like it but the vampires are not my type (only ever night vampires ;))

The book was really good and i really like Amanda's writing she has a lot of talent. But vampires are really not my type.

Hum... I do like it but the vampires are not my type (only ever night vampires ;))

The book was really good and i really like Amanda's writing she has a lot of talent. But vampires are really not my type.

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I have to mention before anything else that I really hate the title of this book. Even knowing the story it barely makes sense and it's off-putting somehow. I would have never picked it up (I know don't judge a book by it's cover) if a friend hadn't have suggested it and loaned it to me on Kindle.

Let's start with the things I didn't like so we can end on a good note. The book has a bad tendency to tell the reader brand names which is a pet peeve of mine. I really don't care that your characters are wearing Dickies pants or carrying an iPhone. Also those references don't hold up, my motto is write timelessly or your book has a short shelf life before seeming dated and weird. Also, I am fine with mentioning a song or two but literally every few chapters an artist and song are mentioned.

The mother was 34 and written like she was 94. She's haggard and tired and smokes and drinks Brandy like it's going out of style. She's described as old and Alice says she was vibrant "when she was young". Ummm... 34 is young, granted teenagers probably think that's old. But you can't write a 34 year old mom as old and gray and let's be honest at 17 years old you'd know your mom is younger than the typical mom as well. Idk, maybe this isn't a big deal but it bothered me.

Also, this book was pretty loose with a plot and a timeline. I sort of felt thrown in at an odd point in Alice's life. I also thought how she met him was quite weird and it all felt a little hurried to me. And if we're being honest the writing isn't the best.

Now the good- the story improved as it went on and the author found her stride somewhat. I also like that the girl's over the top obsession is explained as her blood being a match for theirs. At least it wasn't teenage melodrama alone that did it.

I also have a weakness for campy, ridiculous, teen paranormal romance. I can't help it. They take like two hours to read and require little to no brain power. Honestly, adulthood blows and it's nice to just get lost in a silly story for a couple of hours.

I gave it three stars because it seems like a good score when I'm torn between understanding this isn't high quality literature or anything remotely original and the fact that I read it in one sitting and will probably keep going for the rest of the series because I'm a sucker and I'll be borrowing it for free from a friend. So in my mind no harm, no foul because I'm losing nothing but some pre-sleep time.

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Originally posted at:

* This is a review of the audio book that was released in 2011. All the physical novels in this series have recently been updated. I don't believe the audio book narration has. Please keep that in mind while reading this review.

This book has not aged well and my younger self is very disappointed. I've also realized how my tastes in books have changed. I used to love eating up these superficial vampire stories. The difference is that now I know there are much better novel

Originally posted at:

It's a shame I had to start this series over a few years later for me to see an ending to it. I read this series when it was first releasing (2010). This book got involved in a bit of drama when it came to the conclusion of the series. Readers were, unfortunately, sending hateful emails to the author because they didn't agree with the direction she was taking the love triangle in, so the author ended up not concluding the series at the time. The last book in this series has finally been released. That's what spurred me into rereading this.

This time around I found myself on the complete opposite side of the love triangle. Then again, I couldn't care less about the heroine, but if I HAD to pick a side it'd be Jack. Jack is an all-around nice and geeky guy. He loves cracking jokes and rolls with the punches life seems to love to throw at him.

Peter is such a brooding and over the top *ss. I don't know what I once saw in him. He's controlling and seems to think he's an exception to every rule. I wouldn't want him next to me even if you paid me.

I had so many problems with Alice. She's a doormat, hates school and seems to be suicidal. I strongly believe in getting an education. She's so dense that it took Jack saying what he was to her face even after she had all the clues to figure it out herself. I wouldn't have minded what happened if this book were about obscure mythology that isn't a huge part of pop culture, but she had no excuses for not guessing vampire first. I also don't understand why her life, all of a sudden, revolves around this family. No one in their right mind would go over to someone's house for 3 weeks straight and not think to themselves "Maybe I'm imposing myself into their lives a little bit too much."

I'm aware that I'm being hyper-critical of this novel. That's due to the fact that I'm disappointed that even nostalgia couldn't make me overlook what I think are factors that could be improved on. At this point, I'm tempted to just skip to the last book, but I have barely any recollection of this series beyond the first book.

The Audio Book:

I only picked this up as an audio book because it was convenient for me (I was suffering from the common cold with allergies and blurry vision at the time of reading this book). Though this passed the time, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. There was barely any difference between male and female voices. I will say that the narrator's voice was very relaxing though.

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Before I read this book I read some reviews just to gt a better understanding of this book. I found that many of the reviews that I read talked about the grammatical errors and how this book is a total rip-off of twilight.

My Blood Approves is the first person narrative of 17-year-old Alice, a typical teenager who loves watching movies and hanging out with her friends and spending time with her younger brother, Milo. One night while out trying to sneak into bars using fake IDs with her best friend Jane, the girls end up in the wrong part of town. When Alice is attacked by a couple of older guys, the mysterious and charming Jack saves her life. Alice and Jane know nothing about this older guy, but he seems to know a lot about them.

Alice cannot stop thinking about Jack. Despite their age difference (he's 24), they have a lot in common and enjoy spending time with each other. But Alice's feelings for Jack become even more confused when she meets Peter, Jack's younger brother. She is drawn to Peter as well, but he seems to hate her. Her relationship with each of the guys becomes even more complicated when she learns that they aren't quite human. She is willing to do anything to be like them; even if it means sacrificing her own humanity.

Yes, there are a lot of similarities to Twilight, but the reading experience for me was not the same. For instance, I can't stand Bella, and I really like Alice except for when she is constantly whining. I wouldn't want to be friends with Bella, but I would enjoy spending a day watching movies and chatting with Alice. I can see the allure to both Jack and Peter and why Alice is conflicted, even though it's Jack that appears to own her heart. Each of the vampires drive fast cars like the Cullens, and there are parental figures in My Blood Approves that are very similar to Esme and Carlisle.

Then there's the matter of grammar and editing. Because of all the griping I saw about this, I expected that just about every page or maybe every paragraph would have something wrong with it. The book isn't flawless, but it's readable in its current state. I went into this expecting more issues than I actually came across. I think Hocking did remarkably well for herself with this title, but hope she'll be a little more choosy with future proofreaders.

I like Hocking's writing style, and I am proud to call myself a fan. I'm definitely finishing this series, and I'd love to give her other series a try as well.

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Alice Bonham is an ordinary seventeen year old girl living in Minneapolis, but one night she meets the funny and charming Jack and her life changes dramatically. Alice doesn't understand why she's so drawn to Jack or why she needs to see him all the time, and despite her insistent questioning of his weird lifestyle, she quickly becomes his best friend. And then she meets his family including his brother Peter, whom she feels inextricably drawn (lusty drawn) to. Alice knows they're supernatural.. Alice Bonham is an ordinary seventeen year old girl living in Minneapolis, but one night she meets the funny and charming Jack and her life changes dramatically. Alice doesn't understand why she's so drawn to Jack or why she needs to see him all the time, and despite her insistent questioning of his weird lifestyle, she quickly becomes his best friend. And then she meets his family including his brother Peter, whom she feels inextricably drawn (lusty drawn) to. Alice knows they're supernatural...but even she feels she might be going nuts when they tell her that they're vampires and she's meant to be Peter's soul mate.

My Blood Approves (love the title) is surely going to be compared to Twilight for obvious reasons but Hocking has a distinctive and edgy voice which I enjoyed. Hocking's narrative is completely addictive and the characters of Alice, Jack and Milo so incredibly likeable. I picked this up after reading the first in Hocking's Trylle series which is also brilliant.
Really great story, looking forward to the next in the My Blood Approves series.

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ok, maybe its me being too rude with this book but I just.. ugh.. I felt the girl was more stupid than Bella (wow), also i didnt felt attached to any of the male characters, i mean, how can you like a book when you dont like the characters!? One was too much sweet and the other one was so agrasive and rude! I really dont know how to say this, but I really hated this book. A friend was reading another Amanda Hocking book, and I just said nononono. I think thats all. Total waste of time.

I´m almost done with this one. Been up all night reading it but eventually went to sleep at 6am. Is it just me or should Alice really be with Peter in the end?!

Well I´m done with My Blood Approves. It was ok,I guess. Hope the second one will be better.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Technically my first Amanda Hocking read ever, and I picked it up not only on an Amazon Kindle recommendation, but also as a challenge to read ten titles within the vein of contemporary paranormal romance (i.e. unofficial Reading Challenge as of yet untitled - I'm not sure when I'll complete it, but we'll see). It was 0.99 cents, so I figured, you know what, I might as well wing it and read it to see what she has to offer. I've known about Hocking's success as an indie publisher, and respect her Technically my first Amanda Hocking read ever, and I picked it up not only on an Amazon Kindle recommendation, but also as a challenge to read ten titles within the vein of contemporary paranormal romance (i.e. unofficial Reading Challenge as of yet untitled - I'm not sure when I'll complete it, but we'll see). It was 0.99 cents, so I figured, you know what, I might as well wing it and read it to see what she has to offer. I've known about Hocking's success as an indie publisher, and respect her in writing and releasing her works in succession with the success she's had.

That said, let me start this review by saying that I think Hocking has a good flare for humor. I hope at some point I get to read a book from her where she has an emphasis on comedy/parody, because honestly I think she could make a fun story with some of the back and forth banter and references incorporated (albeit brief) in spurts within My Blood Approves. Honestly, if there were a little more of that, I probably would've enjoyed this book. Unfortunately, I found more cons than pros within the story. For one, and probably no surprise to people who have read many contemporary paranormal romance titles, it's highly derivative. I have the feeling if you like predestined/predetermined romances where the heroine tangles between two vampires who want her on different levels (and she quite actively "tempts" them), it may appeal because it's cut of the same cloth. Simple story, easy read for me in terms of flow and readability, though I do take issue that the writing is clunky in many places. To add to its cons, it succumbs to more cliches than a little bit.

"My Blood Approves" is written from the perspective of Alice, a young woman out with her friend Jane one night until Jane's caught in a precarious situation with a group of sketchy guys. Enter Jack with his "Real Men Wear Pink" shirt and distinctive clothes including Blue Converses to save the day. Never mind that I suspect he's a vampire - the first thought in my mind is "Holy crud, he wears clothes like that and listens to Weezer and Motion City Soundtrack - I think I might like this kid." Except he's not a kid at all, he's 24, but moving on...

So Alice and Jack start hanging out with each other and for me, that was a part of the book that I liked the most, even when the age difference slightly deters me a little. The two seem to have a natural chemistry and some of their interactions are genuinely funny. Case in point:

"You asked me what my angle was, so I said isosceles," Jack explained, looking down at me to make sure that he wasn't losing me in the crowd. "It's a triangle with two equal sides. I suppose that's not really an angle, and I would've said something like acute or obtuse, but I thought that would either sound like I was hitting on you or calling you stupid. I should've said oblique. That would've been good. Damn! I'm gonna remember that for next time."

To me, that was rather adorkable (adorable in a dorkish way), and I decided that I liked Jack. Hocking actually does well with Alice's character around that time as well, because she seems like a peppy, spunky person with a little brother who checks up on her every once in a while, and a mother who's difficult and distant in spurts, but seems to care about whom her daughter is associating with. Alice herself is well-humored, and I had it in my mind that this might be something different than the usual.

All things taken into consideration, Alice discovers that Jack isn't like other guys. (Lending the 80s references peppered through this book, if you got the reference from the previous line, I applaud you). But that's not this kind of story.

Jack's a babe magnet from the perspective of either sex (pending sexual orientation), he heals easily, and well...long story short - he's a vampire. It takes a bit for this to come across, and somehow, I'd think that Alice would've started putting the pieces together a little sooner, but the thought process she goes through is plausible for her character. And she goes through the motions trying to deal with this news. But when Jack's family comes into the picture, I think that's when the derivative factors start hitting home. Peter, Jack's "brother," seems funny in his introduction and there were moments where I thought his character would amount to more, but unfortunately, he never did. I hated his character, not just because of what he was, but because of how obvious of a contrast he was supposed to be to Jack and for the whole "predetermined" link he shares with Alice.

From that point on, I read to see where the story went, but Alice becomes a weepy mess, tempts both Jack and Peter to take her blood, and basically every character feels like they're drawn out in a melodramatic mesh that only has a few bright moments to shine from that point on with an ending that's supposed to be cliffhanger-ish, but the dangling threads bothered the heck out of me. I was thrown out of the story because the derivations were too strong for me *not* to be pulled out. I wanted to feel sorry for Alice, but I really couldn't, and while I still managed to like Jack's character, I didn't really understand Alice's attraction to Peter at all. I think it would've helped if Peter had a little more normal "screentime" to showcase his character, but it felt too one-sided. Peter was too much into the "I'm a bad influence, stay away from me vibe. I wouldn't mind if he had some more dark-humored moments and then transitioned into the dark-side persona that we see in spurts. Instead, it was way too obvious. Proper love-triangle this is not.

In the end, this probably won't be the last book I read from Hocking, but I don't know if I'll continue this series. I'm on the fence about it, and while I'll say the book wasn't terrible, it really wasn't good either. Still, there are sparks in Hocking's writing that tell me that she can do much, MUCH better than this.

Overall score: 1.5/5

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I ordered this book with great anticipation. Amanda Hocking is one of the main reasons that I decided to go the "indie" route as an author. The month that I was polishing querie letters to publishers, I decided to look on Amazon for what was hot in YA lit. And there was Amanda Hocking's name attached to six of the ten top selling books. Who is Amanda Hocking? I googled her, and found this amazingly witty blogger explaining her rise to success in the most humble fashion. I read her blog thoroughl I ordered this book with great anticipation. Amanda Hocking is one of the main reasons that I decided to go the "indie" route as an author. The month that I was polishing querie letters to publishers, I decided to look on Amazon for what was hot in YA lit. And there was Amanda Hocking's name attached to six of the ten top selling books. Who is Amanda Hocking? I googled her, and found this amazingly witty blogger explaining her rise to success in the most humble fashion. I read her blog thoroughly, and several blogs that she referred to, and decided to go the indie route too. She is obviously striking a nerve with the YA audience. So after months of working on indie publishing my own debut novel GRAY, I finally ordered her first two books. And my opinion...honestly, it's bland. I had to force myself to keep reading. Maybe its me. Obviously it is. But I didn't find myself addicted to the storyline like I've been told I would be. Maybe I'm too old for the story. I'm, after all, only a YA at heart. So the story didn't capture me, and the continual referece to bands and songs felt forced, as if the author wanted so badly to acknowldege groups she really likes, but I do have this to say: Amanda Hocking is awesome. She put herself out there, she continued to write, she found a way to be published, and she doesn't quit. AND...she completed not only one novel, but 19! It's easy for anyone to criticize, but she actually accomplishes things. She finishes work. And I know that I personally learned so much from writing my first novel, and I bet she did too. So will I read her second one? You bet. Because I'm confident that she gets better with each one. So although I didn't love this novel, I still adore Amanda Hocking for how she is a role model for us fellow indie writers. ...more

Apr 19, 2017 Aly rated it really liked it

I felt sorry for Alice being caught in between two great guys/vampires in this book. But I like Jack better so far. It was a bit confusing in the end to me but I am sure there are more books in the series. I felt myself comparing this book to Twilight a lot and there were not many similarities Amanda has made some interesting changes to her vampires. The book was ok and I am curious to read more in this series and see what Alice's decision is finally to be or not to be a vampire. I felt sorry for Alice being caught in between two great guys/vampires in this book. But I like Jack better so far. It was a bit confusing in the end to me but I am sure there are more books in the series. I felt myself comparing this book to Twilight a lot and there were not many similarities Amanda has made some interesting changes to her vampires. The book was ok and I am curious to read more in this series and see what Alice's decision is finally to be or not to be a vampire. ...more

AMANDA HOCKING is the author of over twenty young adult novels, including the New York Times bestselling Trylle Trilogy and Kanin Chronicles. Her love of pop culture and all things paranormal influence her writing. She spends her time in Minnesota, taking care of her menagerie of pets and working on her next book.

Several of her books have made the New York Times Bestsellers list. Her zombie series

Several of her books have made the New York Times Bestsellers list. Her zombie series, The Hollows, has been adapted into a graphic novel by Dynamite. She has published over twenty novels, including The Kanin Chronicles, the Watersong quartet, My Blood Approves series, the Valkyrie duology, and Freeks .

Her newest book is gothic romance written for adults called BESTOW THE DARKNESS.

For more info about her and her books, here are some other places to check out and ways to contact her:

Website: www.hockingbooks.com

Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/amandahocking

Instagram: instagram.com/amanda_hocking/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/aehocking

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/aehocking/

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