A little bit melodramatic for my taste and I really wanted more character depth, even in the end, the love interests didn't seem that much different to me. ( )

This review was originally posted on Bookish Things & MoreQuickie Review
This will be a quickie. I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely different, and I love how mythology is woven into the story.

Kris takes everything in with ease, even though I’d be completely freaking out. She is thrown into this new world without really knowing what is gong on. She doesn’t know who she’s supposed to trust. I love that she never gives up, and always fights her way through something if she can.

There is some romance, but it doesn’t take away from the story. I love how it’s just sprinkled throughout the book. You know Kris has feelings for a certain someone, and even though she complains about how he doesn’t notice her, she doesn’t let that take away from trying to figure out what is going on.

I'll definitely be continuing on with this series.
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3.5
I was pulled right into the story with its increasingly surmounting unanswered questions. At several points during the book, I was worried that too many questions were piling up. There are so many loose ends to be tied up and I was sincerely worried that there are too many coincidences to be believable. But Ms. Dantone came through with a mega-whopper at the end, which made it all worth-while.

I’m happy to say that I was rewarded for my patience. Many – if not nearly all – of my questions were answered. Many of the presumed coincidences also turned out not to be coincidences, which was a relief.

Considering this is the first book in a trilogy, I have great hopes that my still outstanding questions will be answered in due course and that loose ends will be tied up.

I will discuss some of the concerns that I have and questions left unanswered below:

(BEWARE: SPOILERS!)

It is too much of a coincidence that out of the 7 billion people on the earth, it just happened – by chance – that the super-hybrid was chosen as a random human to be saved. Was it a coincidence? I hope further development of the story proves it not to be.

I also had a few problems swallowing the believability of our protagonist’s actions.

Unconvincing was – to me – how long Kris is willing to wait for answers that she knows Nathan has. She keeps retreating to the argument that she won’t get any more answers out of him tonight, so she just gives up. The questions are too pressing to go one more week, night, hour, or even one more minute.

I understand the author wants to build up the suspense with a flurry of unanswered questions, which will be revealed in good time (or all at once in a banger finale) – and I absolutely love stories like that. The Harry Potter books are developed brilliantly in this manner. Every answer to an unanswered question reveals several more unanswered questions, all of which are interconnected, and then are finally revealed in a mind-blowing climax.

In the case of the Harry Potter mysteries, Harry runs into a brick wall in his search for answers, so we, the readers, run into a brick wall too. Harry doesn’t know where to get the answers to his questions, so the search continues.

The difference in “Ignited” is that Kris knows that Nathan has many of the answers she is looking for – urgent questions pertaining to life and death issues, but she is simply willing to wait for the answers because… why? I’m not sure. Because she is scared of Nathan? So that the reader is not offered too much at once? It seems to me like an artificially implanted tool used to create suspense, but which doesn’t come naturally out of the story line.

Considering that Nathan could be killed at any moment, and that he is almost killed multiple times, it is unbelievable that Kris would put off pressing him for answers for even one more moment. It is understandable that he can’t or won’t answer her questions while they are running for their lives, or fighting off danger, but during the many, many hours that they are simply walking, or hiding out in the cabin, it is unconvincing that Kris doesn’t make a full-fledged effort to pry out of Nathan the answers to questions that are of existential pertinence to her life. Who is she? Who is trying to kill her? Why are they trying to kill her? Who is she to Nathan? Who is Nathan? Why is he constantly trying to protect her? Kris asks Nathan each question once. He refuses to answer or gives a partial answer. She doesn’t ask again (until much later in the story).

Similarly, after Kris reconnects with Alec, he tells her straight off that he has answers she is looking for – but he will tell her tomorrow. So she climbs into bed with Nathan. Huh? I had to do a double take. I reread the passage several times to be sure that I really understood it right. She doesn’t demand answers? She gives Alec a bunch of information he is looking for, but is perfectly happy to wait until morning until he answers hers? These are not small questions. People are trying to kill her left and right! Even the people she has been led to believe are on her side are trying to kill her!!! The way things are going for her, they could be attacked again and Alec could be dead by morning. She should be demanding answers immediately!

It bothered me as well that Kris doesn’t ask Alec and Callie what happened to Gran. When we learn that Alec and Callie have been at Kris’s house to get clothes and toiletries for her, the first question that I as a reader asked was: Did you see Gran? Was she alright? If Gran wasn’t there, did it look like she had been there recently? Did the house look like it did the night Kris left (trashed after a battle), or was it cleaned up? Were there any signs that Gran was still alive? But, alas, the book ends without any clarification as to Gran’s fate whatsoever. We assume that she died, but we don’t know for sure. After living with Gran for six years, it just seems unbelievable that Kris would not even care enough to ask.

And why would Kris simply take Nathan’s word for it that the Kala are good and the Skotadi are bad? Alec just saved her life and the Kala tried to kill her! Isn’t that cause enough for a reevaluation of Nathan’s interpretation of good and evil?

I was torn between giving this book 3 or 4 stars – I reserve 4 stars for books I really love and 5 stars for books that blow my mind. Since I breezed through this story without a moment’s hesitation, and since it kept my interest throughout, I will give it a 3.5 star rating and hope that the trilogy continues to keep my interest and answer my questions.
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17 year old Kris lost her family in a devastating murder when she was younger and now must endure the hardships of losing her best friends in a horrible car accident in which she survived. However her survival isn’t based on luck, but rather the rescue from a mystery man whom throughout her years has always showed up in the face of danger. When Kris meets with a charming yet seemingly dangerous boy, she is thrown into a world of gods and demigods and a century old battle between good and evil.

Greek mythology really interest me and I loved this book’s unique take on it. Kris was a relatable character as I think her reactions towards discovering a secret world where realistic and understandable. Nathan was a little frustrating but I love a tortured man. Kris and Nathan’s chemistry had me smiling like an idiot and their witty banter kept me fully entertained.

I usually stay well away from love triangles but in this book the romance was kept light and acceptable and didn’t make me want to roll my eyes or pull out my hair. I lost some interest around the middle of the book but the pace soon picked up and I was pleasantly surprised with the twist in the end.

‘Ignited’ was a very enjoyable read and look forward to continuing the series. ( )

Kris is seventeen-years-old and has had a mysterious guy (Nathan) looking over her and saving her from dangerous situations for most of her life. He most recently saved her life after a car accident that killed two of her friends.

While recovering from the devastation of losing two of her friends in the car accident, a new boy (Alec) comes to her school and they become friends. He brings her out of her depression and an attraction grows between them.

While leaving a party one night, Nathan shows up and challenges Alec. They appear to know each other. They fight. Later, Kris and Nathan are attacked. He takes her off to a safe house in the middle of nowhere while being chased by more of the attackers who appear inhuman and have some relationship to Alec. During all of this and through the rest of the story, Kris is learning slowly about who/what Nathan is as little bits and pieces are revealed. She will also discover something unexpected about herself. Alec pretty much disappeared from the story after the fight then shows up again at about 70% into the book

Kris did a lot of blushing/flushing/burning of the cheeks. There was also a lot of crying, near crying, holding back tears, wiping of tears. She has a lot of doubt about whether Nathan is just an ass in general or if he is acting that way because he actually likes her but doesn’t want to deal with it for some reason (ya think?). Kris isn’t a kick-ass heroine but I didn’t expect her to be. She was, so she thought, just a normal teenager (albeit with a mysterious guardian) suddenly thrust into a situation where her life is threatened and she is being chased by some type of nonhuman beings. So the crying part didn’t get to me that much but the blushing was a little annoying after awhile.

Nathan was very distant, grumpy, arrogant, bossy, etc. but he also had those more tender moments when you knew he was being a jerk because he actually cared for Kris but was trying to distance himself from those emotions because of their complicated relationship. He is not immortal but ages very slowly so he appears to be only in his early twenties. He has watched over Kris since she was a child. Kris is now seventeen and Nathan has now developed deeper feelings for Kris. They do discuss this briefly at the end of the book so I was glad to see that the issue wasn’t just swept under the rug.

Alec had a more carefree personality. He doesn’t hold back his feelings like Nathan or hesitate to make his feelings for Kris known. In the earlier part of the book when he first appears you got the sense he was struggling with a choice, but you didn’t know if he was really the bad guy or not. At least not initially.

The whole dynamic between Kris, Nathan, and Alec felt very similar to the Stephanie, Morelli, Ranger triangle from the Stephanie Plum series. You have two guys attracted to the same woman. One is more of a safe choice and one is more of a bad boy choice. They don’t like each other but are willing to work together when they need to in order to keep her safe. And of course, there is that constant question of who will she choose? Much like the Plum series, this was not resolved by the end of the book so it will probably continue in subsequent books (but hopefully not as long as the neverending Plum series!)

A big chunk of the story takes places at a safe house in the woods somewhere and this part got a little slow. There was enough happening to stick with it but I was glad when the story started moving forward again.

My Nitpicks –
- There was an inconsistent spelling of gray/grey. This is the second book in row where I have seen this. Seriously, is it that hard to do a search and replace? I’m considering the instances of grey to be the typos since the author appears to be American and I don’t know which spelling was intentional.

- As noted above, there was much blushing, flushing, and burning of the cheeks – at least twelve instances, but there may have been more instances described with other language. It was a very repetitive behavior for Kris so it eventually got annoying.

- Callie, Kris’s best friend, didn’t appear fazed at all by any of the events she witnessed even though she doesn’t know what is going on when most of it is happening, and she is human, unlike Nathan, and Alec. She should have been freaking out at least a little. She just went with the flow no matter what happened. Guy bleeding from multiple stab wounds in the back seat.. no problem. BFF looks like she was beaten up….no problem. Can’t go to the hospital or they will be discovered… no problem. Explosions…no problem. People chasing them…no problem. Leaving school and family to go on the run with her BFF and two hot inhuman guys… no problem.

- There were a couple of grammar blips that jumped out at me, such as: “That had been Nathan and I’s question from day one”. I’m not a grammar expert, but ... really? I’s? There was also another instance of “Nathan and I” used incorrectly. Overall, I don’t think the grammar was an issue, just a few instances that jumped out at me.

- There were also a couple of descriptions that sounded awkward and some scenes that didn’t make logical sense to me like when Kris is supposedly tied to a chair yet is able to reach out and take some pills from someone and then put them in her mouth. If she is tied to a chair for interrogation, wouldn’t her hands be tied down?

- When Kris and Nathan get to the cabin, they walk in and immediately have electricity and hot water. Um, okay. Let’s see. Cabin in the middle of nowhere. Where is the electricity/hot water coming from?

There is a romantic triangle and an ending/romance that isn’t resolved. I was told this was a paranormal romance. Um, no. There was no HEA, no I Love You, no resolved ending. Not. A. Romance. Call it a Romantic Urban Fantasy or call it a Paranormal Romantasy, but call it a Paranormal “Romance” and I will have the usual genre expectations of a romance…one of which is an HEA in *this* book.

With that said though, I can live with the ending (yes, I’m just that fickle). I mean, yeah… I didn’t get an HEA and was ticked off about that, but it is not a huge cliffhanger that leaves everything up in the air. The story for this particular book felt sufficiently addressed while setting up the overarching story for the series. The romantic triangle is established but for some reason it didn’t bother me. I think there is some opportunity here for some interesting and even humorous interaction between Alec and Nathan.

So, overall, despite some issues I had, I can say I liked the story. I didn’t love it, but I liked it. We find out what Kris, Nathan, and Alec are but it was a slow reveal so it keeps you guessing for awhile. I liked the hybrid demigod angle of the story. Their mission, so to speak, for the continuing series is established. Enough questions are answered that I can feel satisfied to wait for the next book. As long as each book follows some type of arc and has some resolution to what is happening in that book, then I would keep reading this series.

Heat Level: Mostly Sweet – there was some kissing but that’s it. (I do wonder if the heat level will go up in future books when Kris turns 18.)

Cover Art: I like the cover art. It changed from the initial release but I like them both. I’m not sure of the significance of the title, Ignited. It implies to me that there is something to do with fire in the book, but nobody had that type of power.

Word Count: approx. 86,000 (Novel)
Kindle locations: 4766 (story text ends at 99%)
Print Length: 342 pages
Ebook includes a Table of Contents

(Honest review requested from author. Review copy obtained on my own from a free promo day) ( )