Destiny HawkinsCritiques

No rating. It just wasn't working for me, so I stopped reading it.

At first, I was honestly pretty meh on the book. Just a typical shifter romance with cookie cutter protagonists, yeah? But then, I did a quick search and realized Krystal Blue by Destiny Hawkins wasn’t such a typical shifter romance. Featuring a WLW romance, I immediately knew I needed to read this.

We open up to a pretty jarring set of scenes. Protagonist and story namesake Krystal is forced to run away from her foster home while love interest Alveya is being punished. This was a very weird set-up for me. It starts with alternating point of views but then completely drops it. I had imagined we would swap between both yet we stay with Krystal for the majority of the novel, only breaking away back to Alveya once more. The initial scene with Alveya doesn’t do anything spectacular to set up the story. What we learn as we go along is exactly what we learn from that opening scene. If it had been cut, the expectations would have made for a smoother ride.

Apart from the WLW romance, the story itself was fairly cookie cutter and unoriginal, though still enjoyable! Character doesn’t know her heritage. Is confused by things getting weird. Becomes new girl at school. Wow who are all these hot people??? Oh nooo, I’m a monster! Resolution. It was enjoyable, like I said, but were it not for the WLW angle, I doubt I would have given Krystal Blue much thought. Side characters were interesting and the hint of a deeper backstory gives just enough intrigue to make me want to pick up the follow-up in the series.

For anyone that is really looking for WLW paranormal YA stories that feel familiar, pick up Krystal Blue by Destiny Hawkins. For anyone in search of something new and refreshing, you might want to steer clear.

A complimentary copy of this book was voluntarily reviewed originally on The Book Rookery

This was a really good book but only wished it was a full length story instead of a novella because it ended with a huge cliffhanger. I was cussing the author until I noticed after the fact, that thankfully there is a second book. Going to read it asap...

I really enjoyed this story for someone to have went through so much its truly a great touching story

When I first started reading this book I had started asking myself what I had gotten myself into. I thought it would be possibly one of those books that you keep losing interest in and keep putting down. Wrong! I could not have been more mistaken.
I was hooked from the first page and that is due not only to the story line but the writer's compelling descriptive writing and wonderful character development.
Crystal has had a very hard life starting from when she witnessed her mother's murder. Moving from foster home to foster home where she encounters much violence, Crystal somehow manages to hold herself together and make her way to her dream of a higher education. She thinks she is a normal girl but there are hints that she may be different or as the reader learns, much more.
I love books where everything is not plainly written out but subtle hints are left for the reader to find.
I grew to like Crystal and admire her determination. I also liked how the character of Alveya developed and grew to also like her. There is a hint of LBGT and I appreciated how the subject was dealt with in a delicate and respectful way. Now I have to add another series to my "I have to read this now" list. I can't wait to continue the story of Crystal, Alveya and the strange world they live in.