Very descriptive. The world building is amazing and I enjoyed getting to know the characters. Very good

A gritty and gory thriller aimed squarely at the teen market is a difficult thing to pull of, and in this case I don't think the author quite succeeds.
Blood Will Out is the story of Ari, a teenage girl who wakes up to find herself alone and injured at the bottom of a cistern, with no idea how she got there. Determined to recover her memories and escape, she will carry out feats bordering on the super human. The big question is who put her there,and why?
On a positive note I liked the characters of Ari and her best friend Lynn, the relationship between them was fun and believable. However many of the other characters felt very clinched and there were a couple of far too obvious red herrings.
While the set up of the book was good, it seemed to me it lost its way a little in the middle,and I found the ending quite rushed , meaning the book did not quite live up to its potential for me.

Slow pacing and problematic storytelling make this an unlikely selection for mystery/thriller fans or for those looking to be introduced to the genre.

i don’t mean to sound nasty, but this is probably one of the worst books i’ve read in my entire life.

i don’t even know where to begin.

it wasn’t an enjoyable read, that’s for sure. it was barely even entertaining, and for a supposed thriller, and the definition of the word ‘thriller’ in all its forms (a novel, play, or movie with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage), this book was just a big old farce.

the writing was probably the worst part. i don’t know how this book made it past anyone’s desk with a sign of approval, or if Jo Treggiari’s editors and proofreaders were just flat out lying to her when they sent the manuscript back to her with positive feedback. from inconsistent, missing personalities and bland characters, to probably the worst metaphors i’ve ever encountered in any book ever, i took to highlighting some of the peak moments of this book. such as:

● “Slowly her prefrontal lobe threaded the memories together.”
● “He was close, near enough to smell the pond water in his hair.”
● “[...] just a few hairs curling around his nipples.”
● “Ditto, bitch goddess.”
● “You’ve been staring at Miranda for half an hour.” “Not Miranda, her boobage.”
● “She could smell something sweet and gassy, like rotten potatoes in a plastic bag.” (that is so BEYOND specific i have no idea what to do with myself)
● “[...] want to peel him like a green stick.” (?????????????????)
● “She jumped back about ten feet.”
● “Gwen had worked at the truck stop, when she wasn’t working at the bar, heh heh.” (YES THE “HEH HEH” WAS PHYSICALLY WRITTEN INTO THE FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW)

i don’t even want to get into the actual plot because it was so beyond boring that i don’t even think it’s worth it. i truly, honestly, didn’t care who was the killer. i didn’t care about any of the characters who were getting killed, either. and everything was so inexplicably predictable. the murderer’s pov chapters were maybe the silver lining of this book but in the end the person who was actually the killer turned out to be somebody who was so intrinsically irrelevant to the story that i was actually furious for a second there.

i know i said i don’t mean to sound nasty, and i don’t, but this book was truthfully a total waste of time.

I think I liked the idea more than the execution, but I did enjoy it, it just wasn’t my favourite. Also the constant flashbacks got a little grating, but I think it just wasn’t for me.

Ari Sullivan was kidnapped. She has no recollection of what happened to her in the last couple of hours. And when she manages to escape her temporal prison, the killer will be hunting her to make sure the memories stay lost forever.
Memory loss, kidnapping, assault – we’ve seen this many times before. So what makes «Blood Will Out» stand out from the rest of the books? I would love to say “great characters” or “unexpected plot twist”, but honestly – neither.
It was entertaining for as long as it lasted, and forgettable afterward. I would classify this as an “introductory level thriller” for teenagers that would love to dive into this genre. Ari Sullivan was portrayed as a reckless teenage girl, but then again, no thriller ever has a smart character who always stays out of trouble!

Title: Blood Will Out
Author: Jo Reggiari
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Publish Date: June 5, 2018 -- Soon!
Rating: 3.5-4ish out of 5
From: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Onto the Review:
What I liked:

!!!!(spoilers)!!!

Teenagers acting and seeming like teenagers. Stupid banter and stupid crushes. Connection with your best friend over everything else. Strength in wanting to keep you and your friend alive no matter what.

Adult themes that kids deal with that they shouldn't but they do - being attacked, gore, murder.

A lesbian character surviving to the end of the book. The loner kid who was seen as possibly the serial killer but turned out to be not the killer. That was nice to see. I was, "OH GREAT."

The adults kind of listening to the teenagers and accepting information given to them. There was a few bumps along that but it wasn't as annoying as it often is in YA.

The killer was slowly being pieced together as the story went along. For me, the language and the no noticeable gender talk help collect and figure out who it was along the way. What I liked was it did take longer for me to piece things together. I think having it focused on Ari and her thoughts helped distract me along the way.

What I didn't liked:

Focused a lot on her ideas of who the killer was. Yes, she did write a lot of names down trying to figure out who it was but still.. she still thought it was this one particular person. Yes, she doesn't know who tried to kill her, either, but shit.

Yes, she was stereotyping him and knew she was but god that was annoying part.

Since it all boils down to who is trying to murder her and her friend..we don't get a lot of character closeness the way you usually do in books. We know her and see her doing stuff but there's a wall between us and the characters.

Overall:

It was fun and so frustrating waiting for definite answer as to who the murderer was.

Recommend?:
If you are unable to watch TV or movies about serial killers .. wouldn't recommend. To everyone else who does, even enjoy these things...then go for it.

<a href="http://www.spoonsnbooks.com/2018/05/bloodwillout-netgalley.html">rest of review here</a>

A murder mystery / thriller that alternates perspectives between the killer and a teenage girl they've captured. The premise is interesting but it's a bit clumsily done; it's hard to tell when the killer's flashbacks are taking place (for a long time it seemed to me that "blood will out" meant that our contemporary murderer was a descendant of the narrating killer); and the final reveal is surprising only because I don't think enough was done to make it actually make sense.

The first half of the book describes how Ari Sullivan is trapped inside a cistern, not knowing how she got there. There are a lot of flashbacks providing glimpses into her life, her friends, and the time 'before'. Then suddenly, Ari manages to escape her creepy prison and step by step she is able to recount the events that lead to her imprisonment, realizing almost too late who is the abductor, and that the game has only just begun... Also interwoven with Ari's story are chapters telling the background story of her abductor, telling how he/she came to be the person he/she is now. After the usual misleads, Ari faces her tormentor in a final showdown.

I got to say I enjoyed the first half of the story, where Ari was trapped at the bottom of the cistern, trying to piece together what happened but still failing. Only after she leaves her prison things start getting downhill. Her first suspect was too obvious to be true, and the second best guess was also a diversion. However, I was disappointed when I found out who was behind it all. I hate when the reader has almost no chance to pieced it together on her own, and the culprit suddenly appears like a jack-in-the-box.

I often wonder about the YA category, which did not really exist at the time I was a teenager. What makes a YA novel different from a 'normal' novel? I often thought the level of brutality and gore should be lower, but that is not really the case here (not that I mind). Maybe the main characters should be young adults, to make it easier to identify with? That seems not enough to justify its own category, and there are great not-YA novels out there featuring teenagers. So what then is the point? I definitely can't find one here, other than the writing was mediocre at best, the plot wasn't really original if you've read your share of thrillers. Most of all, the outcome was disappointing because I missed a more comprehensible trace. Sadly, this is another example of a YA novel that makes me believe YA might just be a substitute for less ambitious books.

However, as I said before I did enjoy the first part, which earns this book a second star.

I received this book for free from #netgalley in exchange for a honest review

This book was not my favorite. I actually DNF'd it about half way through. It is your typical kidnapping where we as the reader are trying to find out who the killer is.

Also, there were a lot of grammar and punctuation issues. I don't really have a lot to say about this book since I DNF'd it. I just could not make myself read something I was not enjoying. I did give it 2 stars for the effort.

My Rating: 3 stars
Warning: Contains violence, very graphic scenes and animal abuse.

My Thoughts
We begin the story with the protagonist Ari trapped at the bottom of a cistern. I liked how the story brought you straight into the action, not knowing who did this or how it happened. It's a really interesting concept. I had a lot of questions swimming in my head and it definitely drew me into the story and made me want to read on. Ari had a lot of trouble recalling what had happened due to the huge trauma to her body and more importantly her head. I was really rooting for her and urging her to remember something, anything!

The part that really intrigued me was who the second point of view was - the perpetrator. From this angle, we saw into their head and also their past. How they became to be this way and the actions they took to get to the present. These scenes were very psychotic and very violent to say the least. I enjoyed trying to figure out who the perpetrator was from these parts, but while this really interested me, it was also very difficult to read at certain points due to the extreme content.

Here's my main problem with this book. It took way too long for the story to move on! The first 50% or so is switching between Ari in the cistern and the perpetrator. That's a very long time for nothing to happen. This also made the second half of the book feel rather rushed and a tad confusing at times.

Some of the characters didn't feel very real to me, especially Ari's parents. They didn't want to believe anything that Ari was saying and assumed she was having problems because of her head injury. Whilst I understand you would be concerned about her memories or lack of them, wouldn't you also believe your child? Especially when they keep repeating it? I don't know, it just didn't feel very genuine.

The ending for me was very lacklustre. I had all these guesses at who the perpetrator was from their POV and when it was revealed, I was a bit miffed. It didn't make a ton of sense to me and I was very confused. I was expecting this huge reveal and a battle to survive - what I got was a few pages of rolling around in the forest and a disappointing unveil - just meh.

It was a mostly enjoyable, if yet disturbing read and if you're a fan of psychological horror books then go for it.

I'd like to thank Penguin Teen and Netgalley for sending the book my way in return for an honest review.

Sarah xo

Ari Sullivan wakes up in the bottom of a cistern with no recollection of how she got there. Alone in the dark, suffering from a traumatic head injury and only flashes of memory, she begins to try and piece together the events leading up to her confinement. Until now, Ari had thought her life in the small town of Dempsey Hollow was pretty ordinary. Ari and Lynn, her best friend, are typical high school girls living a small town life. Somebody wants her dead and she needs to figure out who before they come back to finish the job.

I thought this novel was very well written compared to the many YA horror novels I have read. I feel that horror is a genre that is difficult to write because it won't appeal to all types of readers. Blood will out is old expression that means something along the lines of: a person’s character traits, passed down by blood (genetics), will eventually be revealed. I think was a very fitting title for this novel in regards to the serial killer. The book transitions between Ari trying to piece together the events leading up to her abduction and the killer giving a narrative of their traumatic childhood, experimentation with killing, and how they choose their victims. That being said this novel has topics that may not be suitable for everyone as they include graphic descriptions of abuse, torture, and murder (both human and animal). Although the subject matter is disturbing I believe that it ties into many of the beliefs surrounding what drives serial killers to do what they do. I would not recommend this novel to the younger end of the YA spectrum due to the topics covered. Some areas that could have been done better include: characters names, which were a bit untraditional for a small town setting and some of the verbiage which might not be understood by the target audience. Overall I found this novel to be entertaining and horrific, perfect for those lovers of dark horror.

The description made this book sound like a heart-racing thriller and I had to read it. But once I started, I wondered what I'd gotten myself into! I'm way too much of a scardey cat to read Stephen King, yet I'd let myself get pulled into a killer's head! It was both uncomfortable and gripping.

The first pages are raw with emotion and I felt like I was locked into a roller coaster clicking its way slowly up the big hill. I was past the point where I could go back. There was no choice but to grit my teeth and make it through the ride because I needed to know what happened.

The stakes are life and death, but what makes the book so powerful is that you read from both the victim's point of view and the killer's. That makes the danger all too clear, while Ari's point of view shows how unprepared she is for the situation she's in, heightening the tension. Twists continue all the way to the end. Prepared to be scared and disturbed!

The review will be posted on TheWingedPen.com on Tuesday the 8th.

This. Is. One. Creepy. Book.

First class horror at its best.

You need to have thicker skin to live through this unphased. I had to take constant breaks and slip a few episodes of FRIENDS or 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN for some laughs in between.

This book really is like SILENCE OF THE LAMBS for YA, I even think it's better than the movie because it's a book and everything seems so much closer and more realistic and you spend so much more time in a book than in a movie.

Also. DON'T READ THIS AT NIGHT, PEOPLE!

Thank you Netgalley for a copy (and nightmares) in exchange for my honest review.

This was a slow start for me. I'm not sure if it was my timing in reading this. Or if it was just a slower beginning for the actual book.

The characters were well developed and kept the flow going. After the first initial slow start that is. The pace was nice and steady. Perfect for this type of story.

The synopsis of this book really caught my attention and I was really excited to read it. However, I do have to say that I was fairly disappointed by the book. This is a fairly typical thriller; a girl gets kidnapped and then is desperately trying to get away from the kidnapper. This book was extremely slow and it just really dragged on. The beginning of the book was honestly the best part, as it actually did catch my attention.
This was compared to Silence of the Lambs, which is not accurate at all. I was also not a fan of the author's writing at all and the I felt like the first half of the book, nothing really happened. The story is told in the present tense, but we do get some flashbacks that tell some of the backstory. I read a lot of suspense or thrillers and this was just a really poorly written book. I also really don't like it when authors use words like insane when describing someone who actually had a mental illness. Insane is not a diagnostic term, nor is an actual mental illness. Now if you want to describe a character as a sociopath, that is an actual diagnosis. You have to be very careful when you are adding mental illness into a fictional book. Authors very rarely do it correctly.
Overall, I was not a fan of this book. The plot was extremely slow and boring and the writing was also not my favorite.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin, for sending me an ARC of this book.

I was not impressed and don't feel it's appropriate to post a review on either blog.

What type of crap is this? Such an interesting title for a book but nothing to do with the story. The MC (Ari?) wakes up in well or something like that because she has been kidnapped. From there, up to 40% where I could manage to read, NOTHING happens.

Nobody is lookinh for her. Hell, nobody even knew she was missing. Pages go on and on about Ari remembering her life and back to the present to "where am I?"

Back to remembering happy timea with friends and shit. Back to the same hole and shit. Back to remembering... you see my point. I could not continue torturing myself with story.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

This book was nothing like I expected. Blood will out starts with Ari Sullivan, trapped and fearful. The killer is coming back for her. How did she get here? How does she escape? Eventually bloodied, bruised she managed to free herself. But nothing is as it seems as the killer wants her dead at any cost. Her best friend disappeared, her crush and a creepy loner guy all in same month. With a race against the killer and a fight for Ari's life, will she survive? This book alternates her point of view and the killers. It is hard to follow, know who is speaking. Overall not a bad read, just way too much blood and I didn't connect with any characters. Plus killer was way too obvious. 2/5.