REVIEW: THE RELUCTANT SACRIFICE

Title: The Reluctant Sacrifice
Author: Kerr-Ann Dempster
Type: ARC e-book
Pages: 263
Published: 7th August 2015

This was a spectacular read!

Amarith was torn apart by sibling rivalry and the losers were stripped of their immortal birthright and banished to earth.  A prophecy has given the Amarithians hope. A child of Shaw born on the twelfth day of the twelfth month must be a willing sacrifice, and only then will the exiles be forgiven and welcomed home.

Aubrey Shaw is a Jumper, she can leap between bodies, which has assisted her and her mother to allude the Hawk Unit, led by her former love Joshua, but how many times can your soul be ripped apart and put back together again before you lose yourself?

This was an effortless read that I just couldn’t put down, every chapter had me on the edge of my seat wanting more. I was immersed in every part of this book, I loved reading about the present circumstances, and then being thrown back into the past in Aubrey’s dreams to gain insight about what lead them to where they are now. 

I loved Aubrey, she was such a real and normal girl.  She had so many hurdles to overcome and she did so with so much spunk. She was such a strong and resilient character, yet still had her own set of weaknesses. It was admirable that even after witnessing such a horrifying act of cruelty from her sister, she still try’s to see the best of things and lead a normal life. Aubrey enrols at school and quickly befriends Tessa who is the epitome of a best friend.

I admired how this story acknowledged how hard it can be to move past your first love, how it can make you willing to forgive such heart wrenching acts of betrayal. This is what made the relationship between Aubrey and Joshua so relatable.

Coy, how amazing is Coy! I love how he comes into the story surrounded in fog amidst chaos. He quickly became my favourite character! Coy is my newest crush – handsome and witty and yet not at all perfect like so many heart throbs are made out to be in YA fiction.

I relished that the connection between Coy and Aubrey grew slowly and stemmed from a mutual friendship and that they earned each other’s trust, it wasn’t just taken for granted. I also loved how Coy respected Aubrey’s feelings toward Joshua no matter what he thought of him.

This book was fast paced, full of action and not overly descriptive, which I find can sometimes makes you lose sight of what you’re reading.

Honestly, I did not find any downsides to this book, and I don’t know if I have ever said that before in my life! (Newest number 1 fan right here!!)

The only critique I could give it, is that I found a quite a few spelling errors, but that is expected in an ARC.

I would love more of this book, perhaps a prequel about the exile…

I have already raved about this book to anyone who would listen, and I will definitely be buying a hard-copy version of this one, an e-pub just isn’t enough.  I am looking forward to reading more from Kerr-Ann, who is now on my auto-buy list.

This is the type of author that has inspired my dreams of writing my own novel, I can only hope it is half as good as this one.

I was sent an ARC of this book directly from the Author in exchange for an honest review.