Ruined by Amy Tintera

Ruined by Amy Tintera

Published: May 3rd 2016 by HarperTeen

A revenge that will consume her. A love that will ruin her.

Emelina Flores has nothing. Her home in Ruina has been ravaged by war. She lacks the powers of her fellow Ruined. Worst of all, she witnessed her parents’ brutal murders and watched helplessly as her sister, Olivia, was kidnapped.

But because Em has nothing, she has nothing to lose. Driven by a blind desire for revenge, Em sets off on a dangerous journey to the enemy kingdom of Lera. Somewhere within Lera’s borders, Em hopes to find Olivia. But in order to find her, Em must infiltrate the royal family.

In a brilliant, elaborate plan of deception and murder, Em marries Prince Casimir, next in line to take Lera’s throne. If anyone in Lera discovers Em is not Casimir’s true betrothed, Em will be executed on the spot. But it’s the only way to salvage Em’s kingdom and what is left of her family.

Em is determined to succeed, but the closer she gets to the prince, the more she questions her mission. Em’s rage-filled heart begins to soften. But with her life—and her family—on the line, love could be Em’s deadliest mistake.

I was a bit wary going into this book because I have read books from Tintera previously which I didn’t enjoy. Whilst I mostly enjoyed this as a whole, I definitely had my issues with this book… so mixed feelings.

I think my biggest issue with this book was that, whilst I liked the characters and each individual voice, I lacked the empathy for them – so I wasn’t really affected when something happened to him. I think not caring about what happens to the characters takes away from the reading experience as a whole – it was more like the characters were acquaintances rather than friends.  I do feel like each voice was unique and each had their own story to tell, but I did struggle to empathise with them.

I did enjoy the plot! I loved watching the characters grow around each other and the way in which the relationships grew and changed throughout the book based on what was going on etc. There were times where I thought the plot was a little slow, but then something would happen and it would pick right back up again!

The ending was absolutely amazing! I was not expecting it to be so crazy… and Olivia! I don’t even know what to say about her! I think she is someone that I am probably not going to like very much throughout the series – but I am looking forward to seeing what she gets up to and just how far she is willing to go to get what she wants.

All in all, I enjoyed this book, but it definitely had its issues. I do feel like it missed that extra spark that made it amazing and I struggled to empathise with the characters. I gave this book 3.5/5 stars.