It's a three patch problem.

I'm really torn about what I think about this book. I started it and couldn't stand what I was reading, and I seemed to be rolling my eyes at every other sentence. I just found it to be completely absurd, and almost stopped reading altogether.

The characters seemed ridiculous. Travis was much too possessive, and I was constantly thinking Abby, what on earth are you DOING, being with a guy like that?! He didn't let her live her own life, he wouldn't let her make her own decisions, and he literally threw a tantrum if he didn't get his own way. And Abby, well, she seemed really quite flat. She was nothing like the synopsis leads us to believe, either.

But despite this, I must admit there were moments when I didn't blindly hate what I was reading. Guess I'm just drawn into the dramatic plots. It became kind of a guilty pleasure at times because I did quite like the dramatic turns of their (very unhealthy) relationship when they were thrown into different situations.

The ending almost threw me right down into giving this a 1 star review though. I HATE the ending. It's so cheesy and pathetic, the whole Vegas thing was just... and the tattoo thing... pfft, what on earth happened there?! The rest though, based on the goodreads star rating system, was simply... okay. So, I guess it's getting 2 stars from me after all.

I've had these books sitting on my shelves for a while, and even though I've already read them (years ago!) I couldn't for the life of me remember anything about what happened.

Except one thing: That the books were kind of... awful.

But I thought I'd give them a second chance anyway. And so, I picked up Marked. And within the first PAGE, I already couldn't stand Zoey. She's the sort of character who every other character seems to fall in love with for no clear reason whatsoever. The number of times she insulted other people was astonishing. Even I feel insulted! And yet, everybody continues to shower her with praise. Because she's "special". Heh, yeah.

Something that really got on my nerves was the consistant mentioning of how 'attractive' everyone was. As if that's all that matters in a person. Doesn't matter who they are, but if they're unattractive, or even if they have 'bad hair', then Zoey is instantly prejudiced against them.

One line that stuck out to me was when Neferet first appeared in the book. Zoey described her hair as "deep red, not that horrid carrot-top orange-red". Me, as a person with - oh, well would you look at that! I happen to have this 'carrot-top orange-red' hair myself! - sitting here and reading this... Well, let's just say I wanted to throw this book into a raging fire. Thank you for offending a selection of your readers.

But, you know, I will continue to read the series. I have low expectations, but I won't give up just yet.

This was so, so close to getting the perfect 5 star rating. I don't know what it was exactly, but there was something about a few parts of the book that I couldn't visualise well enough, and so I had to knock off a star.

That does not at all mean that I enjoyed this book any less though. I absolutely adored it! I fell in love with every character almost instantly, and the relationships between them was wonderful. There were plenty of moments where I laughed out loud, which is quite a rare thing when I'm reading! So that made me love this book even more.

The cliffhanger at the end was just cruel. I got past the last page and then was like, where's the rest?! What happens next?! Nooo!

Safe to say that I am eagerly awaiting the next book. Really looking forward to finding out what happens with everybody and what direction the story takes!

Absolutely loved this book! I have yet to find anything that compares to how this book made me feel. Partway through reading I could tell it was going to be an instant favourite.

After a tricky start I found myself completely absorbed in what was going on with each character. Something I found really interesting was the change in language in each section, as it was beautifully done and really helped to set the scene.

It's not an easy read, and I did find myself struggling with it a few times, but I felt it was well worth it in the end. I definitely look forward to re-reading it one day!