So, I still honestly don't know exactly how I feel about Love Is Red. If you love a book for the first three-quarters of it, and then are completely baffled at the ending, how does that translate? I can definitely say that this is an interesting read. Whatever you might be expecting, I doubt very much you'll walk away from this book without being surprised.

Love Is Red alternates chapters from the point of view of Katherine, our "Vessel", and this mysterious serial killer who is more than what he seems. It becomes apparent quite quickly that this evil is more entity than man. He can see into the minds of others. Read the "colors" that they give off. Truth be told, I was more entranced by our killer than Katherine. His descriptions of the way colors feel, and smell, was gorgeous. His chapters were brilliantly written, and fascinating.

Katherine's point of view, on the other hand, felt very underwritten. Her thoughts were scattered. She felt hollow, vapid, and sometimes flighty. The only true thing I felt about her was that she really loved Lucas. Everything else felt manufactured to push this story along. I suppose, in a way, that's almost fitting. Since she's supposed to be an empty vessel? Still, I couldn't quite wrap my head around her choices, and it made it hard to feel anything for her.

Now plot wise, this book started off quite stellar. Quick moving, I could only watch in horror as the plot led me from one unfortunate victim of our killer, straight on to the next. I watched as he wooed them. As he stalked them. It was terrifying and intriguing. I thought I had pinned who he actually was and, as it turns out, I was so very wrong. Sadly, as I mentioned above, the last quarter of the book was maddeningly unfinished. I felt like nothing was really tied together. It was as if the author remembered that there were more books to come, and so decided to just leave everything undone. Not nice. I have so many questions, and I'm not happy about it.

For the simple fact that this book did give me a lot of great reading time, I'll offer up three stars. I also truly believe that the writing in the chapters told by the killer are well worth your time. The writing is gorgeous, and not to be missed. Just be warned, you might be a bit angry at the ending. ( )

Combine horror and paranormal with the fantasy genre and you have this fast-paced thriller. A NYC serial killer is on the loose. Katherine is having trouble sorting our her feelings for two men. She is having terrible dreams. But are they really dreams? There will be a sequel so make mental note of the clues left in this volume. My thanks to the author and Goodreads for a complimentary copy. ( )

On the surface, this has everything one would expect I would love. It has a touch of horror, suspense, and fantasy/occult on top of the murder mystery elements. Yet, several weeks after finishing it, the story is a distant memory. This is highly disappointing because I seem to remember liking it at the time. I do recall not being surprised by the ending as much as I wanted – the red herring was not so red. At the same time, there is the lingering confusion which one hopes is a direct result of unanswered questions because it is a series and not because the author failed to execute. Overall, I would love to be able to recommend it, but the faint remnants of the story make me reconsider the wisdom of doing so.

A serial killer is terrorizing New York City. Young women are found murdered in their apartments with symbols carved on their bodies. There are no signs of forced entry and very few clues left at the scene. However, these murders are just a warm-up. His real target is Katherine, a young writer that lives in the city. He is no ordinary killer, but a supernatural entity who has returned after several centuries to fulfill a prophecy and will not stop killing until he has achieved his goal. Meanwhile Katherine is unaware but has been having disturbing dreams and visions.

At first this appears to be a murder mystery, but it’s actually a blend of genres. In addition to being a suspenseful thriller, it also has elements of horror, fantasy, and the supernatural. The story is told using alternating viewpoints with Katherine narrating in the first person and the killer using the second person. Second person narrative can be difficult to pull off, but I thought it worked well as we got a glimpse into the disturbed mind of the killer.

This was one of those books that I knew I was going to like right from the start. It’s creative and different and defies classification. And it’s scary, dark, and a little erotic too. Reading it alone at night gave me the creeps. It’s also a book where the less detail you know going into it, the more interesting it is. The author parcels out bits and pieces of the puzzle to keep the reader guessing about the identity of the killer, although early on will be pretty obvious to most that it must be one of two people. The mystery wasn’t what kept me engaged, it was the suspense.

This is book one of a trilogy, but it works as a stand alone story, although some questions are left unanswered for still-to-come books two and three. If you’re looking for something different, give this one a try. ( )