ARC Review and Giveaway: The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3) by Julie Kagawa @Jkagawa @HarlequinTEEN

Blurb from Goodreads:
VENGEANCE WILL BE HERS
Allison Sekemoto once struggled with the question: human or monster?
With the death of her love, Zeke, she has her answer.
MONSTER
Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren, the psychopathic vampire who murdered Zeke. But the trail is bloody and long, and Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions—her creator, Kanin, and her blood brother, Jackal. The trail is leading straight to the one place they must protect at any cost—the last vampire-free zone on Earth, Eden. And Sarren has one final, brutal shock in store for Allie.
In a ruined world where no life is sacred and former allies can turn on you in one heartbeat, Allie will face her darkest days. And if she succeeds, triumph is short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.

Title: The Forever Song (Blood of Eden, #3)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Expected Publication Date: April 15, 2014

The Cover Contessa's Review:

From the first chapter of the first book in this series I was hooked! I mean, who doesn't like a compelling heroine, faced with inscrutable odds, wielding a katana? So, given the opportunity to read the last book in this series, which feels like it's taken forever to come out, I jumped at the chance. I want to thank Net Galley and Harlequin Teen for providing me with an early ecopy of this book to read and give an honest review. Receiving this book for free has in now way influenced my opinion or review.

So, I truly love the color of this cover. While I'm not a huge fan of the fact that they changed the covers (I know the UK ones still have the girl on the front!), I do love Purple. I do get the bird reference, makes sense seeing as how Sarren calls her "little bird", but I still think there could be more to them. I suppose the books are really so great they hold their own, no matter the cover. But if I didn't know this series, I can't say the cover would pull me in right off the shelf.

I cannot promise there will not be spoilers for book 1 or 2 in this review so if you haven't read those, STOP HERE! You have been warned!

This book picks up right where the second one left off. Allie has given in to her monster, after having lost Zeke to Sarren and his torture. She has joined forces with Kanin and Jackal (who would have thunk it?) and wants to exact her revenge.

Allie continues to be the most kick butt female YA character I have EVER met. She's the reason I wanted to continue on in this series. She's snarky and crude. But she also has a heart that she can't deny, despite the fact that she has vowed to give in to her monster and do what she must do. She starts out introverted and angry at the world when the book starts. She kicks the butts of rabids throughout the book, with a vengeance she didn't have prior. Allie's pain is palpable throughout the book. I wanted to cry for and at the same time shake her back to her senses! She really had me worried that her humanity was lost forever. And I just would not have been able to handle that! But do not despair, Allie truly never gives up hope, and is determined to "save the world" despite her brooding!

As for Kanin, WOW! There is so much growth between his relationship with Allie in this book. It's fantastic. He truly becomes her father figure and helps her to embrace who she is and what she is. He helps her to understand she doesn't need to be the monster everyone thinks she is, that she can choose her own path and make her own destiny. Of course he has been doing this from the start, but it's so much more prominent in this book. I love how quiet he is because when he does say something, it's truly needed. And he probably has the biggest heart of all, despite his seeming cold on the surface.

Jackel, oh Jackal. How I fell in love with his character in this book, when previously I just wanted to cut his head off. He's still snarky and a jerk, and terribly cocky. BUT you see his fondness of Allie grow, which is amazing. And in the end he truly takes her on as a sister, even though he stays rough around the edges in her interactions with her. He's still self-centered and cares most about himself, but you certainly see that he has potential. One thing about Jackal, he's brutally honest and doesn't hold back. I think that helps with kicking Allie's butt into gear so she can get the job done! I would love a novella from him!

As for the plot and pacing, WOW. Julie just has this knack for keeping you on your toes for the entire book. I can say the one thing that bothered me was how many times they fought with the rabids. Did I understand the need for them to have these show-downs, I sure did. But it just seemed like the rabids waited around every corner and it was always the same: rabids came charging in at them, they swung their blades, cut off some heads and other body parts, and then they were all down and Allie, Kanin and Jackal won again. I would have liked to see them take a little more of a hit. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they made it out every time without injuries, but it just felt a bit repetitive.

Despite that, the story as a whole was spectacular. I loved the journey Kanin, Allie and Jackal went on and their progression as a family. I loved the banter between Jackal and Allie, especially. There's nothing like a kick but heroine being stomped on by a cocky headed brother! And the world building in this book continues. We know that the places outside of Eden have been decimated, but we also get a look inside Eden, and believe me you will be surprised. Julie takes us back to places we have been before and re-introduces us to characters we loved and missed. She also adds surprising twists which made my heart skip a few beats!

I can honestly say that this book is one of the best conclusions to any series I have read. Initially I was worried about how it would end. I was worried that I would be jumping into another book where my heart was crushed to pieces. But, while there are certainly teary parts that made me want to scream NOOOOOO, I think Julie knew how to keep her readers happy. I loved how it ended, I was totally satisfied with where Julie took the characters and their growth. I was immersed in the world never wanting to leave. She made me laugh, she made me cry, she made my heart jump up into my throat. All things I love in a book as they are what keeps me wanting to read on!

I cannot wait to read Talon and be immersed once again in Kagawa's writing. She is truly genius!

Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.

When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon.

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