Confessions of a Literary Addict

This book review is spoiler-free!

This book was received in exchange of an honest review.

Black Five by J. Lynn Bailey
Series: Yes, author has stated there will be another.
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Release Date: November 2015 by Poorhouse Publishing
Format: ebook, 400 pages
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Find it here: Goodreads

No one ever accused Penelope Jackson of being normal, nor did they suspect the dark secret she kept. A dangerous web of deceit and secrecy unravels when news of a stranger’s death puts Penn on a collision course with the very person she’s been hiding from her whole life. Her fragile world is shaken to its core with the sudden arrival of Vacavious and she soon discovers the bizarre and magical world surrounding her seemingly ordinary life.
No one is who they claim to be, including those closest to Penn. A mysterious security detail emerges from the shadows scrambling to protect her as powerful forces await the fall of her protective veil on her eighteenth birthday.
Penn prepares to fight against unseen evils before it’s too late. The world of Nighmerianotte and its population depends on her survival, for she is the Sanguine, the Black Five.

Let’s just start this off with the one thing I had so much trouble with while reading this book: I could not get myself into the story. In fact, thanks to some issues reading a font that’s in the story, I was lost on a few parts of the story while reading it. Like many books that get two stars from me, I liked the idea of what the book was going to be about, I just didn’t like the execution. For Black Five, however, it went a little further; I didn’t quite like much about the book and it was more of a 1.5 star rating for me, if I did partial stars normally.

There were parts of the story that I really did enjoy, but all of these points that I liked were found closer to the end of the book itself than I would have liked. I didn’t really enjoy the characters, I was confused a lot of the time about Penn’s feelings towards things and wondering why she would flip back and forth after seemingly being so solid on what it was she was feeling at the time. Maybe it’s because she’s a teenager? I’m not sure, but I disliked Penn quite a lot. Kendra I liked, she was possibly my favorite character out of the whole thing, but, despite having a lot of “screen time”, she wasn’t able to save the story for me.

Finally, I had some trouble with the writing-style of the author. Maybe I’m picky and like to stick to a certain kind of prose (plausible), but I just wasn’t feeling Bailey’s writing. Like I said before, I had a lot of trouble getting into everything as a whole. It might be a totally different experience for other people (rather, I’m positive it is), but for me, it just wasn’t cutting it. Give it a go yourself, don’t take my opinion as the end-game for this! I just didn’t personally like it much.

The cover is fantastic, though. I love it so much.

That’s all for this review. Thanks for reading and see you in the next one!