Book Review: Salt by Danielle Ellison
BookCrushin was really interested in Salt by Danielle Ellison when we participated in the cover reveal. The blurb was a definite hook, line & sinker! So when Entangled Teen reached out and asked if we wanted to review the book, I quickly responded. Below you will find all the book information, purchase links, my book rating and a spoiler-free review. Hope you enjoy!
Salt (Salt #1) by Danielle Ellison
Category: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
Publication: January 7, 2014; Entangled Teen
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, iTunes
[book rating=4.0/5.0]
Penelope is a witch, part of a secret society protecting humans from demon attacks. But when she was a child, a demon killed her parents—and stole her magic. Since then, she’s been pretending to be something she’s not, using her sister’s magic to hide her own loss, to prevent being sent away.
When she’s finally given the chance to join the elite demon-hunting force, Penelope thinks that will finally change. With her sister’s help, she can squeeze through the tests and get access to the information she needs to find “her” demon. To take back what was stolen.
Then she meets Carter. He’s cute, smart, and she can borrow his magic, too. He knows her secret—but he also has one of his own.
Suddenly, Penelope’s impossible quest becomes far more complicated. Because Carter’s not telling her everything, and it’s starting to seem like the demons have their own agenda…and they’re far too interested in her.
Spoiler-Free Review:
Salt was a fun & entertaining read! I really enjoyed it. It had mystery, magic, action and romance. What else do you need? Well this one is jam packed with all of it. I loved the intrigue and it kept me guessing…right up until the end, when it was revealed that the author had me by the tail and I was wrong! Love that! Anything that throws me for a loop in a YA book is a good thing.
The plot and premise were fun. Some of the plot seemed a little formulaic at times, but when you read a lot of YA everyone knows there are just some of those themes that will never go away, like the parents died and child survived (not a spoiler it’s in the blurb). Child searches for why and how and uncovers a deeper, darker mystery… You know those types of plots, but I still devoured the book.
Now let’s talk characters. I adored Penelope’s will but at times I wanted to smack some sense into her. But teens will do stupid things and she does. I was even more floored by Carter! He was sweet and kind, meanwhile Penelope kept trying to push him away, but he never gave up. You just gotta love a relentless boy who knows what he wants, but doesn’t cross over into creepy! I kept expecting some kind of turn off, but as the story progressed it was Pen that started to drive me bonkers. I wanted Pen to be more of the thinking type who would understand her limitations and use them to her best advantage, instead her headstrongness put her constantly into harms way which made her slightly more damsel in distress than kick-ass witch.
Again, I flew through this book and was definitely entertained. It could have been a 5 heart book (instead of 4) if it dealt with some of the routine plot lines, repetitive word use and lack of bigger world building.
[book rating=4.0/5.0]
