My Blood Approves (My Blood Approves #1) by Amanda Hocking - Review

I’m going to start off with the most obvious thing to say about this book… it’s about vampires. The totally rad Amanda Hocking has brought us yet another riveting tale of mythical creatures and this time, it’s the blood sucking variety. I started reading this after I had already finished the Trylle Series by Miss Hocking and I have to say that I was a little apprehensive. It takes a really, really great and unique vampire story to get me to love it… and she did it!

This first book in the My Blood Approves series starts out with our main character, Alice and her friend Jane as they attempt to get into a club that they are clearly too young to gain admittance. After leaving the club, a group of guys start taunting them and soon the taunting takes a sharp turn towards violence. Just in the nick of time, a hansom stranger pulls up and gets them to leave the girls alone. Jack is friendly and sweet and Jane is clearly into him so Alice leaves him alone. Because of this, it is very surprising when Jack texts Alice and asks her to start hanging out. Alice goes to Jack’s house and meets his family who immediately fall in love with her, except Jack’s brother Peter. Peter has some serious issues with Alice that borders on violence. Alice can’t figure out why it bothers her so much and why she is strangely attracted to Peter…

I know what you’re thinking when you all read my little synopsis… Twilight-y! That was my first thought as well. I cannot stress enough how disappointed I was that this book was turning into Twilight two-point-o. It was tragic! How could Amanda Hocking do this to me! But as I read further, I began to see the differences and I started to like it…dare I say…more than Twilight?

This book was really, really great. Typical of Hocking’s style, I felt a roller coaster of emotions while reading this book. I fell in love with all of the characters, even Peter… well mostly Peter. Why do I always go for the bad boy you’re not supposed to like? God only knows, but it’s my curse! I loved Peter.  I may be saying this because I’ve read all the other books in the series already, but he is definitely my favorite character.

While the setting and characters do feel a little Twilighty at times, the mood that Hocking sets is very unique unto itself. There are always going to be similar themes in vampire novels, how different can you make vampires? But the thing I liked most about this book was Alice's character. She was strong in a way that a lot of female characters are not. She really listens to her heart throughout the whole book and is always true to herself and her ideals. Sometimes, this gets her into a little bit of trouble because she is so headstrong, but aren’t we all?

Overall, I loved this book as well as the series! I will try and post the reviews for the other books too. I hate to be all fan-girly over Amanda Hocking… again, but really and truly she’s great! All of her books are so fun to read and are unique. If you haven’t read any of them yet, definitely check them out!

8 out of 10

Happy Reading!