Precious Blood (The Blessed #1)

"I have no idea what I just read," seems to be the consensus on Precious Blood. But why?

The plot was kind of messed up. Thank God no one knew I was reading this. Explaining it would have been a nightmare.
"Well, there are these three girls, who haven't really done anything right in life, but somehow now this guy they meet thinks their saints. And this guy is either crazy, or completely sane. And we're just supposed to believe everything he says. Even though, this guy could have killed someone and then he brings these girls to a church by themselves and no one knows where they are.... So yeah."

Scurt.

That was going down hill fast.

One thing I don't get is why all three girls seem to have a mild to borderline crazy crush on this guy that they meet. He gives them a bracelet and somehow they're all falling in love with him? And that's not even part of the actual plot. If you look up the Saints that these girls are supposed to be, then it just makes Precious Blood even more confusing. The girls' description BARELY fits with their SUPPOSED saint that they're supposed to be.

I don't know what I just read, but I'll probably still pick up the next book to see where the hell this is going. If nothing gets explained in the next, then I'm just going to call it a day.

Blessed is the kind of book that leaves you thinking ‘what the heck just happened’? I was a bit intrigued at the start, lost in the middle, left it there for two weeks and then was confused by the rest. The first half focused on the girls themselves and their characters – what made them tick, so to say. Honestly, I couldn’t empathize with either of them. Agnes was whiny, Lucy was manipulative and self-serving while Cecelia had delusions of grandeur. They meet Sebastian, who tells them they are special. I thought – hey, maybe they turn their lives around with a purpose. Maybe that saint thing works for some betterment of the world. Second half was such a disappointment, the sequel is as appealing as cold raw fish to me now. The plot was relatively stagnant and if you expect action, you find yourself in mindless gory scenes which make you wonder about the brutality capable in any person. The writing was perhaps the only commendable part of the book, but even brilliant storytelling can’t compensate for a ridiculous and almost-non-existent plot. Are we seriously to believe that three girls accepted their destinies just because a hot guy said so. That church had some serious fumes in the air, because even after questioning their own sanity, they participate in a bloodbath, set it on fire and then walk out into what – their sunset? Even the lore, the backstory that was supposed to hold up the story failed to impress – it was too extravagant and obsessed with some brutally killed saints, not to mention a bit preachy and too spiritual. I almost did not finish this book, but the writing carried me till the confusing climax, another piece of WTH that I am not even attempting to comprehend at the moment. Terrible, just terrible.

The Blessed by Tonya Hurling was absolutely bizarre. As one reader on Goodreads summed it up as either 'pure brilliance or sheer insanity'. It really was the mother of all What the Flip is Happening books. However one good feature of this book was Hurling's vivid writing style. Although many of the scenes were abstract and crazy I could envision most of them....

It definitely took me at least half of the 400 pages of Gothic thriller seductiveness to start to understand and get involved in the plot. Once I did get sucked in I was well and truly wrapped in its sticky black tentacles of plot with sin and sinners becoming entangled in a crazy, little sexy, but mostly crazy plot.

Basically The Blessed follows three girls, Lucy the popular self centered saint of the blind, Cecilia the struggling musician saint of the musicians and Agnes the loving naive innocent saint of girls, and Sebastian the compelling mysterious boy who tries to convince them of their 'true callings' and show them that they are similar in more ways than they could imagine.


This book was a definite love/hate relationship....sometimes I just couldn't be bothered with it but then a minute later I would be dying to know what happened next. It's one of those series you need to keep reading in case something unexpected happens as you guess it will. It was relieving to find a YA novel that actually kept you guessing, I can honestly admit I never knew what was going to happen. It'll stretch your mind as you try and keep up with the ever evolving twisting thread.