Format read: ebook
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: 24 January 2011
Length: 129 pages
Publisher: Morgan Rice Publishing
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)

Book Blurb:

Eighteen year old Caitlin Paine finds herself uprooted from her nice suburb and forced to attend a dangerous New York City high school when her Mom moves again. The one ray of light in her new surroundings is Jonah, a new classmate who takes an instant liking to her.

But before their romance can blossom, Caitlin suddenly finds herself changing. She is overcome by a superhuman strength, a sensitivity to light, a desire to feed–by feelings she does not understand. She seeks answers to what’s happening to her, and her cravings lead her to the wrong place at the wrong time. Her eyes are opened to a hidden world, right beneath her feet, thriving underground in New York City. She finds herself caught between two dangerous covens, right in the middle of a vampire war.

It is at this moment that Caitlin meets Caleb, a mysterious and powerful vampire who rescues her from the dark forces. He needs her to help lead him to the legendary lost artifact. And she needs him for answers, and for protection. Together, they will need to answer one crucial question: who was her real father?

But Caitlin finds herself caught between two men as something else arises between them: a forbidden love. A love between the races that will risk both of their lives, and will force them to decide whether to risk it all for each other…

My Thoughts:

I had high hopes for this series, but it was nothing more than a racist, childish, under-developed joke.

Caitlyn has not had an easy life living with her abusive mother. After being uprooted yet again and settling in New York City Caitlyn has to attend a new school make new friends and figure out why she has a new uncontrollable thirst for blood.

Caitlyn’s character was impossible to like, she whines, she’s stupid, she’s selfish, her own mother dies in front of her and she doesn’t give it a second thought. She falls in and out of ‘love’ like it’s going out of fashion and she puts all her trust in people she doesn’t even know the names of.

The blurb promise’s us a choice between Jonah – the boy she meets in school – and Caleb – the 3,000 year old vampire – but as soon as Caleb comes into the picture and Caitlyn takes all of two seconds to fall in love with him Jonah’s character may well have never even existed, the whole inclusion of his character was ultimately pointless, unless you count the fact that Jonah ended up at a police station being questioned in the middle of the night because he deigned to take Caitlyn on a date after which he never hears from her again.

Turned was like a mash-up of all the horrible bits from the popular vampire books around, the name of the series itself – The Vampire Journals – to the childish and dangerously stupid main character, the evil vampires and the 3,000 year old love interest, the she-devil trying to keep the protagonist and her love apart, the love interest giving up everything for a girl he just met but feels ‘connected to’, and bat wings – can’t forget those bat-wings. I’d think it was a bad spoof if I didn’t know any better.

I am not one for political-correctness, but I am also not a racist and when something stands out to me when I’m reading, it usually means it’s blaringly obvious that it shouldn’t be there. During Turned, it was the subject of race, I went to the most multi-cultural school in my country, I live in a country that is made up of many races from hundreds of countries, for me people are just people, there is no colour, there are no stereotypes. So when Rice makes a point of noting the group of black kids walking down the street in a gang acting suspiciously or the fact that Caitlyn is the only white girl at the school it really grated on my nerves. Oh but Caitlyn isn’t racist, she has loads of Asian, black and Hispanic friends and some of her biggest “frenemies” have been white. Not racist, right. I was almost angry at myself for getting worked up about it, but regardless of how much I hate the recent tamping down of free speech there is still a line drawn by moral decency.

Turned made for a quick read, but not an enjoyable one. I have the next in the series, Loved, on my e-reader, but I am having an extremely hard time working myself up to reading it.

I give Turned  1 star

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

About Amanda

Amanda-Lee is a proudly addicted reader and writer from Sydney. She lives with her wonderful husband and their more like a baby than a kitten Hamish. Amanda-Lee has been blogging for 4 years now and is a lover of all genres, though she does have a tendancy to stray towards the weird and wonderful concotions in the paranormal and fantasy genres. In addition to being the Winged Lover on BLI she also runs the book blog StoryWings.

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