Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship.But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.


Below, you can listen to an audio clip straight from the book!

What a disappointing sequel this book was. Although the first book had been far from perfect, it still kept me interested, while this one…not so much.

The main problem seems to be how contrived the storyline feels. If it were a marionette show, you’d see the strings being pulled. Everything is too coincidental. The trip to Mexico Anya suddenly takes makes little, if any sense, and the reader can see it was written mainly to get her to the next point in the story. It’s not fun reading books that are written as if following bullet points.

The other thing was the writing. The first book wasn’t what I’d consider well written, but it was loads better than this one. The constant asides Anya makes are nauseating and repetitive, to the point where I found myself skipping them altogether. She tended to be a bit repetitive, as well in her internal monologue. The author still continues with her disconcerting habit of telling us part of the conversations instead of actually having the dialogue. It’s baffling, especially when she’d waste less time and space just writing out the dialogue.

So, this is one I’d not recommend. It was dull reading indeed.