A Review for Black Amaranth by Sasha Hibbs

Posted by Melanie 
Release Date: August 16th, 2013
Finished Date: December 26th, 2013

Publishers: Evernight Teen
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Source: For Review

Format: Kindle
Pages: 216

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Eighteen-year-old Ally Watson arrives home from high school graduation, more than a little annoyed that her Uncle Argyle—Ally’s legal guardian and only surviving relative—didn’t even bother showing up. But instead of berating him for his forgetfulness, Ally finds him in a life-or-death battle with a monster. Argyle manages to kill the creature, and gives Ally a parcel containing a destiny she never knew existed.

Ally, along with her best friends Michael, Jessica, and David, hurry to Georgia to uncover the truth of Uncle Argyle’s secrets, and the meaning of the mysterious marks that Ally bears. Are the marks related to the blacksmith mythology of her ancestors? Who are these heavenly warriors who show up in the oddest of places? And will an ancient gypsy curse destroy the very things Ally fights to save?

Black Amaranth: a simple flower, a symbol with an ancient legacy, a conduit for prophecy…while faith and hope are essential to the journey, Ally soon discovers that love is the most powerful force of all.

The Review: I thought Black Amaranth was a great read & I really enjoyed it. The synopsis tells us everything we need to know as we join 18 year old Ally on her journey of self discovery. Ally was a great character, easy to gel with and really route for. I liked everything about her particularly how she can take everything in her stride, I loved watching her grow as she dealt with the secrets and the things that were thrown at her. I liked the relationships that developed for her, it was sort of a love triangle but wasn’t overly complicated because she was only on the verge of a relationship but happened to have two potential boyfriends. I did feel a connection to her from both sides and would have happily went with either one, although one was slightly more mysterious than the other BUT she has a way to find her true mate… This was also one of those books where the secondary characters are just as important and interesting as the main characters, it was easy to become involved in their drama & relationships and I really hope we get their stories too. The storyline was awesome, quite original and a great introduction to a series that has so much potential. I loved the history of it all, there are a lot of myths from all sides that lead up to current times and a big prophecy which is again told differently by all sides but all equating to the same outcome. We meet a couple of the clans of the supernaturals and they were really interesting particularly the warriors who are to protect Ally, every one of those men need a book of their own and I can’t wait to see them in action. ;) This book is filled to the brim with secrets and a whole lot of them are surrounding Ally which is always great, her heritage has been kept secret from her so she’s about to stumble upon that in a big way and I really liked that, I liked how she finds out things about herself from the past and they brought about some really revealing moments and it doesn’t end there, because as I said ‘brimming with secrets’…. And there are some jaw dropping surprises in store towards the end. I also love the soul mate angle, I’m such a sucker for soul mates, truly, nothing makes me happier and it was done well in this, I like how it’s possible to find out who your true mate is and I like the bonding part too in which the lovers make the ultimate sacrifice for love. To sum it up… Black Amaranth is an awesome story filled with so much potential, it has great characters, tons of secrets, a fair bit of action, a huge helping of romance from more than one source, a nice big prophecy and a battle between good & evil in the ultimate power play and really can’t wait for more.