Ruined (Ruined #1) by Amy Tintera

Amy      
Lynnie 

young adult, fantasy, action/suspense

In Ruined by Amy Tintera, Em is bent on revenge when she and a few fellow leaders of Ruina devise a plan to kill the betrothed princess of Vallos and take her place as the bride of the prince of Lera.  There, she will be in a position to destroy both kingdoms for what they have done to the Ruined people as well as her own family.  However, her plan is imperfect and becomes more uncertain as she gets to know the prince.

Amy's Review

To be honest, I’m getting a little tired of the storyline of an unlikely girl catching the prince’s eye. Aside from the classic fairy tales, the books I’ve read in just the last year and a half with this same idea are the Red Queen series, The Lunar Chronicles series, the Seraphina series, and A Court of Thorns and Roses. And if I broaden it from literal princes to a man who will likely rule and is prince-like, add An Ember in the Ashes to that list. Granted, I really have enjoyed several of those novels but, having read all these others before Ruined sort of ruined (ha, ha) my enjoyment at the beginning of this novel. Thankfully, Ruined does have its own personality and main storyline. I will say that I’m impressed that this is the same author that wrote the Reboot series—it’s entirely different. Tintera is versatile and I enjoy her writing. So, I’ll put the sequels on my To Read list and begin the long wait until #2 is released. As always, I’ll have to make notes for myself to remind me of Ruined’s storyline because, otherwise, I’ll forget by the time the sequel rolls around.

Lynnie's Review

This was a fun & action packed story, but unfortunately not incredibly original. It felt like a cross between the Red Queen & The Selection (the Selection mostly for setting and style- not story line).
This is definitely a more violent story than many YA books- a few moments had me actually cringing in sympathy for some of the characters. I was not a huge fan of the overwrought romance either. I liked both Em & Cas as characters and I even liked them as a couple, but their arc was all very predictable based on the story line.

That said, I'll read the next one. I'm interested enough in several of the characters to continue the story and I like Amy Tintera's writing.