Book Review: Red by Alyxandra Harvey

Red
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal | Urban Fantasy
Released: March 10th 2015
Review Source: Entangled Teen | Netgalley

Bad girls burn hot…

Red is the color of Kia Alcott's hair. It's her temper, which blazes hot and always gets Kia into way too much trouble. And it's the color of fire. Fires that Kia can start…just by thinking about them.

When her latest “episode” gets her kicked out of school, Kia is shipped off to her grandmother, who works for the wealthy Blackwoods. It's an estate shrouded in secrets, surrounded by rules, and presided over by a family that is far from normal…including the gorgeous and insolent Ethan Blackwood.

Ethan knows far more about the dangers of the forest surrounding the estate than Kia can ever imagine. For this forest has teeth, and Ethan is charged with protecting the outside world from its vicious mysteries.

But inside, even the most vibrant shade of red doesn't stand a chance against the dark secrets of the Blackwood family…

Red wasn’t like I expected. I expected something more psychologically thrilling, with a slightly psychopathic main character, if I’m honest. It was a pleasant surprise to get something unexpected.

Kia is the kind of character I always love. The badass kind. You know the ones who have to take anger management for beating up a guy twice their weight. The ones who don't care about others wealth, popularity, social status or anything of the like, her opinions of people are built completely on them as a person and not what they have or what they’re worth. She was full of sarcasm, wit and snarky comments.

She was an ironic character. Kia has a temper, one which has gotten her in trouble once or twice in the past, but unlike any other teenager with a temper; hers comes with something nobody else has to worry about…fire. Kia is a fire starter. It’s a gift she can’t control and is often fuelled by her temper. Just think, imagine having to worry about setting something on fire if you got angry or felt any sort of strong emotion?

It’s the first accidental fire starting incident which gets Kia kicked out of school and moved away to live with her grandma and some rich stuck up family. However, though she doesn’t realise it at first, but being relocated may have been the best thing that happened to her.

There were some twists and turns, which is only to be expected when the main character can uncontrollably set fires, but all of which I didn't expect. There were a few raised eyebrow and tears shed over this novel. And whilst I really enjoyed this one. I’m disappointed this is a stand alone, I felt like the ending could have set the foundation for a really good book two, there were so many directions which could have been explored. Saying that, though, I’m a massive fan of series’ so my opinion is a little biased. But Red introduced me to Alyxandra Harvey and I plan to explore her other work, too.

It was a thrilling read which had me curious of what was to come, I didn't expect plot twists, and it really did leave me wanting more. What more could you want? If you like your characters with a little bit of mystery, a plot you're not quite expecting and an awesome main character, then add Red to your list.