Ink

By: Amanda Sun

Narrated by: Alexandra Bailey

Ink is in their blood.

On the heels of a family tragedy, Katie Greene must move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn't know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks and she can't seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

When Katie meets aloof but gorgeous Tomohiro, the star of the school's kendo team, she is intrigued by him...and a little scared. His tough attitude seems meant to keep her at a distance, and when they're near each other, strange things happen. Pens explode. Ink drips from nowhere. And unless Katie is seeing things, drawings come to life.

Somehow Tomo is connected to the kami, powerful ancient beings who once ruled Japan - and as feelings develop between Katie and Tomo, things begin to spiral out of control. The wrong people are starting to ask questions, and if they discover the truth, no one will be safe.

©2013 Amanda Sun (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Love the book

I love the book, always have. Narrator wasn’t for me though, not Particularly bad however.

Feel like I have experienced Japan

Loved this! Wish there a was more stories out there about modern Americans moving to Japan. I really felt like Katie was a real person to me. Scared and alienated in a place she couldn't understand. Yet with stubborn determination, she slowly adapts to become a strong character and holds her own against whatever challenges she faces. Amanda Sun did a nice job sculpting this story, relatable characters and making me feel like I was experiencing Japan from across the globe. Alexandra Bailey did a beautiful job narrating this exciting tale and did a nice job with the Japanese phrases. I look forward to continuing Katie and Tomo's story and see where the Ink leads them.

This could be a favorite book!

I loved it. I love the descriptions. I love the feelings.
I love stories about kami, and this contemporary story was sweet and engaging.
Wish the narrator spoke better Japanese, but her mispronunciations did not interfere.

Great performance. Immature superficial story.

Alexandra Bailey's narration is captivating. She can make the simplest scenery descriptions come to vivid life with her voice. I think I might end up listening to everything she narrates, regardless of content. I am grateful to this book for discovering her performance - finally a female narrator who sounds young without screechy fake bounciness or over-dramatic hoarseness.

The book itself gave me an impression of the first effort by a girl high on the Twilight series and too many hours of anime-watching or manga-reading. But then, many people like those types of stories, so maybe it was written specifically for them.
Fair warning though, if you didn't like Twilight, or know enough about it to decide you wouldn't like it - you are not going to like this book. Stripped from the different cultural settings, the plots and characterizations are almost identical.