Ruined

By: Amy Tintera

Narrated by: Emily Rankin

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

Amy Tintera's new YA fantasy trilogy blends the romance of Kiera Cass' Selection series and the epic stakes of Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen in a story of revenge, adventure, and unexpected love.

Emelina Flores has nothing. Her home in Ruina has been ravaged by war; her parents were killed, and her sister was kidnapped. Even though Em is only a useless Ruined - completely lacking any magic - she is determined to get revenge.

Her plan is simple: She will infiltrate the enemy's kingdom, posing as the crown prince's betrothed. She will lead an ambush. She will kill the king and everything he holds dear, including his son.

The closer Em gets to the prince, though, the more she questions her mission. Her rage-filled heart begins to soften. But with her life - and her family - on the line, love could be Em's deadliest mistake.

©2016 Amy Tintera (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Loved it! I was worried I wouldn't...

Loved this book. Loved the performance. Loved it all. Must have more! I hope the 2nd story holds up to the 1st.

Not for me....can’t explain

Not for me....can’t explain just didn’t like it. Too much anger and hate without explaining why.

Can't grasp this

I dont know what to say about this book. It just seemed so bad to me.

The main character, Em, had zero depth to her, I read half the book and I still don't know who she is and what exactly she is trying to achieve. She is supposed to seem strong and "warrior-like" with all these men following her, and a strong mother to boot, and apparently kills without remorse, but her actions remind me of a preteen, who doesn't know if she should be happy or sad or is she likes the prince or not. Makes zero sense to me.
And the book begins just by throwing you into what should have been the first climax, not the first chapter. I like the idea of this story, but the writing seems all over the place to me, and awkward. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to enjoy this at all.

Great YA Book

I liked how this book took some predictable cliches, and wrote it so well you don't care. I found it engaging, with enough little twists to make it unique. I liked that the lead characters were reasonable and developed. I liked that they didn't do super stupid things (I always hate that and figure it's the only way the author knew how to move the plot along).

While things like the forbidden love were not a surprise, this book has some meat to it. The characters discuss the morals behind their actions and learn from mistakes, which was refreshing and kept the book from being superficial. I can't wait for the third to be available on audible!

For parents, I'd rate it PG-13. There is fighting and minor gore details. They are worried about the wedding night, and discuss their worry. There is no sex scene. There is one passionate kissing scene that could be more but ends. There is a side character that is homosexual and it is briefly mentioned that they kiss their partner a couple times, which is how we find out.

Great writing style, bad story.

Em is shown as a badass in the first chapter, then never becomes that character again. Cass her love interest is seen as defiant to his father the king and never becomes that character much at all. this is a four kingdom fight told through the tiny pinhole of Em and Cass arguing for several chapters. The war in this book is 3 out 37 chapters. They argue about stuff you don't get to see. The book is called Ruined, but you never see the kingdom of Ruina or see many of there powers. She makes it sound like stuff just fly around or happens without provocation. Only 3 ruineds are in this book and 1 has no magic. What the he'll is that magic you ask. Well ghost like pushing or people just fly back or die with no explanation how. It just happens. Weird. The ruined are seen as powerful yet they are almost extinct, so powerful at all. Their weakness is a blind fold. What? I can't hurt what I can't see? Oh and a flower called...what for it...Weakling. GTFOH

Amazing

good book, now I want to read more of amy's book's. I am going to read the second one.

Good listen

I liked this book but the lack of a backstory really left me not knowing who I should root for. Besides that the story was good and I plan to continue the series on audio. The narration really kept me engaged in the story also. Overall 3.5 stars

awesome!

I loved this book. I wanted to finish it in one listen. Had me hooked to the end

a great balance of epic fantasy and romance

story of a girl out for revenge however when she meets the prince she falls in love and her hate lessens.

Great Performance, but Story Sucked

I thought the performance was wonderful! However the storyline was lacking... The male protagonist, although kind and compassionate- was weak and lacked common sense. Whereas the female protagonist had more depth to her character. In general, the characters' reactions & feelings to the life-altering events seemed insincere and unrealistic.