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Hidden Gem Awards: 2nd Place

#2
Bloodline
Tara Ellis


A meteor shower is followed by an infectious disease, one that seems to changing everyone around Alex into emotionless aliens. Alex always knew her father’s death was suspicious, but now solving the clues he left behind for her seems to be the key to reversing the disease.

 The mystery behind the disease is well thought out. I loved the hieroglyphics sketched into the book – a nice touch, very unusual. The sketches pulled me into the puzzle left for Alex to solve, and it’s quite a clever quirk.

I also commend the author for the diversity of her characters. I'm a fan of anything Egyptian and was glad to see Alex's heritage being part of the story.

Alex is a sweetheart and her brother is intelligent and loving too. They make a good pair. On the other hand, I didn’t care much for ‘nice guy’ Chris because I just didn’t feel like I knew him very well. Maybe I’ll have to read book 2 to find out more about him.

This was a quick read with a great ending. I still couldn’t help but feel it could be edited down. At the very least, it needed a higher saturation of exciting bits around the build up, and a stronger atmospheric vibe when the scenery changed.

The book ends in a great place too – not quite a cliffhanger, but enough to make me want to read on. 
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