Indelible

By Dawn Metcalf

Some things are permanent. Indelible. They cannot be changed back...

Joy Malone learns this the night she sees a stranger with all–black eyes across a crowded room – right before the mystery boy tries to cut out her eye.

Instead, the wound accidentally marks her as property of Indelible Ink, and this dangerous mistake thrusts Joy into an incomprehensible world – a world of monsters at the window, glowing girls on the doorstep, and a life that will never be the same.

Now, Joy must pretend to be Ink's chosen one – his helper, his love, his something for the foreseeable future. Failure to be convincing means a painful death for them both.

Swept into a world of monsters, illusion, immortal honour and revenge, Joy discovers that sometimes, there are no mistakes.

Somewhere between reality and myth lies… THE TWIXT

'This exhilarating story of Ink and Joy has marked my heart forever. More!' Nancy Holder, New York Times bestselling author of Wicked.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Aug 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781743643358

Dawn Metcalf

Dawn Metcalf writes about fairy tales, myths and sharp, pointy objects. She has yet to be whisked away to Fairyland, but also has yet to be stabbed in the eye. You can find her and her family buried somewhere beneath piles of costuming, crayons, karate pads and board games masquerading as a normal Victorian house in northern Connecticut. If they had a sign, it would be: Confounding the Neighbor Children Since 1999. Visit Dawn and the Twixt at www.dawnmetcalf.com.

Reviews for Indelible

[whatsmacksaid · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed “Indelible” more than I expected to. The romantic relationship was balanced out nicely by Joy’s relationships with her family and best friend. Additionally, there was no love triangle or at first sight. It moved along quickly, but not unrealistically so.

I found the pace of the novel slowed to almost a crawl approximately two-thirds of the way through the book, but picked back up to a satisfyingly exciting climax and ending. The notes of suspense and horror sprinkled through the entirety was wonderful and properly heart-pounding, though there were times when fewer words within a description would have done more.

Joy’s relationship with her best friend, Monica, feels slightly stunted in a (unfortunately) natural kind of way—Joy is keeping massive secrets and isn’t the best liar, so Monica’s irritation at being kept out of the loop makes sense. Their troubles aren’t precisely resolved, per se, by the end of the story, but neither are the two girls at all estranged. It is a realistic portrayal of a friendship in the midst of a rough patch, though I hope Monica is read in to the supernatural situation in the sequel.

Joy’s relationship with her father is touching and realistic, for how much time he spends at work or otherwise away from home. There is a great deal of not-saying-things that builds up between them, and Metcalf uses a delicate touch to portray the weight of their sorrow and love. The added complication of Shelley, her father’s new girlfriend, is a nice touch that showcases Joy’s maturity and desire to make things both normal and easier for her father quite nicely.

The biggest issue I had with “Indelible” is the confused portrayal of acceptable queerness. Joy’s brother comes out to her over instant messaging, and her first response is blank shock. Her second response is confusion and heavily tied up with her negative emotional response to her mother’s abandonment. Joy and her brother reconcile, but she responds poorly to a (literally) life-saving kiss bestowed by Inq (who is female) later on in the story. It freaks and grosses her out even though it was not a sexual action.

The saving grace for all this, for me, is Monica (the best friend)’s reaction to Joy’s brother coming out. She clearly doesn’t see it as a big deal, and chastises Joy for turning it into a bigger deal than it ought to be. That reassured me that Joy’s squeamishness is her own, and not the author’s.

(And, I’ll admit, it is nice to see multiple instances within a YA novel dealing with the existence of homosexuality, and even two different examples. Joy’s brother goes off to college, realizes he’s gay, and settles in with a nice boyfriend, while Inq is bisexual—or something along those lines, perhaps pansexual—owing largely to her inhumanity and interminable age.)

All that aside, the romance between Joy and Ink is sweet and deep. We get to see several sides of them as a unit, from a beautiful moment when he examines her ear and hands’ details to the aftermath of her assault wherein she would rather send Ink to exact vengeance on her torturer than have him sit by her bedside. It is because of the varied scenes and experiences we see Joy and Ink go through together that it becomes clear that, while they are not necessarily two parts of a whole, they do balance each other and care for each other in a meaningful and moving way.

Overall, I enjoyed “Indelible” and fully plan to get my hands a copy of the sequel when it is released. (Which, according to Dawn Metcalf, will be sometime in May 2014.) I recommend it to fans of YA fantasy, of modern fairy stories, and of paranormal romances. “Indelible” is both sweet and scary by turns, and it is fully worth the paperback price.

[vanyadrum · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

NOTE: I received the eARC from the publisher via Netgalley. Thanks

I have to say that I actually enjoyed Indelible a lot. At times it moved way too slow for my preferences, but I'm going to overlook that.

I did like the new twist to the idea of the Fair Folk. I mean, in all the books I've read so far, the fairies are always extremely beautiful, mesmerizing and evil. They never have good intentions and will always act selfishly.

Not so here.

In the world of Indelible, rarely is a fairy looking anywhere close to resembling the humans. Most look grotesque - like a merge of several creatures. Of course, there are a handful of fair maiden warriors who look stunningly gorgeous, but this seems to be rather the exception, not the norm.

Our main fairy characters here are two personals, namely Indelible Ink and his 'sister' Invisible Inq. They're made entirely of ink and the sole purpose of their existence is marking up the humans with the sigils of the fey. As in, ensuring that humans will continue believing in the Fair Folk, thus ensuring the survival of said faery creatures.

As you can see, this is an entirely new concept here. But somehow I'm failing to understand how a person (or whatever Ink and Inq are, really) made entirely out of ink could experience any semblance of thoughts, feelings, etc. And, what bothers me the most is that it isn't explained. Since I'm not one of those people who take any information as a given, I can't just pass over this, as if it wasn't an issue. It is, and I need answers.

I must say however that besides this fallout, the story was quite nice. It had a nice flow, depth to the world building and characters. It did remind me of City of Bones in the first chapter, but then the resemblance was gone and I was left reading an entirely new idea, which I really enjoyed.

So, the lead female, Joy, won me over even though it took her some time. What I particularly liked about her was that she rarely acted stupid. She asked the right questions and didn't stop until a satisfactory enough answer was provided. Of course, there was something special about her that made even that stone hard Indelible Ink notice her and mark her as his own (even if it were an accident).

Undoubtedly, that single action of his was where the story began. From then on until the end it was a whirlwind of secrets, impossible visions, curses, adventure, war and of course, the sweetest romance. Ink was such an inexperienced, innocent boy, I believe our world needs more like him.

[katebond-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I need to read through the marketing materials on this before I say anything about it, because, while the lead character is 16.5, everything about this felt like it was written for thirteen year olds. Like, in a bad way. But maybe that's the point.

[mlleehreen · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It's books like INDELIBLE that have made me step away from young adult, as a genre.

How many times can you tell the same story? Hit the same emotional beats? It's boring. Not just boring. Cheap. Lazy. Insulting.

The heroine of INDELIBLE, Joy, is a damsel in distress. She is kidnapped FOUR TIMES over the course of this one book. FOUR. She's an ordinary girl caught up in an extraordinary world and even though her motto is "be indispensable" (which, by the way, has a sort of creepy, wormy ring to it, the way that Joy invokes it--she justifies a lot of questionable behavior by deciding it's time to "be indispensable"), mostly Joy is a pawn whose primary role is to call forth her fairy boyfriend so that he can save the day.

And Joy herself...In a field of unlikable YA heroines, she might be the worst. When her best friend wants to talk about her problems, Joy "pretends to listen". When her dad reaches out, Joy heaves a sigh and suffers through it. When her brother needs her to step up, Joy whines about how hard it is. She's really short on empathy. I appreciate that this is a book where our heroine has actual female friends who treat her right, but man, I would have rather read about the friends.

There are some nice aspects to INDELIBLE. The writing is smooth, polished, at times beautiful (at others over-processed). The world offers a neat twist on fairy lore, where fairies have found a way link themselves to humans without giving away their precious True Names. The fairy boyfriend, Ink, is one of the people who can forge these safety-added bonds. And the plot, which STARTS--I repeat, STARTS--at about the halfway mark, could have been interesting, if it hadn't been strangled by the vine by the romance.

Because INDELIBLE is really just another book about an ordinary girl who's singled out for love by an impossibly ancient yet also cute and teenaged-looking boy. He's never felt this way before, and neither has she, and she's so special and wonderful even though her role in the book is to suffer through a lot of kidnappings and other assorted violence.

The story INDELIBLE tells, the romance that overwhelms the plot, is so stale. So lifeless. So shallow. And I've had enough.

[kctlagman · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

*I was provided with an advanced electronic copy of this book from the author and Harlequin TEEN in return of an honest review. No monetary compensation was provided in this exchange.*

FINAL RATING: 2/5

Joy Malone has lived a pretty normal life so far - separate from her mother abandoning the rest of their family and her brother being as physically far as possible as he can be away from college. She has spent the last year in a rut, even giving up gymnastics, the one thing that took away her pain and worries. So, Joy is pretty normal. Well, as plain as a typical angsty teenager can be. So when she catches the eye of a black-eyed boy at one of the city's under 18 clubs, she doesn't expect much... She definitely doesn't expect him to try and poke her eyes out.

The black-eyed boy eventually reveals himself to be Indelible Ink - he goes by Ink - and reveals himself to be a Scribe who works on behalf of the Folk, those of the world who seek to Mark certain individuals and thereby claim them. Alongside Ink is his sister, Invisible Inq. By attempting, and failing, to remove Joy's sight, he accidentally claims her as his own. For the sake of his reputation and her own protection, they must convince the rest of the Folk that Marking her was his choice. But as Ink and Joy fall deeper into one another, there are people who are willing to take advantage of their vulnerability... and threaten the wellbeing of not only Ink and Joy, but the rest of the Twixt.

Dawn Metcalf's Indelible world is very creative and captivating. It takes an approach to paranormal that not many authors have taken, and her story is very unique in the world-building aspect. The thing is, the world was too complex for me. There are still aspects of it that I do not understand. The relations between the Scribes, the Folk, and the Twixt were confusing for me. I hoped that she was explain the roles of each a bit more.

Her characters are genuinely likable, I immediately was drawn to Ink for his innocence and naivety. Joy is a very relatable character. Their relationship was pretty believable at the start, but all of a sudden a few chapters later they were in love and it just wasn't believable at all for me. Ink is a being that has never fallen in love. I thought he would be more guarded in terms of his heart and I didn't think it was his personality to fall in love so easily. I think the same with Joy as well. For a girl who has seen how easily a relationship can fall apart, I didn't expect her to fall for Ink so easily.

I just felt that there was too much going on all at once - too much buildup to the climax and too many people involved in it. I found myself trying to remember the significance of a certain character and being unable to, as it was such a small part of the previous chapters. I felt there were a number of scenes that were filler and did not contribute to the development of the story at all. Ink and Joy's story could have been told just as efficiently in much less pages.

All in all, I think that for the right reader, Indelible could be a very good read. The world is pretty creative, and the characters are genuine and likable. Ink and Joy's story could be considered complete, but there is probably enough questions to result in a sequel.

[pnh002 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you will know that this is my first review about a book with fairies. I don't normally like fairies, but I saw the cover for this one and decided I wanted to read it... (Yes I know its a bad habit lol) But overall, it wasn't a terrible read. There were some things I was annoyed at, but it wasn't bad enough for me to swear off the rest of the series. One thing I was a little unnerved about was the use of unnecessary facts. I call that "fluff." They are fillers to make the book longer. For example, "She got up, wincing around an old injury of two broken toes..." I just didn't see the relevance to the rest of the story. It was just something I could do without. Now if that were the only time, I would have been ok with that, but it was throughout the ENTIRE story. Another thing I didn't like was the choppy writing style. I'm not sure if it was because this was an e-ARC or what, but there weren't any chapter markers and it was driving me insane. I was confused whenever they jumped from subject to subject. I felt like it was just all over the place. It was a lot to process. What I did like was the way it jumped right into the action. There was honestly never a dull moment in the book. It kept me going and worried about what would happen next. I just wish the creepy parts were a bit more creepy. Overall, I'm happy I decided to pick up this book. It really opened up my world to a different genre. But there were some things I wish I could change.

[kissedbyink · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Indelible is not your average fae story. It has everything a reader could ask for: romance, fighting, monsters, blood and branding. I tried to keep guessing what would happen next and it was impossible!A must read:)

[themusescircle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This review and more can be found on my blog: The Muses CircleMy Review: Indelible is a refreshing YA paranormal romance that is reminiscent of the dark original fairy tales. I could tell by the book blurb that Dawn Metcalf was going to give us something different and when it comes to the original concept of Indelible she doesn't disappoint.There is a world known as the Twixt, a place that cannot be seen by the human eye. Ink (our hero/anti-hero) and Inq (his sister) are scribes, created not born. They were made with the sole purpose of marking humans with the signatura of their fae counterparts. I was captivated with some of the mythology and world building. I liked how Ink would take Joy with him when he was called to do a task and found it neat how he would use his tools to "cut" an invisible slit in the air that once opened, became a gateway to another world or dimension.While Joy wasn't my favorite heroine in recent YA literature, she had a few unique qualities about her that set her apart from other stereotypical lead female characters. For example, Joy isn't your social outcast or extremely shy type that is the norm lately in YA lit. In fact, the first time we meet her is at a dance club with her best friend. And get this: she actually wanted to go. So it wasn't the case of the wild best friend who had to beg her to go with her as we see over and over again in YA novels. Joy actually enjoys dancing at the club and doesn't appear to be prudish. I give the author credit for trying to give us a different kind of heroine.It's undeniable that Ink is one sexy, dark character. He is quite mysterious, with his all black eyes, lack of emotion, and sexy name. I even liked his chain wallet that held the instruments he would use to ink others. When we first meet him, he tries to kill/blind Joy at the club because no human is supposed to be able to actually see his kind. Instead, he ends up leaving his mark on her which generates all sorts of scary situations for Joy. But as they spend more time together, we learn that Ink and his sister Inq were created, not born. Over the centuries and in order to adapt to the times, his sister felt the need for them to start blending in which is why they took on a more humanly form. As Joy starts to become more comfortable with Ink, she notices odd things about his appearance, such as him not having fully formed ears, or a belly button. While Inq, his twin, appears to have all her parts in order, the reason Ink doesn't is quite clear: he hadn't found the need to be around humans like his sister, much preferring the distance. Until Joy, that is. Joy makes him start to feel human and begins to experience human emotions, such as curiosity and self awareness once she points out he is missing some physical traits.I enjoyed watching the evolution of Ink and there were many parts of the book where Ink reminded me of Edward in the movie Edward Scissorhands. Both characters were isolated from human contact and were physically "unfinished" in some way. And when it comes to protecting the one they love? When Joy is hurt and branded by Briarhook, we see a different side of Ink. He comes back covered in blood and at first Joy thinks he has killed Briarhook, therefore reverting back to a creature with no emotions or remorse. But when given the chance, he explains he did not kill Briarhook. Instead, Ink ripped out his heart and locked it in a box so that Briarhook would always be beholden to him. He tells Joy that when he learned she was in trouble and had been hurt, he felt a pain in his chest for the first time in his existence and he wanted to know how to make it stop. She explains that it doesn't work that way, that when you care about someone, their pain becomes your pain. Since Ink couldn't take away the pain in his chest, he took Briarhook's heart. It may be romantic in a creepy way but it also shows how much Ink has grown since meeting Joy.Graus Claude, known as the Bailiwick and the mediator between worlds, was also an interesting character. He is this huge toad with 4 arms that dresses in suits and has his own office. I find Graus Claude fascinating because who would have thought a toad could be intimidating?Here is what I had issues with. I can't deny the originality of the story and Indelible is extremely written. But somewhere along the way it loses steam. While the author did a great job with setting up some of the mythology and new world, there were parts that became confusing, such as the politics in the Twixt. There were parts in the middle to the end of the novel that could have been cut down so that she could focus on developing this strange, new world.I was also bothered by the villain of the novel, Aniseed. I'm a firm believer that villains play a huge role in the dynamic of a story and if you have a weak villain or a villain that isn't fully developed, it effects the story. Aniseed was downright boring!My one major problem is when Ink lets Joy try to "ink" someone. I feel this is not only totally out of character but also unrealisitic. The author makes it a point throughout the novel to enforce how important Ink and Inq's job is and how one simple screw up could cost them their very existance, hence the reason Ink covers up his mistake with Joy by calling her his lehman. We also see how desperate/anxious Ink was to have his wallet back after he had Joy hold it because the tools inside are his life. So it makes no sense that he would so easily hand over his job and risk his existance if she should make the slightest mistake. I get why the author added it in since what they discover during her lesson plays out later in the novel. But I think the author could have found a more solid way to discover Joy's "powers."Lastly, I'm not going to lie. I was a bit creeped out at Ink's physical transformation. At the beginning of the story, he has no knuckles, no fingernails, no nipples and his ears aren't formed. At first I was okay with Ink's subtle changes as he spends time with Joy. For example, he changes his ears to look like hers and the scene leading up to it was erotic, sexy, beautiful, and romantic. I thought to myself, okay, no big deal, it's an ear. But what started creeping me out is when Ink changes his hands to look exactly like hers as well. Umm, Joy is a girl, Ink is a guy. Girl/boy hands are different. So does that mean Ink has female looking hands? What's next, is he going to look at her nipples and model his after hers??? It's one thing if he looked at her parts to get a general idea as to how things looked. But to model body parts EXACTLY like hers can lead into potential problems. I think Joy is better off going to a book store and buying Ink a human body book or taking him to a nude art class, etc. I really hate to sound so gender strict, like boys are supposed to look one way and girls are supposed to look another way. However, there is a sequel in the works and if Ink keeps modeling body parts after Joy's...unless that is the direction the author is intentionally going in? I guess we shall see!Indelible by Dawn Metcalf is a unique addition to the YA paranormal genre. I like that Metcalf was trying to give us something different and enjoyed the concept overall. However, some of the mythology suffered since she spent so much time expanding on other parts of the book when her focus should have been on further character development, a clearer explanation of Twixt politics (since they do spend quite a bit of time in that world), and giving us a more fearsome villain. Since there was no major cliffhanger, I'm not sure if I will be picking up book 2. I guess it depends on how compelling the next storyline sounds.Mia @ The Muses Circle

[great_east_road · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

See my review of this book, and many more, at Tales from the Great East Road.

Joy thought her life was hard enough already – her mother left after having an affair, her brother, the one person she can properly confide in, has gone away to university leaving her alone with her Dad, who tries but is still caught up in his own problems. That was before the night at a club when a boy tried to blind her by stabbing her in the eye. Since then she’s been seeing . . . things. Flashes in the corner of her eye, strange messages she doesn’t understand, creatures coming for her.

The boy who tried to stab her, Ink, reveals he is in fact a faerie, and tells her that she has been marked as one of his lehmen – a messenger, servant, and, sometimes, lover. Now Joy is caught in a world of monsters and magic, between those who want to use her to get to Ink and those who want the fey to dominate the human world.

Young adult books about the fey are often hard to get right: the juxtaposition of unearthly, immortal, magical creatures against human teenagers in the modern day world is difficult. Some are written beautifully, and manage to explore the fey world in great detail[1], but others unfortunately (like many YA fantasy books) end up using this magic as a set up for a predicable romance between annoying characters, wasting the great ideas that were made to sound so much bigger in the blurb. Sadly, Indelible was the latter of these books – another case of great ideas, poor excision. This had the potential to be a very interesting book, but not enough focus on the magic, with a brief explanation as to how the magic worked which barely made sense, and unlikeable character, ruined it.

The few faerie creatures who did show up, like Filly the viking warrior woman who loves battle and Aniseed the villain who believes in fey supremacy, were interesting, but not featured anywhere near often enough. In fact, Aniseed, who was meant to be the main villain, wasn’t even mentioned by name until about three quarters of the way through the book. The odd messages left for Joy, before she understood what was happening, were quiet creepy and created a fair bit of tension as she didn’t know where or when the next one would come from, but this seemed to be dropped far too quickly once Ink was properly introduced. Joy’s job as messenger as a whole was overshadowed and all but forgotten in exchange for the romance and parties with Ink’s sister, Inq. Which leads to another huge problem: why on earth would you name two of your main character Ink and Inq? It’s confusing and comes across as lazy.

None of the characters were likeable. Joy was unbelievable selfish: with every problem that occurred, including ones that were nothing to do with her, Joy’s first thought is “this make it so much harder for me!”. For instance, when her brother tells her he has discovered he is gay, her first reaction is to become angry and upset at him for hiding this information from her. This, and many other similar instances, made her sound like a spoil, bratty child. Inq was just as petty and annoying, a girl who thought of nothing but her own wants and needs, even if that means pulling people away from their lives, just so she can party, with no notice. Ink was bland and boring, making him a very poor romantic interest. Other reviews have mentioned his ‘slowly learning to become human and feel love’, but I personally couldn’t see it. Using contractions in your speech and obsessing over the shape of ears doesn’t make you human, or particularly interesting to read about. The stereotypical idea of a girl ‘curing’ a boy, and teaching him to love is both patronising and stupid.

The worst part of this book, however? It was boring. So boring, that had it not been an ARC, I would have stopped reading about half way through. I was not impressed in the slightest by Indelible.

1.5 stars.

[1] Examples of good faerie books are Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tales series (YA), Malissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series (YA), Seanan McGuire’s Tody Daye series (adult), and Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland series (YA).

[summer_missfictional · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I received this book in exchange for an honest review

If you want a lesson on how not to write a decent fantasy book, refer to Indelible. This book has everything I don’t want in a book; it barely has the minimum basics. It will be near impossible to improve this series; if the foundation is not sturdy, the rest of the series will most likely suck.

Where is the plot? Where is the structure? I have no idea why most of the things occurred, because the author paid minimal heed to the essentials of her world. It’s only been a week since I've finished Indelible, and the only thing I can recall is that Ink doesn't have fingernails. That’s pretty sad.

You know, there’s this little thing called world building, and it would've helped so much if the author expanded on the world and had paid more attention to this aspect instead of describing minute things I could care less about as a reader, like a stain on Joy’s textbook (yes, that was brought up once). In order to have a compelling fantasy, it is essential to build up the world and make us visualize it in our heads. If you can’t do that, you shouldn't be writing a fantasy novel in the first place.

There is very little than annoys me more in a book than cheesy writing. Coming in a close second is the unnecessary overuse of exclamation marks that is not in dialogue. Combine these two, and I’m very annoyed. All it shows is that the writing is very juvenile and childish.

Examples?

“She didn’t want to think. She felt better already!”

“It wasn’t bad!”

“Girls’ Self Defense 103: Never give up!”

“She wasn’t a prisoner! This was her house!”
...



THE PAIN.

Overall, the writing was a mess. It had no flow whatsoever, and describing every single atom that exists in a room is not going to improve the writing.

Like I said, the plot lacked structure. I felt like the author was just making up this stuff as I progressed through the story. I’m still confused about everything that happened. There was no leading up to the conflict; it came out of nowhere, and frankly, made little sense at all.

On to Joy, the main character. Joy, oh Joy, you were not a joy to read about. This girl is the epitome of idiocy. She has no sense of self-preservation - not because she’s overly heroic or anything, but because she’s stupid. At one point, a random stranger came up to her and asked her if she knew about some bizarre thing (that she clearly knew nothing about). Naturally, she said that she did know what he was talking about (??). I don’t even know why.

"Excuse me," he continued. "Did you see the Kodama?"
"Yes," she said.”

HMM. I WONDER WHAT GOT YOU INTO THIS MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE, JOY!

Another admirable quality of Joy is her clinginess. I never understood Ink and Joy’s relationship; it was so awkward that cringing came as second nature to me during my reading experience. At one point she also wanted Ink to visit her “right now” when he was clearly using all his energy to save his sister and could barely handle the exhaustion. But NO! His sister's suffering is SO much less important than seeing his girlfriend! (Not that I’m defending Ink, or sympathizing with him, I’m just pointing out a fact.)

Completely ignored in Indelible is characterization. I don’t give a crap about any of the characters in the book. I’m at a loss for what else to say because there is absolutely no character development to begin with. This is probably one of the worst books in the characterization department, folks. I’m scratching my head trying to remember Joy’s best friend’s name…

Indelible’s got the whole package; crappy writing, an unstructured plot, no character development, and no world-building. To top it all off, the book failed to connect with me on an emotional level, and I couldn't wait to finish this book.

*sigh* Nothing to see here, guys.

[darkfaerietales_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.Quick & Dirty: This had a very unique and different premise. I really enjoyed the book as a whole, but the pacing wasn’t the best and I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters.Opening Sentence: The music beat hard against Joy’s ribs.The Review:Joy Malone is 16 years old and in the last year her life fell apart. Her mom left and moved to L.A. to live with a younger guy. Joy gave up on her dream to become an Olympic gymnast, and her brother left for college. She now lives with her dad and she gets pretty lonely at times. One night her best friend convinces her to go to a dance club, and Joy’s life is changed forever. A mysterious boy with all black eyes tries to cut out her eyes, but he doesn’t succeed. Instead he ends up leaving her with his signature mark.Ink is a creature from The Twixt. The Twixt is another dimension filled with magical creatures and there is a delicate balance that must be maintained between the two worlds. The creatures from The Twixt mark humans as their property and are therefore responsible for them. Ink and his sister Inq are in charge of marking the humans for the creatures. It turns out that Joy has something called “The Sight” where she is able to see the creatures and Ink was trying to protect her by taking her eyes, but he missed. Now that she bears Ink’s mark she has to prove to all the creatures that her and Ink are lovers, because Ink isn’t allowed to make mistakes. If they can’t prove that Joy’s mark was intentional then they could both forfeit their lives.Joy is our heroine in the story and I had mixed feelings about her. She has a really whiny voice at parts in the book and her bad attitude got on my nerves. She kept feeling bad for herself and I felt that in that aspect she never really got any better. Now with that being said, there were things that I really liked about her as well. She is sweet, caring, loyal, and independent. She is pretty good at taking care of herself, but not too stubborn to ask for help if she needs it. For me, I would have to say that she was just a middle of the road character for me. I really wanted to love her, but she was just a little too irritating for me.Ink is a very interesting character. He has the image of a human, but he is missing things like finger nails and a belly button. For me he was a very hard character to connect to, he hasn’t had a lot of interaction with humans before so everything with Joy is new. The problem is that because he is not human he doesn’t have certain characteristics that come naturally to humans. I realize that is what the author was going for when she created him but instead of it helping me to understand him better, it made me not like him as much. He is the love interest in the book and I really wanted to swoon over him, but I just couldn’t.Now I know that this review has sounded pretty negative so far, but to be honest, I actually did like the book. The plot was fun and intriguing and it kept me interested the whole way through. The idea was very unique and different than anything else I have ever read. The romance was actually very sweet and well developed. I love the cover, it is very captivating and fits the book perfectly. The pacing was a little off for me; there were scenes that really seemed to drag and others that I would have liked more detail. I think that would have helped it flow better. So yes, there were some parts that were disappointing, but overall I still thought it was a fun read. I do look forward to the next book in the story and I hope that some of the things I didn’t like about this one will be different in the next installment. I would recommend this to fans of YA Fantasy. I think it would be an enjoyable read for you.Notable Scene:Turning around, Joy squinted. The sky outside was a patchwork of blue-orange low-glow. The wind was blowing through the backyard. She could hear it whistling outside. Maybe a branch was scraping the glass?There was a long, drawn-out scrrrrrrrrrrrick!A large shadow with glowing eyes loomed in the dark. The eyes were shaped like arrowheads and fiery, electric white.Joy stumbled.The eyes slanted in amusement. There was a scratch at the glass again.Joy’s back hit the wall, her whole body tingling. The kitchen phone was still on the couch, impossibly far away.So was her voice. So was her breath. She stared, quivering.A large palm pressed flat against the glass, thick fingers ending in points. There were only four of them. The hand flexed and dropped into darkness, but the eyes were still there, burning.Joy blinked her one eye over and over, gripping the edge of the sliding closet door. She couldn’t be seeing what she was seeing. She wanted to hide behind the coats, but she didn’t dare let the thing out of her sight. If it didn’t stay where she could see it, it could be anywhere.Wake up, she told herself. Wake up, Joy!The eyes narrowed. The claw reappeared and thumped dully against the glass. Once. Twice.FTC Advisory: Harlequin Teen provided me with a copy of Indelible. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[capnrandm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasyallthingsuf.comINDELIBLE starts off with a vivid flourish, claiming old fairy anew. I was quickly enthralled with the story, both for Joy and Ink and their fragile association, and the way Metcalf fearlessly began remaking all of magic and myth and folk into something modern, without losing any of their original wildness and danger.In addition to a fantastic mythology of fairy, Metcalf has written an enjoyable romance. Trying to establish a love affair between a teenager and an immortal being can be problematic, to say the least. INDELIBLE does a wonderful job not glossing over the growing pains. Panic, intrigue, and Ink’s undeniably alien nature all get as much page time as any nascent romance. But underneath that fey nature is an undeniable spark, and as Joy and Ink get to know each other better their attraction takes on a greater emotional weight. The scenes where Ink traces Joy’s ear, learns her hands, are both romantic and magical.But as much as I adored Ink’s fragile humanity, by the last third of the story INDELIBLE's initial momentum began to falter under politics and faction, power structures and committees that I never quite grasped. While I loved Ink and Inq, and the riveting characters that shared their world, the plot itself never made enough sense to create high stakes. There was a villain, there was a threat, there were battles… but all the build up and plotting never quite clicked.INDELIBLE is a vivid, trippy glimpse behind the veil into fairy, and fans of Holly Black and Melissa Marr will enjoy this world. Though the plot got away from me, the main characters were riveting to the end.Sexual Content: References to sex, kissing.