My review of GRACED by Amanda Pillar

The premise carries this story very well. The characters are alive on the page. The MC, Elle is tough and likable. The different classes, vampires, humans, and werewolves are clearly defined. Adding in a new class, the graced, makes this story stand out. The author does a good job with the romance between Elle and Clay. I liked the witty back and forth. Every now and then there was a splash of dialog that didn't work for me, but overall I really liked the story. The only major flaw, for me, obvi My review of GRACED by Amanda Pillar: GRACED is a new twist on the same old vampire/werewolf trope, where a separate class of humans, The Graced, distinguishable by their eye colors, are hiding their supernatural powers from vampires and werewolves who have a higher standing in society. I think the premise carries this story very well. The MC, Elle is tough and likable. The characters are alive on the page. The different classes--vampires, humans, and werewolves are clearly defined. Adding in a new class, the graced, makes this story stand out for me. The author does a good job with the romance between Elle and Clay. I liked their witty back and forth. Every now and then there was a splash of dialog that didn't work for me, but overall I really enjoyed this story. The only major flaw, for me, obviously, since it's entirely subjective, is that all the sex is behind closed doors, which I wasn't expecting based on the genre. Otherwise, a very good read and I will definitely recommend it. I give this 3.5 glittering stars and, in the spirit of fairness, I've rounded up my rating on review sites, since they don't do half stars and my biggest complaint was the lack of sex. So, clearly I like to see the sex. I think a well-written sex scene helps to show the relationship growing (ha. ha.) between two characters, especially during the beginning of the relationship. How do you like your romance? Sex on the page? Off the page? Does explicit sex make you cringe or do you seek out books with a super-steamy rating? How do you like your book sex? Very curious to see how everyone else feels about this. Check it out for yourself. Find GRACED on Goodreads or Amazon. It's also on NetGalley, which provided a free copy in exchange for this honest review. Happy reading, Chelly