Jaime Reed

Jaime Reed has a way with description. Seriously, if anyone needs a lesson in showing vs. telling, pick up one of her books and get schooled.

Phrases like this:

Words flew from my as if they were being chased while my knee knocked Morse code underneath my desk.

I mean what? Jaime fills her books with rich descriptions like this.

But moving on from that. Let's talk about Liam and Ellia and how realistic they are. They are deeply flawed, three dimensional characters with personality and flair. show more Even the parents, the therapists. Every character, even the secondary ones, were fully fleshed.

Lots of laugh out loud moments, and ones that will make you cry, too. show less

Sam is adapting slowly to having Lillith, to being a Cambion, but it isn’t easy. Her new powers of attraction are alienating her friends and a considerable number of her school peers and Caleb’s draw on her is growing to almost ridiculous degrees. Her own draw is attracting a lot of unwanted attention from men – one man in particular.

Malik, he never had time for her before, but now he’s paying far more attention to her. Far too much and he’s not taking no for an answer. With her show more new Cambion powers, Sam has an answer to that – but that just opens up a whole new secret she never imagined – and a secret that is tied heavily to Nadine’s – and Lillith’s – past.

Sam is now torn between what she wants and what Lillith wants and fighting to protect both the man she loves and the life she has, as the Cambions encroach more and more.


This is the second book in the series and has continued the pattern of taking us right to the edge of a trope and then completely subverting it. I see the trope approaching, I’m poised to skewer it and then – last second – we pull back from it and expose it as ridiculous as it is.

This time I thought we were going to have a love triangle. It had all the hallmarks. Here is the evil hot guy to counteract Caleb’s nicer-guyness. Evil Hot Love Interest is physically much sexier than Caleb, Evil Hot Love Interest embraces his evil predatory nature while Caleb fights it, Evil Hot Love Interest is more powerful – it’s a classic YA love triangle we’ve seen repeated over and over (usually with fangs and lots of moping and, as the author wonderfully skewers, with the CW logo in the corner). So I braced myself, I gritted my teeth aaand…

Subversion! I am debating needing a spoiler warning here, but it’s not really a spoiler – or is only a spoiler because this whole book genre has convinced us that super-powerful hot guys who kill people and stalk you are zomg so sexy! Sam appreciates that Tobias is a very attractive man, and there it ends. She doesn’t consensually work with him, he pushed and manipulates and it’s not a sign of twu luv and devotion, it’s a sign of predatory behaviour and Sam treats him (almost) accordingly.


Does that mean I’m generally happy with Sam this book? Not so much. In the last book I liked Sam’s common sense, I liked her strong determination to do what she needed to do. I liked that she could look past emotion and woo-woo and see the truth. I liked her practicality, her intelligence and general avoidance of so many of the tropes that have become staple in the genre. This time she did things that individually probably wouldn’t have bothered me – but collectively reduce the character.

She is being stalked by EHLI and instead of actually telling people with the power/insight to do something about it she tries to make deals with him instead. She makes deals that involve her cutting off Caleb when she knows he’s dependent on her – which sends him on the rampage. She guards her house against him then lets him in. She wanders off with him on occasion despite his behaviour suggesting she should be screaming and dialling 911. It just doesn’t work for me – she treats him like the villain he is some of the time and then extends considerable unworthy trust to him the others.

I also don’t like how much she’s letting slide. One thing Sam had going for her was her sense of priorities - focusing on her own goals and school work and not letting romance drop them. But this book her grades drop, she spends no time with her friends (both of whom now seriously dislike her and I’m not entirely sure why) and less time with Caleb… so what is she actually doing? Is it just down to stress of the whole situation? If so that needed more overtly labelling, because she seemed to be spending less time with Caleb, less time at school, less time socialising and, because of her mother’s deeply creepy GPS, less time away from home – so what is she spending time on? show less

Sam knows what she wants and needs – she needs money for a new car, she has plans to go to college. She studies and she works. She doesn’t have the time or, frankly, the inclination for a hot romance.

Caleb would also rather like to avoid them – but you wouldn’t know it by the women constantly throwing themselves at him. Something that becomes only more sinister as they start dropping around him, unusual victims of heart attacks and worse. Sam seems to be one of the few immune to his show more allure, but is drawn into his world and its secrets anyway


I love that this is a YA paranormal romance that rewrites so many of the tropes we’ve seen so many times in one long delicious subversion.

We have a magical sexy power that causes the person to literally starve without sex (and other alternatives, but sex is definitely a big one). He needs sexual contact! And his power means nearly all women find him utterly irresistible to a point where the particularly lonely and broken hearted are driven to assault him in desperation.

Which sounds like another recipe for woo-woo justifying sexual coercion and forcing a relationship based on magic rather than genuine connection… but it doesn’t because Sam is immune. Yes, I was shocked too – they bring in a love interest with super sexy magic power then make the protagonist immune to them – completely immune to his coercive sexy magic, unswayed by his magnetism. Not only that but she doesn’t even think he’s all that hot. Oh he’s cute and all, in his way, but super-smoking, she-can’t-stop-thinking-about-him? Nope. Not at all, besides she’s not really in the market for a boyfriend anyway; partly it’s her parents fear of her following in their teenaged-pregnancy footsteps and partly her own disinterest and focus on other things in her life right now. Boys just don’t have to be her priority.

At which point I look at the author and wonder if they’ve got the right genre.

This leaves Sam and Caleb to become a couple through music and spending time together and mutual interests. It means that, while they do fall in love, they do so in a more organic, natural fashion after getting to know each other. There’s even one point when he asks how much she likes him and Sam says:

“You a’ight”
“Sam”
“What do you want me to say? We’ve just started talking” – I check my invisible watch – “a few weeks ago. We’re still in the introductory stage.”

Yes, I want to frame it and hang it in a museum for its sheer rarity. There’s no insta-love, there’s a slowly developed love. There’s no overwhelming, obsessive attraction – it’s just 2 people who get to know each other well and come to love each other.

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I read lots of paranormal books and while I love them, I'm always looking for something different to shake up my reading routine. I was very pleasantly surprised and rewarded by Living Violet because there is nothing cookie cutter about this book. There is no high school angst, no love triangle and absolutely no insta-love. Living Violet is original, well paced and a completely enjoyable read.

I'm a character driven reader and Samara is an awesome main character. The book is told from her show more perspective and she is very likable. Jamie Reed writes relationships well and I love how she portrays Samara’s relationships with her parents and friends. Samara is a smart, responsible, take-no-nonsense kind of girl and her personality stays true throughout the book.

By far, my favorite part of the book is Samara’s voice. She is witty, funny and sarcastic. Samara is the kind of girl I would want to be friends with, and as a matter of fact, her honest (and humorous) outlook on life’s situations reminds me of some of my own friends.

I also love how Caleb’s character is developed. We are not sure about Caleb at first. We know there is something different about him but we don’t know if he is a good or bad guy. I love the unique paranormal elements of the story and the big reveal was worth the wait. I don’t think I have read another YA book about this subject before.

Living Violet exceeded my expectations and with its diverse and interesting cast of characters, it’s the perfect book to kick-off the Multi-Cultural Book Challenge. I raced through this book and I am dying for the sequel, Burning Emerald, which comes out in May.

On a side note: I love that the author is lighthearted enough to poke a little fun at the YA paranormal romance genre with the Specter (a fictional novel mentioned in the book) references. There are more than a few lines in this book that made me laugh out loud, in a really good way.

Content: Some profanity, sexual discussions, attempted rape, kissing and violence. show less