(This review can also be found on my blog The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl).


I loved the first book in this series! Precious Blood was a fantastic read. However, Passionaries was a bit mediocre in my opinion.

I like the title, and I believe it is quite fitting for the book. A minor character in the book defines what passionaries are. They are some kind of books related to the Catholic religion. I don't know if that's fictitious or not (I did try searching for it and found nothing).

The cover is very gorgeous as are all of the covers of Tonya Hurley's books. The cover fits the book especially with the guitars and the sword.

The world building was a bit hit and miss. There were times when it seemed like something like this could happen. I mean, who says we can't have modern day saints? However, there were also times when it seemed a bit too unreal such as when people were getting murdered. For example, in one scene, the girls get attacked so they end up killing their attackers. They don't get arrested because there's no evidence. Surely they would've caught them on CCTV or someone would've seen the girls with blood all over them. Plus, there'd be so much forensic evidence. I also felt that sometimes there was sometimes some fight scenes just for the sake of having a fight scene.

The pacing started off slow but eventually find a decent pace. The pacing isn't as good as the first book in the series, but it still held my attention.

As for the plot, I don't really know what's going on. At least in the first book, it was the girls finding out they were saints. However, after reading this book, I don't know what's going on! I realize the girls are saints and there are some people that don't want the world to know that, but what I don't know is the why. Why do these people not want the world to know these girls are saints? I felt that the answer is just not very clear. Passionaries did have a plot twist that I never saw coming. There's also a big cliff hanger at the end of the story as to make way for the third book in the series.

The characters were all fabulously written. The girls are stronger in this book, and their saintly personalities show through. Saying that, Cecelia is more hardcore in this book then in the first one. At least I thought so. Dr. Frey is still very cunning as ever in Passionaries. One thing that did irk me was that Hurley brought in the character of Finn. To me, Finn is a totally pointless character. I really didn't see the relevance in bringing him into the story.

There were times when the dialogue did seem a bit awkward although this was mostly in the beginning of the book. I felt that the meeting between Dr. Frey and some of his associates at the beginning of the book had painful dialogue. It just didn't seem to flow naturally. Luckily, the problem is quickly solved. There is some swearing in Passionaries as well as graphic violence.

All in all, Passionaries fell short of my expectations. It was a little bit too confusing, and the world building just didn't seem all that realistic. I do want to read the next book in the series because I've invested so much time in this series. However, the expected publication is some time in 2015, so I may give it a miss since I tend to forget things that happened in books after so long.

I'd recommend this book to those aged 17 who want to know more about Lucy, Cecelia, and Agnes. ( )

My Summary: Agnes, Cecelia, and Lucy are destined to be saints and martyrs - or so they've been told. Now, with Sebastian gone, they'll have to rely on each other more than ever in order to do as Sebastian wanted and perform the miracles they've been entrusted with. But with him gone, it's harder than ever to believe in themselves, their faith, and their mission ... and time may be running out.

My Thoughts: Having read the first novel in the series, I knew that the second was going to be a wild ride. There's nothing worse than a sequel that doesn't live up to the first in the series, right?

I loved the dark, creepy feeling of the group hunting the girls. The installment definitely upped the ante of the series (even if I did miss Sebastian). I loved the atmosphere of the novel, and I felt like the setting fit the story perfectly - who knew Brooklyn could be so creepy?

The author's signature dark humour really made it easy to connect with the girls, and the characters were written perfectly: you felt their struggle to accept their destinies, and you watched them come to terms with knowing that they were no longer just normal teens.

Final Thoughts: Having finished this novel in one sitting, I can say without a doubt that anyone who enjoyed the first installment will devour this one. I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys paranormal YA with a twist. ( )