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Bleeding Earth
Between Mother Nature and human nature, disasters are inevitable.
Lea was in a cemetery when the earth started bleeding. Within twenty-four hours, the blood made international news. All over the world, blood oozed out of the ground, even through the concrete, even in the water. Then the earth started growing hair and bones. Lea wishes she could ignore the blood. She wishes she could spend time with her new girlfriend, Aracely, in public, if only Aracely wasn't so afraid of her father. Lea wants to be a regular teen again, but the blood has made her a prisoner in her own home. Fear for her social life turns into fear for her sanity, and Lea must save herself and her girlfriend however she can.
Lea was in a cemetery when the earth started bleeding. Within twenty-four hours, the blood made international news. All over the world, blood oozed out of the ground, even through the concrete, even in the water. Then the earth started growing hair and bones. Lea wishes she could ignore the blood. She wishes she could spend time with her new girlfriend, Aracely, in public, if only Aracely wasn't so afraid of her father. Lea wants to be a regular teen again, but the blood has made her a prisoner in her own home. Fear for her social life turns into fear for her sanity, and Lea must save herself and her girlfriend however she can.
247 pages, Paperback
First published February 9, 2016
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January 21, 2015
This book sounded really cool. Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment.
It's not really about a girl dealing with the apocalypse. It's about a girl being an annoying teenager while the apocalypse makes the world disgusting. I didn't care about any of the characters, despite several attempts to flesh them and their lives out.
Here are some of my many issues with this book:
1. First person present tense. No. Stop. This should only be done if the writing is seriously amazing, which this writing was not.
2. Extremely awkward and surprisingly frequent use of the F word.
3. Inconsistency. Early in the book, we get this line: "School's closed for the foreseeable future, as are most workplaces considered unessential—like Mom's." But then the mom continues to go to work for half the book.
I was also really annoyed by how the blood was handled. It was several inches high and everyone walked carefully so it wouldn't get over the tops of their boots. And then suddenly the characters are running through it. At one point it was low enough to walk through with boots, but somehow high enough to flood a car engine.
4. Half-formed ideas. Blood-tinged rain, mentioned once. The hair in the blood starting to attack people (only the main character, that we know of), mentioned maybe three times. But then the ideas were abandoned altogether.
5. Lame descriptions. Can we stop with the lame descriptive writing that sometimes have nothing to do with anything and seem totally out of place in the story? The tension in here is thicker than the blood outside. LAME. My heart claws at my throat with razor-sharp barbs. UGH. I feel like our relationship is sun-dried sand, falling through the cracks between my fingers. WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT SAND.
6. Character stupidity/Idiot main character. Back to that flooded car engine. That incident took the characters by surprise. It legitimately never occurred to them that driving through a liquid substance would damage their car. Have they never dealt with flooding before, or even heard of what happens when you drive through floods?
Lea (the main character) gets a bit of blood in her hair (from the blood-tinged rain) at one point and wants to wash it out, but her parents won't let her because of water conservation. Her response? How could I have thought they'd understand? Neither of them has tried to attract anyone in a long, long time. Yes, people who aren't trying to attract other people never wash their hair, and having enough water to drink shouldn't be the first priority anyway.
Despite the difficulties and danger of walking through blood and hair and bone, and having to breathe through a respirator outside, Lea decides to attend an apocalypse party in the park. So basically a bunch of teenagers are wading around in blood and drinking beer through a straw while wearing respirators. Uh, fun? And then someone dares someone else to drink a cup of the hairy toxic blood, and they're totally going to. What the hell is wrong with these people?
7. Idiot logic. "I know if we're skipping school we should be watching the news," she says. "But I can't." I'm pretty sure nobody ever skipped school in order to watch the news. And the news in this book is all about the blood anyway.
The earth isn't trying to kill us; it's trying to unite us. What other explanation is there for the way my parents seem to have become warmer toward each other? Right, there is literally no other explanation for sudden warmth between two married people.
8. The blood. Even though it started out sounding cool, I ended up hating this idea. It was disgusting, and that was about it. It turned out to be such a weird way to bring on an apocalyptic scenario. And the explanations? "The earth is attacking us." "The earth is uniting us." "God's doing it." "Obligatory quote from the story of Noah." "Another Bible quote from Ezekiel." So what was the real explanation?
I hope other people find something to enjoy in this book, but it definitely wasn't for me.
I received this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
It's not really about a girl dealing with the apocalypse. It's about a girl being an annoying teenager while the apocalypse makes the world disgusting. I didn't care about any of the characters, despite several attempts to flesh them and their lives out.
Here are some of my many issues with this book:
1. First person present tense. No. Stop. This should only be done if the writing is seriously amazing, which this writing was not.
2. Extremely awkward and surprisingly frequent use of the F word.
3. Inconsistency. Early in the book, we get this line: "School's closed for the foreseeable future, as are most workplaces considered unessential—like Mom's." But then the mom continues to go to work for half the book.
I was also really annoyed by how the blood was handled. It was several inches high and everyone walked carefully so it wouldn't get over the tops of their boots. And then suddenly the characters are running through it. At one point it was low enough to walk through with boots, but somehow high enough to flood a car engine.
4. Half-formed ideas. Blood-tinged rain, mentioned once. The hair in the blood starting to attack people (only the main character, that we know of), mentioned maybe three times. But then the ideas were abandoned altogether.
5. Lame descriptions. Can we stop with the lame descriptive writing that sometimes have nothing to do with anything and seem totally out of place in the story? The tension in here is thicker than the blood outside. LAME. My heart claws at my throat with razor-sharp barbs. UGH. I feel like our relationship is sun-dried sand, falling through the cracks between my fingers. WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT SAND.
6. Character stupidity/Idiot main character. Back to that flooded car engine. That incident took the characters by surprise. It legitimately never occurred to them that driving through a liquid substance would damage their car. Have they never dealt with flooding before, or even heard of what happens when you drive through floods?
Lea (the main character) gets a bit of blood in her hair (from the blood-tinged rain) at one point and wants to wash it out, but her parents won't let her because of water conservation. Her response? How could I have thought they'd understand? Neither of them has tried to attract anyone in a long, long time. Yes, people who aren't trying to attract other people never wash their hair, and having enough water to drink shouldn't be the first priority anyway.
Despite the difficulties and danger of walking through blood and hair and bone, and having to breathe through a respirator outside, Lea decides to attend an apocalypse party in the park. So basically a bunch of teenagers are wading around in blood and drinking beer through a straw while wearing respirators. Uh, fun? And then someone dares someone else to drink a cup of the hairy toxic blood, and they're totally going to. What the hell is wrong with these people?
7. Idiot logic. "I know if we're skipping school we should be watching the news," she says. "But I can't." I'm pretty sure nobody ever skipped school in order to watch the news. And the news in this book is all about the blood anyway.
The earth isn't trying to kill us; it's trying to unite us. What other explanation is there for the way my parents seem to have become warmer toward each other? Right, there is literally no other explanation for sudden warmth between two married people.
8. The blood. Even though it started out sounding cool, I ended up hating this idea. It was disgusting, and that was about it. It turned out to be such a weird way to bring on an apocalyptic scenario. And the explanations? "The earth is attacking us." "The earth is uniting us." "God's doing it." "Obligatory quote from the story of Noah." "Another Bible quote from Ezekiel." So what was the real explanation?
I hope other people find something to enjoy in this book, but it definitely wasn't for me.
I received this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 27, 2015
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Egmont USA and NetGalley.)
“This is the beginning of the end.”
This was an interesting apocalyptic/ horror story, although the ending did leave me with unanswered questions.
“The blood I saw today was only the beginning. It’s happening everywhere. Everywhere in the entire world.”
I liked Lea, and I felt really sorry for her at points. What was happening with the blood was really not nice, and when people started acting like idiots it made things worse. Lea wasn’t exempt from making bad decisions though, who thinks it’s a good idea to go to a party in the park when the world is flooded with blood and hair?
“The usual ten-minute walk from my house to the park turns into twenty because I have to pick my way across the bone-encrusted ground. I trip twice, but luckily, I regain my balance both times. Hair catches at my boots, but I pull free of that, too, without having to use my knife. This party is starting to feel like a really terrible idea.”
The storyline in this was pretty good, and as things got worse and worse, and things got worse and worse, and more and more disgusting, the book actually got more and more interesting!
“Hey, Hill, look out, it’s…” I trail off because what’s smeared on the heel of my shoes isn’t mud. It’s darker. It’s red.
“What happened?” Hillary’s voice has an edge again.
“I don’t know. Something weird’s on my shoe.”
I crouch and inspect the ground. The grass is slick with a reddish-copper substance.
“Blood,” I say aloud. “I just stepped in f*cking blood.”
I have to say that this book did get pretty gross as it went on, but it was actually nice to read a book that was moderately gross and scary, and didn’t just pretend to be a horror story! I also liked how atmospheric this story was, I could actually imagined how disgusting it would be to be going through something like this!
“The web of hair hidden beneath the blood’s surface is wicked thick at this point. It bothers me more than anything else. Because it’s hair. Other people’s hair. Dead people’s hair. And not just from their heads.”
There was some romance, although not a lot. It was girl on girl though, which I know some people might not appreciate. Lea and Aracely were pretty cute together though, and I really wanted them to stay together, even if Aracely’s parents weren’t aware of the relationship!
“Then we find that moment where everything aligns, and the kissing feels like kissing and I decide it’s a great one.”
The ending to this wasn’t perfect for me. I liked the way things escalated, I liked that there was lots of deaths, lots of obstacles, and lots of questions over who would live and who would die, but I felt like when the book ended, there were still loads of unanswered questions!
Overall; a disgustingly bloody story, with plenty of death and disaster!
7.5 out of 10
“It’s the sidewalk people are pointing at. The sidewalk they’re abandoning in droves.
But the sidewalk’s fine. It’s –
It’s not fine.
Holy sh*t.
I crouch carefully on the bottom step, peering down. There’s something red seeping up through the cracks between slabs of the sidewalk. Spilling over and dripping onto the street. It’s impossible and it’s insane, and part of me thinks I’m having a hallucination.
Beloveds, don’t be afraid, the sign still proclaims brightly beside me. But I am. I am suddenly so afraid that the fear becomes a white-hot brand, pressed into my heart. And I should be, because something impossible is happening.
The earth is bleeding.”
“This is the beginning of the end.”
This was an interesting apocalyptic/ horror story, although the ending did leave me with unanswered questions.
“The blood I saw today was only the beginning. It’s happening everywhere. Everywhere in the entire world.”
I liked Lea, and I felt really sorry for her at points. What was happening with the blood was really not nice, and when people started acting like idiots it made things worse. Lea wasn’t exempt from making bad decisions though, who thinks it’s a good idea to go to a party in the park when the world is flooded with blood and hair?
“The usual ten-minute walk from my house to the park turns into twenty because I have to pick my way across the bone-encrusted ground. I trip twice, but luckily, I regain my balance both times. Hair catches at my boots, but I pull free of that, too, without having to use my knife. This party is starting to feel like a really terrible idea.”
The storyline in this was pretty good, and as things got worse and worse, and things got worse and worse, and more and more disgusting, the book actually got more and more interesting!
“Hey, Hill, look out, it’s…” I trail off because what’s smeared on the heel of my shoes isn’t mud. It’s darker. It’s red.
“What happened?” Hillary’s voice has an edge again.
“I don’t know. Something weird’s on my shoe.”
I crouch and inspect the ground. The grass is slick with a reddish-copper substance.
“Blood,” I say aloud. “I just stepped in f*cking blood.”
I have to say that this book did get pretty gross as it went on, but it was actually nice to read a book that was moderately gross and scary, and didn’t just pretend to be a horror story! I also liked how atmospheric this story was, I could actually imagined how disgusting it would be to be going through something like this!
“The web of hair hidden beneath the blood’s surface is wicked thick at this point. It bothers me more than anything else. Because it’s hair. Other people’s hair. Dead people’s hair. And not just from their heads.”
There was some romance, although not a lot. It was girl on girl though, which I know some people might not appreciate. Lea and Aracely were pretty cute together though, and I really wanted them to stay together, even if Aracely’s parents weren’t aware of the relationship!
“Then we find that moment where everything aligns, and the kissing feels like kissing and I decide it’s a great one.”
The ending to this wasn’t perfect for me. I liked the way things escalated, I liked that there was lots of deaths, lots of obstacles, and lots of questions over who would live and who would die, but I felt like when the book ended, there were still loads of unanswered questions!
Overall; a disgustingly bloody story, with plenty of death and disaster!
7.5 out of 10
“It’s the sidewalk people are pointing at. The sidewalk they’re abandoning in droves.
But the sidewalk’s fine. It’s –
It’s not fine.
Holy sh*t.
I crouch carefully on the bottom step, peering down. There’s something red seeping up through the cracks between slabs of the sidewalk. Spilling over and dripping onto the street. It’s impossible and it’s insane, and part of me thinks I’m having a hallucination.
Beloveds, don’t be afraid, the sign still proclaims brightly beside me. But I am. I am suddenly so afraid that the fear becomes a white-hot brand, pressed into my heart. And I should be, because something impossible is happening.
The earth is bleeding.”
February 3, 2016
Three wishy-washy stars. I liked parts of it, but the things that bugged me really bugged me.
High schooler Lea has it pretty good. Loving parents, despite their bickering. A new relationship still in the honeymoon stage with a girl that gives her butterflies. Good friends, including BFF Hillary who would do anything for her. Everything at the base of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
So when the earth starts oozing blood, Lea's first instinct is to ignore it. I mean, she can't, but she tries. There is a pond of fucking blood outside her door. You can't just ignore it and keep on making out with your girlfriend, Lea! Actually, everyone in Bleeding Earth seems pretty cavalier about having blood and hunks of hair and bone in the street. I for one would be freaking the fuck out like a normal adult. I would not be trudging through the bloodpocalypse to go to work.
Before I ramble too much, let's talk what I did like. First, the concept. Does it make a lick of sense? No. It makes 2012 and The Day after Tomorrow look like documentaries. However, I must give props for originality. Credit where credit is due. It was also quite readable. That might sound like a weak compliment, and maybe it is, but it's a positive nonetheless.
However, it didn't provoke any strong emotions from me. The best books, the ones that end up being favorites, always hit me with a punch of emotion. They piss me off, make me cry, make me feel something. Bleeding Earth wasn't memorable. It was flat and lacked feeling. Its failure to inspire and excite is its biggest shortcoming for me.
Also, I like blood. That sounds bad. Ummm, fictional blood? Yeah, that sounds less psycho. I don't care for exaggerated gore generally, but at the very least, don't have someone die in a bloody way, then not have any blood. Have the necessary amount of blood. The following spoilers are not for Bleeding Earth but for Buffy the Vampire Slayer aka the greatest show on earth. I realize I am spoiler-tagging a show that aired nearly 20 years ago. Doing it anyway. So in addition to the earth spewing up gore, the character deaths in Bleeding Earth were appropriately bloody. I have some issues with the tone and timing of some of them, but that's a check mark in the blood quantity column.
Please don't put me on a watchlist somewhere for talking about blood so much, kay?
What didn't work for me was first and foremost the lack of explanation / the ending.
There were also a few ideas that never went anywhere, such as some weird religious undertones and Lea's visions. (hallucinations? I don't know what to call them really.) Then there's the fact that the blood was toxic or poison or something. Which how can they know that? How do they know that it's not just people losing their damn minds because THE GROUND IS FUCKING BLEEDING?
So, Bleeding Earth has good points and bad, much like most books I suppose. However for me, there weren't enough good points (aside from a cool concept) to elevate it from average.
Big thanks to Adaptive Books & Edelweiss for the digital review copy!
High schooler Lea has it pretty good. Loving parents, despite their bickering. A new relationship still in the honeymoon stage with a girl that gives her butterflies. Good friends, including BFF Hillary who would do anything for her. Everything at the base of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
So when the earth starts oozing blood, Lea's first instinct is to ignore it. I mean, she can't, but she tries. There is a pond of fucking blood outside her door. You can't just ignore it and keep on making out with your girlfriend, Lea! Actually, everyone in Bleeding Earth seems pretty cavalier about having blood and hunks of hair and bone in the street. I for one would be freaking the fuck out like a normal adult. I would not be trudging through the bloodpocalypse to go to work.
Before I ramble too much, let's talk what I did like. First, the concept. Does it make a lick of sense? No. It makes 2012 and The Day after Tomorrow look like documentaries. However, I must give props for originality. Credit where credit is due. It was also quite readable. That might sound like a weak compliment, and maybe it is, but it's a positive nonetheless.
However, it didn't provoke any strong emotions from me. The best books, the ones that end up being favorites, always hit me with a punch of emotion. They piss me off, make me cry, make me feel something. Bleeding Earth wasn't memorable. It was flat and lacked feeling. Its failure to inspire and excite is its biggest shortcoming for me.
Also, I like blood. That sounds bad. Ummm, fictional blood? Yeah, that sounds less psycho. I don't care for exaggerated gore generally, but at the very least, don't have someone die in a bloody way, then not have any blood. Have the necessary amount of blood. The following spoilers are not for Bleeding Earth but for Buffy the Vampire Slayer aka the greatest show on earth. I realize I am spoiler-tagging a show that aired nearly 20 years ago. Doing it anyway. So in addition to the earth spewing up gore, the character deaths in Bleeding Earth were appropriately bloody. I have some issues with the tone and timing of some of them, but that's a check mark in the blood quantity column.
Please don't put me on a watchlist somewhere for talking about blood so much, kay?
What didn't work for me was first and foremost the lack of explanation / the ending.
There were also a few ideas that never went anywhere, such as some weird religious undertones and Lea's visions. (hallucinations? I don't know what to call them really.) Then there's the fact that the blood was toxic or poison or something. Which how can they know that? How do they know that it's not just people losing their damn minds because THE GROUND IS FUCKING BLEEDING?
So, Bleeding Earth has good points and bad, much like most books I suppose. However for me, there weren't enough good points (aside from a cool concept) to elevate it from average.
Big thanks to Adaptive Books & Edelweiss for the digital review copy!
Want to read
December 3, 2014Wait. This sounds AMAZING.
Looks creepy and awesome and I want it now please.
Lea was in a cemetery when the earth started bleeding. Within twenty-four hours, the blood made international news. All over the world, blood appeared out of the ground, even through concrete, even in water. Then the earth started growing hair and bones.
Lea wants to ignore the blood. She wants to spend time with her new girlfriend, Aracely, in public, if only Aracely wasn’t so afraid of her father. Lea wants to be a regular teen again, but the blood has made her a prisoner in her own home. Fear for her social life turns into fear for her sanity, and Lea must save herself and Aracely whatever way she can.
Looks creepy and awesome and I want it now please.
February 19, 2015
2.5 stars
This book had some really great parts, but others really could have used more work. This is obviously the work of a debut author, but Bleeding Earth was one of the better ones this year.
So the parts I liked:'
As the world starts descending into this bloody apocalyptic mess, people start getting really desperate. I love how everyone was first confused, but then they sort of lost that human part of themselves and started to fight with each other. This slow descent really is scary but all too real.
I also liked the narrator. She's tough and also has a sexual preference different from most narrators, as she's lesbian. This sort of stuff is really unique and I loved reading about it.
Now for the stuff that wasn't so good:
The side characters were all extremely underdeveloped. They were basically all the same people.
And the ending was so inconclusive. It was a walking-into-the-sunset sort of ending and how the whole bleeding earth thing was resolved was extremely vague.
The book felt very short and I also feel like there was no purpose. In addition to that, things felt a little messy.
And in general, this book didn't feel like the work of an experienced author, but I can see potential for this author.
This book had some really great parts, but others really could have used more work. This is obviously the work of a debut author, but Bleeding Earth was one of the better ones this year.
So the parts I liked:'
As the world starts descending into this bloody apocalyptic mess, people start getting really desperate. I love how everyone was first confused, but then they sort of lost that human part of themselves and started to fight with each other. This slow descent really is scary but all too real.
I also liked the narrator. She's tough and also has a sexual preference different from most narrators, as she's lesbian. This sort of stuff is really unique and I loved reading about it.
Now for the stuff that wasn't so good:
The side characters were all extremely underdeveloped. They were basically all the same people.
And the ending was so inconclusive. It was a walking-into-the-sunset sort of ending and how the whole bleeding earth thing was resolved was extremely vague.
The book felt very short and I also feel like there was no purpose. In addition to that, things felt a little messy.
And in general, this book didn't feel like the work of an experienced author, but I can see potential for this author.
February 25, 2016
This book was so EXTRA. In every single way. Bloody, emotional, terrifying.
Longer review to come.
Longer review to come.
February 5, 2017
Ahhh this was awesome. Review to come!
REVIEW:
Right from the start I'm going to say this book is gross in the best way possible. It's gory, and disgusting, and easily has the least pleasant apocalyptic scenario I've read yet—from the decay to the paranormal-ish all around unpleasantness, this is a seriously nasty end of the world book.
And I loved every page.
This is not a coming out book. Lea knows right from the start that she likes to date girls, and she's already (just) started dating Aracely when the book begins. And it was really great to read a book with queer girls who not only already know they like each other from the start, but are fighting something completely unrelated to their sexuality. Aracely isn't out at the beginning of the book, but Bleeding Earth isn't about Aracely coming out or people's reactions to two girls dating—it's about the world ending in the most disgusting and inexplicable way possible and two girls trying to survive and hold on to each other while the whole world falls apart and rots away.
This is a creepy as hell survival book that messes with your head and makes you question what you think you know. It's gory (as you would expect in a book about the world literally drowning in blood), violent, chock-full of tension and kept me turning the pages and itching to get back to the book when I wasn't reading.
I definitely recommend this one for those who can handle a little (or a lot) of grossness with their scary. It's so good even though I borrowed it from the library, I pre-ordered myself a (gorgeous!) Bleeding Earth paperback copy even though I won't get it until February.
All in all I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to read more from Kaitlin Ward!
REVIEW:
Right from the start I'm going to say this book is gross in the best way possible. It's gory, and disgusting, and easily has the least pleasant apocalyptic scenario I've read yet—from the decay to the paranormal-ish all around unpleasantness, this is a seriously nasty end of the world book.
And I loved every page.
This is not a coming out book. Lea knows right from the start that she likes to date girls, and she's already (just) started dating Aracely when the book begins. And it was really great to read a book with queer girls who not only already know they like each other from the start, but are fighting something completely unrelated to their sexuality. Aracely isn't out at the beginning of the book, but Bleeding Earth isn't about Aracely coming out or people's reactions to two girls dating—it's about the world ending in the most disgusting and inexplicable way possible and two girls trying to survive and hold on to each other while the whole world falls apart and rots away.
This is a creepy as hell survival book that messes with your head and makes you question what you think you know. It's gory (as you would expect in a book about the world literally drowning in blood), violent, chock-full of tension and kept me turning the pages and itching to get back to the book when I wasn't reading.
I definitely recommend this one for those who can handle a little (or a lot) of grossness with their scary. It's so good even though I borrowed it from the library, I pre-ordered myself a (gorgeous!) Bleeding Earth paperback copy even though I won't get it until February.
All in all I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to read more from Kaitlin Ward!
February 5, 2015
ARC by Netgalley.
2.5 stars.
Well, It was bloody... and also annoying.
The earth is suddenly bleeding and no one has a sense of urgency. Seriously, there's blood on the street and kids still go to school, people keep working and our MC Lea, only cares about her girlfriend and hanging out with her friends.
Really? I mean THE EARTH IS BLEEDING. I would be freaking out but still Lea tells us that her town is calmed because well, they are a small town and they want to set and example.
The book felt like a YA version of a Stephen King book.
A small town, the end is coming, the characters slowly lose their minds... but with a lesbian twist. I truly liked Lea and Aracely. And the fact that Lea had been out for a while (and had three girlfriends) while Aracely hadn't and Lea didn't push her to come out. That was incredible.
The blood was quite... scary too. Because at first there's blood, there's human hair, it rains blood and it gets worst. And the explanation for all of this left me very disappointed.
Lea felt like a teenager. Which, I suppose is cool that someone writes a teenage girl correctly but she was also very annoying. It's the end of the world and she whines because her parents tell her to stay in her house while outside there's toxic blood everywhere.
But overall it was entertaining, though the ending can leave you quite frustated.
2.5 stars.
Beloveds, don’t be afraid, the sign still proclaims brightly beside me.
But I am. I am suddenly so afraid that the fear becomes a white-hot brand, pressed into my heart. And I should be, because something impossible is happening.
The earth is bleeding.
Well, It was bloody... and also annoying.
The earth is suddenly bleeding and no one has a sense of urgency. Seriously, there's blood on the street and kids still go to school, people keep working and our MC Lea, only cares about her girlfriend and hanging out with her friends.
Really? I mean THE EARTH IS BLEEDING. I would be freaking out but still Lea tells us that her town is calmed because well, they are a small town and they want to set and example.
The book felt like a YA version of a Stephen King book.
A small town, the end is coming, the characters slowly lose their minds... but with a lesbian twist. I truly liked Lea and Aracely. And the fact that Lea had been out for a while (and had three girlfriends) while Aracely hadn't and Lea didn't push her to come out. That was incredible.
The blood was quite... scary too. Because at first there's blood, there's human hair, it rains blood and it gets worst. And the explanation for all of this left me very disappointed.
Lea felt like a teenager. Which, I suppose is cool that someone writes a teenage girl correctly but she was also very annoying. It's the end of the world and she whines because her parents tell her to stay in her house while outside there's toxic blood everywhere.
But overall it was entertaining, though the ending can leave you quite frustated.
Read
December 4, 2014kaitlin is a best friend & critique partner of mine, & I'm happy to say BLEEDING EARTH is disturbing, bloody, exciting, apocalypsey, bloody, unsettling, bloody, and romantic, too -- everything you're hoping it it'll be, and so much more.
so much more BLOOD.
so much more BLOOD.
Want to read
June 29, 2014YESS! a dystopian novel about two girlfriends! I'm really really reallyyyyy looking forward to this one.
July 7, 2018
It was a very interesting idea, but the execution was strange to me. In the end, you're still left with a lot of questions and hardly any answers. Why did the blood come in the first place? More importantly, whose blood and bones and hair was it? It had me thinking that maybe the earth itself was coming alive and it was going to swallow everything whole, but...none of that happens.
And Lea's connection with the blood is never explained either. Was the blood really calling out to her? Was she really hallucinating in the end? I was actually very disappointed that we never got a reason as to why even though she hallucinated, she had blood on her fingers and there was blood on that piece of paper that time she was in her room. I'm convinced the author forget about those clues she left out for us.
This book could have gone in so many different and shocking directions but instead, it had a very anticlimactic ending. The only parts that really got my attention was when Lea's mom tried to save her with the gun and the horrific revelation of Hillary and her family.
This was such a good concept and I loved the LGBTQ representation too, but there definitely could have been more to the story.
And Lea's connection with the blood is never explained either. Was the blood really calling out to her? Was she really hallucinating in the end? I was actually very disappointed that we never got a reason as to why even though she hallucinated, she had blood on her fingers and there was blood on that piece of paper that time she was in her room. I'm convinced the author forget about those clues she left out for us.
This book could have gone in so many different and shocking directions but instead, it had a very anticlimactic ending. The only parts that really got my attention was when Lea's mom tried to save her with the gun and the horrific revelation of Hillary and her family.
This was such a good concept and I loved the LGBTQ representation too, but there definitely could have been more to the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2015
(I received a copy from Netgalley, In exchange for an honest review.)
Actual rating - 3.5
This was a decent read, but the ending ruined it for me.
I liked Lea, even though she could be quite stupid at points. I liked Aracely too, and thought they made a really cute couple.
The storyline was interesting, and the pacing was just right, so I didn't get bored. If it wasn't for the ending, this would have been a solid 4 star rating.
I wasn't satisfied with the ending at all, and it really, really annoyed me.
Overall, Good read, But don't expect to be 100% satisfied with the ending.
Actual rating - 3.5
This was a decent read, but the ending ruined it for me.
I liked Lea, even though she could be quite stupid at points. I liked Aracely too, and thought they made a really cute couple.
The storyline was interesting, and the pacing was just right, so I didn't get bored. If it wasn't for the ending, this would have been a solid 4 star rating.
I wasn't satisfied with the ending at all, and it really, really annoyed me.
Overall, Good read, But don't expect to be 100% satisfied with the ending.
July 21, 2022
I had high hopes for this book. Both from the summary/book jacket and from the first few chapters. I knew to expect some level of melodramatics just because it's a teen novel, and I think had it remained close to what it was when I started the book, it would have been okay. But there was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing in this book.
It is very hard to write in first person and not say "I was scared" and other emotional statements, but the sheer repetitiveness of these things made them much less effective, to the point that I found myself emotionally distanced from Lea instead. I don't feel that old, but maybe I'm just getting too old for teen books. The dialogue was shallow when it trying to be day-to-day teen interaction, the whole keg party and sneaking out, among other things, was standard teen fiction fare (not to mention cliche; where are the books about the teens who don't just party and drink all weekend?), and the emotional oscillation of the characters seemed really overdone (but I'm not so old I don't remember being like that sometimes at that age).
I wanted to read it because it was queer, but mostly I wanted to read it because the idea of blood flooding the planet intrigued me. As far as apocalypses go, it seemed fresh and original. Add in clumps of hair and even bones and I definitely wanted to know what this book was about. Except,
And, in addition to the melodrama, it didn't feel like there was much plot going on. The plot is to survive the blood, and the end goal becomes . This goal is established much farther into the book than I would have expected, only adding to the meandering, stagnant plot feel caused by
Also, did anyone else know "concernedly" is a word? Because it doesn't sound like one to me. The number of unnecessary and attention-distracting -ly adverbs in this book was a little crazy.
As with most teen books, it's one of those "if only it had been written for adults" things. I'm sure part of it is just that it's geared towards teens and I can't really take the genre seriously anymore, but in this case, especially for the horror side of it, I think it could have done so well as an adult novel.
It is very hard to write in first person and not say "I was scared" and other emotional statements, but the sheer repetitiveness of these things made them much less effective, to the point that I found myself emotionally distanced from Lea instead. I don't feel that old, but maybe I'm just getting too old for teen books. The dialogue was shallow when it trying to be day-to-day teen interaction, the whole keg party and sneaking out, among other things, was standard teen fiction fare (not to mention cliche; where are the books about the teens who don't just party and drink all weekend?), and the emotional oscillation of the characters seemed really overdone (but I'm not so old I don't remember being like that sometimes at that age).
I wanted to read it because it was queer, but mostly I wanted to read it because the idea of blood flooding the planet intrigued me. As far as apocalypses go, it seemed fresh and original. Add in clumps of hair and even bones and I definitely wanted to know what this book was about. Except,
And, in addition to the melodrama, it didn't feel like there was much plot going on. The plot is to survive the blood, and the end goal becomes . This goal is established much farther into the book than I would have expected, only adding to the meandering, stagnant plot feel caused by
Also, did anyone else know "concernedly" is a word? Because it doesn't sound like one to me. The number of unnecessary and attention-distracting -ly adverbs in this book was a little crazy.
As with most teen books, it's one of those "if only it had been written for adults" things. I'm sure part of it is just that it's geared towards teens and I can't really take the genre seriously anymore, but in this case, especially for the horror side of it, I think it could have done so well as an adult novel.
March 13, 2023
I really wish I could've enjoyed this book more - the premise of "lesbians press onward during the sanguineous demise of a broken world" intrigued me immediately as a bisexual trans person, plus I usually love horror (or, really, any book) with unconventional/"weird" plots. In most regards, however, Bleeding Earth just...fell flat. The characters were generally unlikeable despite half-hearted attempts at fleshing out their personalities (the only time I really felt my heartstrings get tugged was when Lea found her best friend's maimed corpse); the writing style was dull and choppy in counterintuitive ways; and the anticlimactic ending left a plethora of loose ends - including the true origin of the blood - untied. The novel had its good facets - such as the queer romance and the aforementioned quirkiness of the concept - but, overall, the whole does not equate to the sum of its scattershot parts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2016
Well, that was surprising. I didn't like it. Nuh uh, no way, and see ya later. I mean, honestly? I expected so much more out of this and then I started it and it was meh, and then bleh. If you cannot tell, I literally cannot force words out of me that do not exist. This book was awful, genuinely, horribly awful and now I feel like a despicable human being for saying so on the internet.
IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO BE ORIGINAL ANYMORE! Jeesh. I swear, all the books these days - well, all apocalyptic books - seem to just be recycled versions of the exact same thing over, and over again. I will say, Bleeding Earth sounded interesting - the whole idea of Earth spewing blood sounded nasty and amazing, and then I read it and it destroyed all of my hope in humanity (exaggeration, but you get the picture).
The characters... ugh, they make me shudder. They were the perfect example of what happens when idiots take over. I have never read a book with such a lack of common sense, ingenuity, or simple intelligence in my life. Lea, Lea, Lea. Childish fool - I swear, I wanted to strange her with a cotton candy jump rope or something equally ridiculous that she would dive right into without a second thought - she's that stupid. Not only that, but you add sheer idiocy with a "holier than thou" attitude and you get the most moronic, dependent, and ridiculous protagonist in existence. She makes Bella Swan look like freaken Katniss Everdeen warrior queen.
I cannot find the words to describe how much I loathe what I just forced myself to read. Truthfully, I think this was better off left in the slush pile and I cannot believe I just wasted my time on something so ridiculous. Everything was poorly handled. The blood, the sheer inconsistency of what was going on: schools and work places were supposed to be shut down but mom went to work for the entire book, changes in what the blood could or couldn't do when it was convenient like how it was too thick and overwhelming to walk in and yet later people are running through it like it's a cloud. There was just so much that I wanted to stamp with a giant NO. Partying while the world is ending and daring people to drink the blood that is destroying the Earth: NO. Previously stagnant blood conveniently flooding a car engine and then disappearing when the protagonist had to get out: NO. Skipping school just to watch news: what the hell? Needy protagonist who doesn't care about anything but herself: NO. Just, no, no, no, no. Get the picture?
Overall, Bleeding Earth was the epitome of disappointment. I want to wash my brain with bleach, stick needles in my eyes, and possibly go so far as to get a lobotomy just so I can forget the monstrosity that I recently witnessed. This book was so juvenile, pointless, and ridiculous that it could probably win the Darwin Awards without even trying. Good riddance.
IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO BE ORIGINAL ANYMORE! Jeesh. I swear, all the books these days - well, all apocalyptic books - seem to just be recycled versions of the exact same thing over, and over again. I will say, Bleeding Earth sounded interesting - the whole idea of Earth spewing blood sounded nasty and amazing, and then I read it and it destroyed all of my hope in humanity (exaggeration, but you get the picture).
The characters... ugh, they make me shudder. They were the perfect example of what happens when idiots take over. I have never read a book with such a lack of common sense, ingenuity, or simple intelligence in my life. Lea, Lea, Lea. Childish fool - I swear, I wanted to strange her with a cotton candy jump rope or something equally ridiculous that she would dive right into without a second thought - she's that stupid. Not only that, but you add sheer idiocy with a "holier than thou" attitude and you get the most moronic, dependent, and ridiculous protagonist in existence. She makes Bella Swan look like freaken Katniss Everdeen warrior queen.
I cannot find the words to describe how much I loathe what I just forced myself to read. Truthfully, I think this was better off left in the slush pile and I cannot believe I just wasted my time on something so ridiculous. Everything was poorly handled. The blood, the sheer inconsistency of what was going on: schools and work places were supposed to be shut down but mom went to work for the entire book, changes in what the blood could or couldn't do when it was convenient like how it was too thick and overwhelming to walk in and yet later people are running through it like it's a cloud. There was just so much that I wanted to stamp with a giant NO. Partying while the world is ending and daring people to drink the blood that is destroying the Earth: NO. Previously stagnant blood conveniently flooding a car engine and then disappearing when the protagonist had to get out: NO. Skipping school just to watch news: what the hell? Needy protagonist who doesn't care about anything but herself: NO. Just, no, no, no, no. Get the picture?
Overall, Bleeding Earth was the epitome of disappointment. I want to wash my brain with bleach, stick needles in my eyes, and possibly go so far as to get a lobotomy just so I can forget the monstrosity that I recently witnessed. This book was so juvenile, pointless, and ridiculous that it could probably win the Darwin Awards without even trying. Good riddance.
July 18, 2017
holy shit!!! I don't know what I expected but I was not ready for this!!!
April 8, 2015
I received a copy from Netgalley.
DNFing at 62%. I just can't stand to read anymore. When I first saw the blurb for this one it was a must have for me. A bleeding earth with a lesbian protagonist. Want want want. Unfortunately, I did not like this book one bit. The premise was initially quite interesting, for reasons unknown, the earth suddenly starts to bleed. Not gushing torrents but enough to rise panic and deep concern.
The characters were idiots. The main character in particularly acts so childishly it got to be so ridiculous I can't even finish the book. She came across as so...above it all. When things start taking a turn for the worst, she snipes at one point that the world renowned scientists on the news are idiots cause they don't know what's going on. It was like...the earth is bleeding and its icky...but so what?
She's reckless and cares more about sneaking out to hang out with her friends than listening to the logic supplied by Mum and Dad to stay home and safe indoors. The air is stinking, the blood is rotting, there's bones showing up and hair which for some reason seems to at one point try to drown her in the blood. So what does she do? Sneak out with her friends and have a party and dare someone to drink the blood.
There are snatches of incidents of people panicking - grocery stores are overrun and people are acting violent, people are attacking others over respirators. But again its like...so?
The sneaking out to party and drinking the blood were just ludicrous. I was ploughing through this thing to find out what...if anything....happened but I simply do not care anymore.
Thank you to Netgalley and Egmont for approving my request to view the title.
DNFing at 62%. I just can't stand to read anymore. When I first saw the blurb for this one it was a must have for me. A bleeding earth with a lesbian protagonist. Want want want. Unfortunately, I did not like this book one bit. The premise was initially quite interesting, for reasons unknown, the earth suddenly starts to bleed. Not gushing torrents but enough to rise panic and deep concern.
The characters were idiots. The main character in particularly acts so childishly it got to be so ridiculous I can't even finish the book. She came across as so...above it all. When things start taking a turn for the worst, she snipes at one point that the world renowned scientists on the news are idiots cause they don't know what's going on. It was like...the earth is bleeding and its icky...but so what?
She's reckless and cares more about sneaking out to hang out with her friends than listening to the logic supplied by Mum and Dad to stay home and safe indoors. The air is stinking, the blood is rotting, there's bones showing up and hair which for some reason seems to at one point try to drown her in the blood. So what does she do? Sneak out with her friends and have a party and dare someone to drink the blood.
There are snatches of incidents of people panicking - grocery stores are overrun and people are acting violent, people are attacking others over respirators. But again its like...so?
The sneaking out to party and drinking the blood were just ludicrous. I was ploughing through this thing to find out what...if anything....happened but I simply do not care anymore.
Thank you to Netgalley and Egmont for approving my request to view the title.
March 14, 2016
2.5 stars
You can see my review of this book via YouTube here: BOOK REVIEW • Bleeding Earth by Kaitlin Ward
May 26, 2019
While i didn't necessarily enjoy it as much as i wanted to it was still a good read. The book was well written and the "bloodpocalypse" was a pretty neat idea for a apocalyptic/disaster situation and the book did a really good job at it's atmosphere, i truly felt what it was like for the characters and how desperate they were. While yes the character made a few stupid decisions and this book could have been maybe a little longer it was still a very solid book
July 15, 2018
I was originally going to give this book 3 stars, however around Ch.24 things start to get very good. I think the later action can make up for some of the irresponsible actions of the main character. The chilling way later events are described is truly scary. It definitely earned 4 stars.
October 12, 2017
One of my teens chose this for our October Teen Book Club, and boy howdy is it WEIRD. It's the kind of weird that turned a lot of my teens off, but I actually ended up being pretty into it. It's a pre-apocalypse novel, which I'm always really drawn to. I feel like we've been inundated with stories about what happens AFTER the apocalypse, but I love a good story about how we got there in the first place. In this book, the way we get there is that the earth starts bleeding human blood. And growing human hair. And then human bones start floating in the blood. And a strange toxin is discovered in the blood that makes anyone who ingests it experience hallucinations and delusions.
So that's the set-up, and then the rest of the book is how our main character (Lea), her friends, her family, and her girlfriend (Aracely) deal with all this disgusting. I really liked the slow build of this book -- it felt realistic to me that at first it would be a minor, gross inconvenience, and then build into a full out panic/survival story. I liked that it was a book with LGBTQ themes that wasn't ABOUT the LGBTQness of its characters. It was just a part of who they are.
One sad thing -- this is a lesbian love story written by a straight person. Sigh. I mean, I think it's good that non-LGBTQ authors are including LGBTQ characters in their books, but it does sometimes feel inauthentic. The library teens had a problem with it.
Overall though, I thought this was a super unique creative apocalyptic horror story. It certainly squicked me out (which for me, is a good thing).
So that's the set-up, and then the rest of the book is how our main character (Lea), her friends, her family, and her girlfriend (Aracely) deal with all this disgusting. I really liked the slow build of this book -- it felt realistic to me that at first it would be a minor, gross inconvenience, and then build into a full out panic/survival story. I liked that it was a book with LGBTQ themes that wasn't ABOUT the LGBTQness of its characters. It was just a part of who they are.
One sad thing -- this is a lesbian love story written by a straight person. Sigh. I mean, I think it's good that non-LGBTQ authors are including LGBTQ characters in their books, but it does sometimes feel inauthentic. The library teens had a problem with it.
Overall though, I thought this was a super unique creative apocalyptic horror story. It certainly squicked me out (which for me, is a good thing).
May 8, 2023
Das konzept ist echt cool und es war sehr kurzweilig und spannend. Das ende fand ich abet ziemlich enttäuschend.
October 3, 2016
The premise sounded intriguing enough - the world starts bleeding, sprouting hair and bones, and our narrator is not only a teenage girl, but one who identifies with the LGBT community.
Apocalyptic AND diverse - score!
But that's basically where the fun ended for me. As the world becomes more and more disgusting, the narrator becomes more and more irritating. What began as an intriguing, new premise became old fast as the same bits of description are worn out over and over again (yes we get it - the world is bleeding and has hair and bones and it SMELLS). It almost felt like the author came up with the idea, began writing, and then couldn't figure out how to develop the plot.
Even as I held out hope for something to develop plot-wise, I became too distracted by the increasingly whiny and self-centered inner dialogue of the narrator, Lea. While she had the potential to be an interesting, multi-dimensional character, it turns out that Lea doesn't care about much except being with her girlfriend, Aracely, despite having other things to clearly worry about (dehydration, blood poisoning, starvation, the health and well-being of her parents and friends, and not drowning in blood or being trapped in her house forever just to name a few).
The fact that the narrator identifies as a lesbian was definitely something that seemed meant to pull readers into the story (diversity in literature is clearly an ongoing fight and YA literature that features LGBT characters is often hard to find). Unfortunately, I found the relationship between Lea and Aracely to be extremely forced. The reader is continually reminded that Lea is fairly "out and proud" while Aracely won't even been seen in public with Lea and this aspect of the relationship is never truly developed. And while love scenes between teenagers is never anything short of awkward, I found the placement of these moments to not only feel fake (the line "brushes of skin and fingertips and mouths" was definitely used more than once throughout the book), but holy hell were they at inappropriate times in the story line! Who has time for make out sessions after you've just found someone brutally murdered?! Even teenagers must have more feelings than that.
Also, this:
She laughs, and it vibrates against my skin. Her fingertips trail down my arms, and we're kissing again, and this is so much better than talking about the people we've murdered.
I'm anxiously awaiting Adam Silvera's new book just to remind myself that there is amazing YA LGBT fiction out there. In the meantime, someone please help me restore my faith in YA fiction that includes some LGBT female characters please!
Apocalyptic AND diverse - score!
But that's basically where the fun ended for me. As the world becomes more and more disgusting, the narrator becomes more and more irritating. What began as an intriguing, new premise became old fast as the same bits of description are worn out over and over again (yes we get it - the world is bleeding and has hair and bones and it SMELLS). It almost felt like the author came up with the idea, began writing, and then couldn't figure out how to develop the plot.
Even as I held out hope for something to develop plot-wise, I became too distracted by the increasingly whiny and self-centered inner dialogue of the narrator, Lea. While she had the potential to be an interesting, multi-dimensional character, it turns out that Lea doesn't care about much except being with her girlfriend, Aracely, despite having other things to clearly worry about (dehydration, blood poisoning, starvation, the health and well-being of her parents and friends, and not drowning in blood or being trapped in her house forever just to name a few).
The fact that the narrator identifies as a lesbian was definitely something that seemed meant to pull readers into the story (diversity in literature is clearly an ongoing fight and YA literature that features LGBT characters is often hard to find). Unfortunately, I found the relationship between Lea and Aracely to be extremely forced. The reader is continually reminded that Lea is fairly "out and proud" while Aracely won't even been seen in public with Lea and this aspect of the relationship is never truly developed. And while love scenes between teenagers is never anything short of awkward, I found the placement of these moments to not only feel fake (the line "brushes of skin and fingertips and mouths" was definitely used more than once throughout the book), but holy hell were they at inappropriate times in the story line! Who has time for make out sessions after you've just found someone brutally murdered?! Even teenagers must have more feelings than that.
Also, this:
She laughs, and it vibrates against my skin. Her fingertips trail down my arms, and we're kissing again, and this is so much better than talking about the people we've murdered.
I'm anxiously awaiting Adam Silvera's new book just to remind myself that there is amazing YA LGBT fiction out there. In the meantime, someone please help me restore my faith in YA fiction that includes some LGBT female characters please!
June 13, 2019
Hidden spoilers ahead.
I found this book in the clearance bin of my local Barnes and Noble, and I can say with full confidence that I had no idea how fitting that would turn out to be.
Bleeding Earth is a 2016 YA horror LGBTQ+ novel by Kaitlin Ward. It's about a young lesbian named Lea whose world is turned upside-down when one day in her small Connecticut town the earth starts bleeding. The paperback version that I got also has a stunningly gorgeous cover.
I don't know that there's ever been a blurb that has sounded more like my brand™, and I'm honestly super disappointed that I didn't like this more. It goes to show that while concept can be critical in drawing the reader in, the more important thing is execution (pun intended). I don't want to be too mean--this is Ward's debut novel and it's certainly not GARBAGE. It's just . . . not as good as I wanted it to be.
Let's talk about the good stuff first. THAT CONCEPT THO. The potential of a bleeding earth, an earth that is growing hair and teeth and bones, oh my god. I love that the main character is gay and that the book chronicles her relationship with her girlfriend (although, more on that below). I also think that, irritatingly enough, the book does a good job of capturing a teenager's point of view during a worldwide crisis. She isn't always thinking clearly, she makes stupid decisions, etc., and while it's annoying for the reader, I think it's a good portrayal. Also, in general I think Lea’s parents were both terrible but maybe that was intentional and if so, it was well done. In particular, I love the way that Lea's mom's character . I mention page 155 in this review because that was the moment where things with Lea's mom start to get freaky, and I finally felt any semblance of fear. Terrible, destructive mothers is a favorite trope of mine and I did like how this novel included that.
Now time for the bad stuff. For such a brilliant and creepy concept, it’s handled in such a boring way. I really felt like the first 155 pages of this book were extremely boring. Very little until page 155 of this book is unpredictable. It’s almost a thought experiment, like, “imagine a high schooler in a small town where the earth starts bleeding, now write a book where only the most obvious things happen, go.” It does eventually take a turn, but it feels a bit too little too late.
There is WAY too much exposition in this book. It’s tough because it’s first-person present-tense and the main character is alone with her thoughts for a good amount of the book. But still, every chapter it seemed the plot would screech to a halt so that we could get more dry explanation of Lea’s life, including one notable section where we get 4+ pages about Lea being gay.
By the end of the book, I did feel like I knew Lea, but she was the only character I really got something out of. The rest were pretty two-dimensional, and I didn’t end up caring about her relationship that much. It’s hard to care about a high school romance when the earth is flooding with blood.
I think Lea’s mom is the worst-written character in the book. She is riddled with contradictions that feel like bad writing but might be intentional—for example, she is a vehement atheist and has no problem with her gay daughter but she won’t get a divorce from her loveless marriage because . . . vague religious reasons? This is yet another ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE portrayal of an atheist character in fiction and it really pisses me off. I completely hated it and I don’t really understand why it was included at all, it just feels like it was only included to make the mother’s character more unpleasant or to illustrate that “no atheists in foxholes” garbage. More about the religion in the book below, but yeah, I was not a fan of this element at all.
For me, there was way too much religion in this book—I think you could even argue that it’s an essentially Christian novel. A Bible verse is the only explanation suggested for the bleeding earth phenomena, religion gets mused on a lot by Lea and her mother, and then at the end of the book, , there’s a literal white dove. Come on! You’re not even trying to be subtle! I don’t mind religious symbolism in general in fiction, but as an atheist, that combined with the treatment of the only atheist character in the book really, really turned me off on this one.
To circle back to the fact that this book is highly boring, I think part of that was due to plot threads that aren’t relevant to the central plot and/or structure and pacing issues. A LOT of time is spent on Lea’s life when the blood is kind of just window dressing; it takes more than halfway through the books to get to a survival situation. There are also lots of plot threads that go nowhere; Levi, for example. He’s very prominent in the first half of the book and then that storyline just dead-ends a few chapters before the book is over. It has no consequence to the main narrative and so I end up asking that dreaded question, “Why is this in here? Why is it included? What are we supposed to learn/get out of this part of the book?” I hate saying this, but I was thinking the same thing about Lea’s relationship with Aracely. I like that the book is inclusive of LGBTQA+ characters and that the whole plot isn’t about that part of her life, but I also don’t really know what it has to do with the rest of the story. It has that trademark feeling of a debut author; words are dedicated to things in the book that ultimately are inconsequential.
The pacing is also very irregular; the first 155 pages are very slow, and then the action ramps up, but then you get to page 222 and go, “oh, she wanted the book to be over at this point.” I’m not even really sure what the climax of the novel is? I just know that at page 222 the stakes get higher but then everything sort of resolves itself with no action from the main character and the ending is this fairly disappointing happy, simple, quick ending. Statistically, the book is like 60% boring beginning, 40% action-packed middle, and 10% rapid ending where the author clearly didn’t know how to end this thing so let’s just wrap it up.
Finally, let’s nitpick about theme a little bit. I know, from experience, this is a difficult thing to tackle in supernatural horror novels. They resist the typical easy themes we see in popular media, partly because they seek to contradict our ideas of what is true, what is right, what is good. It’s hard to come up with any semblance of a theme in a book where something horrifying is happening with no explanation and is thrust upon the main character who can’t control it and has no agency in the situation. That said, this book has basically no theme. I think it tries to cram in something about hope or faith but being a nasty horrible atheist I just can’t get behind that one. Even worse, the book itself teases some great themes! Lea thinks about how the earth might be rebelling against the pollution we've wrought on it, or against the blood that we have spilt on it in all the years we've been murdering each other . . . but these thoughts are dropped immediately and never brought up again. The ending was disappointing in part because it's done so haphazardly but also because it left me with that unpleasant "why did any of this matter?" feeling that I find so very frustrating.
Overall, I feel like I'm being harsh on this book--it isn't terrible. It's just not great either. I think if you're really, really into YA and horror, you could maybe give this one a shot if you're curious--it is at least a short read. Otherwise, feel free to pass.
I found this book in the clearance bin of my local Barnes and Noble, and I can say with full confidence that I had no idea how fitting that would turn out to be.
Bleeding Earth is a 2016 YA horror LGBTQ+ novel by Kaitlin Ward. It's about a young lesbian named Lea whose world is turned upside-down when one day in her small Connecticut town the earth starts bleeding. The paperback version that I got also has a stunningly gorgeous cover.
I don't know that there's ever been a blurb that has sounded more like my brand™, and I'm honestly super disappointed that I didn't like this more. It goes to show that while concept can be critical in drawing the reader in, the more important thing is execution (pun intended). I don't want to be too mean--this is Ward's debut novel and it's certainly not GARBAGE. It's just . . . not as good as I wanted it to be.
Let's talk about the good stuff first. THAT CONCEPT THO. The potential of a bleeding earth, an earth that is growing hair and teeth and bones, oh my god. I love that the main character is gay and that the book chronicles her relationship with her girlfriend (although, more on that below). I also think that, irritatingly enough, the book does a good job of capturing a teenager's point of view during a worldwide crisis. She isn't always thinking clearly, she makes stupid decisions, etc., and while it's annoying for the reader, I think it's a good portrayal. Also, in general I think Lea’s parents were both terrible but maybe that was intentional and if so, it was well done. In particular, I love the way that Lea's mom's character . I mention page 155 in this review because that was the moment where things with Lea's mom start to get freaky, and I finally felt any semblance of fear. Terrible, destructive mothers is a favorite trope of mine and I did like how this novel included that.
Now time for the bad stuff. For such a brilliant and creepy concept, it’s handled in such a boring way. I really felt like the first 155 pages of this book were extremely boring. Very little until page 155 of this book is unpredictable. It’s almost a thought experiment, like, “imagine a high schooler in a small town where the earth starts bleeding, now write a book where only the most obvious things happen, go.” It does eventually take a turn, but it feels a bit too little too late.
There is WAY too much exposition in this book. It’s tough because it’s first-person present-tense and the main character is alone with her thoughts for a good amount of the book. But still, every chapter it seemed the plot would screech to a halt so that we could get more dry explanation of Lea’s life, including one notable section where we get 4+ pages about Lea being gay.
By the end of the book, I did feel like I knew Lea, but she was the only character I really got something out of. The rest were pretty two-dimensional, and I didn’t end up caring about her relationship that much. It’s hard to care about a high school romance when the earth is flooding with blood.
I think Lea’s mom is the worst-written character in the book. She is riddled with contradictions that feel like bad writing but might be intentional—for example, she is a vehement atheist and has no problem with her gay daughter but she won’t get a divorce from her loveless marriage because . . . vague religious reasons? This is yet another ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE portrayal of an atheist character in fiction and it really pisses me off. I completely hated it and I don’t really understand why it was included at all, it just feels like it was only included to make the mother’s character more unpleasant or to illustrate that “no atheists in foxholes” garbage. More about the religion in the book below, but yeah, I was not a fan of this element at all.
For me, there was way too much religion in this book—I think you could even argue that it’s an essentially Christian novel. A Bible verse is the only explanation suggested for the bleeding earth phenomena, religion gets mused on a lot by Lea and her mother, and then at the end of the book, , there’s a literal white dove. Come on! You’re not even trying to be subtle! I don’t mind religious symbolism in general in fiction, but as an atheist, that combined with the treatment of the only atheist character in the book really, really turned me off on this one.
To circle back to the fact that this book is highly boring, I think part of that was due to plot threads that aren’t relevant to the central plot and/or structure and pacing issues. A LOT of time is spent on Lea’s life when the blood is kind of just window dressing; it takes more than halfway through the books to get to a survival situation. There are also lots of plot threads that go nowhere; Levi, for example. He’s very prominent in the first half of the book and then that storyline just dead-ends a few chapters before the book is over. It has no consequence to the main narrative and so I end up asking that dreaded question, “Why is this in here? Why is it included? What are we supposed to learn/get out of this part of the book?” I hate saying this, but I was thinking the same thing about Lea’s relationship with Aracely. I like that the book is inclusive of LGBTQA+ characters and that the whole plot isn’t about that part of her life, but I also don’t really know what it has to do with the rest of the story. It has that trademark feeling of a debut author; words are dedicated to things in the book that ultimately are inconsequential.
The pacing is also very irregular; the first 155 pages are very slow, and then the action ramps up, but then you get to page 222 and go, “oh, she wanted the book to be over at this point.” I’m not even really sure what the climax of the novel is? I just know that at page 222 the stakes get higher but then everything sort of resolves itself with no action from the main character and the ending is this fairly disappointing happy, simple, quick ending. Statistically, the book is like 60% boring beginning, 40% action-packed middle, and 10% rapid ending where the author clearly didn’t know how to end this thing so let’s just wrap it up.
Finally, let’s nitpick about theme a little bit. I know, from experience, this is a difficult thing to tackle in supernatural horror novels. They resist the typical easy themes we see in popular media, partly because they seek to contradict our ideas of what is true, what is right, what is good. It’s hard to come up with any semblance of a theme in a book where something horrifying is happening with no explanation and is thrust upon the main character who can’t control it and has no agency in the situation. That said, this book has basically no theme. I think it tries to cram in something about hope or faith but being a nasty horrible atheist I just can’t get behind that one. Even worse, the book itself teases some great themes! Lea thinks about how the earth might be rebelling against the pollution we've wrought on it, or against the blood that we have spilt on it in all the years we've been murdering each other . . . but these thoughts are dropped immediately and never brought up again. The ending was disappointing in part because it's done so haphazardly but also because it left me with that unpleasant "why did any of this matter?" feeling that I find so very frustrating.
Overall, I feel like I'm being harsh on this book--it isn't terrible. It's just not great either. I think if you're really, really into YA and horror, you could maybe give this one a shot if you're curious--it is at least a short read. Otherwise, feel free to pass.
June 13, 2016
What this book is NOT about: A bleeding earth; or why the earth is bleeding.
What this book IS about: a girl in love with another girl.
So, if you want to read this book because of the girl-to-girl romance, go for it. BUT, if you want to read it because it sounds apocalyptic, well, skip it.
Why was the earth bleeding? Not even the author could come up with an explanation for that. This bleeding business was weird. First the ground was oozing blood, and next thing I know Lea is talking about floods. When, how did that happen? In NYC transportation stopped because the trains got blood flooded. At some other point Lea talks about walking with rain boots and the blood running like a river. And people were out and about driving in this... river of blood!?
Wait a minute... where did so much blood come from? Again, not even Ms. Ward knows because she couldn't give an explanation in the plot. Next thing we know, hair is found in the blood, and then bones. Meaning? None whatsoever. Just to give you an idea of how disgusting the world was becoming.
But the best part is that as sudden as the blood appear, it disappeared. That's right. Next scene and Lea wakes up to find no blood and that earth is going back to normal.
So, why was humanity punished with this blood flood? The book mentions the Bible and Noah but it doesn't really say anything about it. So I guess the blood was an act of God to.... (feel free to fill in the blank). Although according to Lea, the blood united her parents who seemed to have grown fond of each other again. Yeah, maybe the blood was an act to unite couples worldwide.
Scientific explanation about the blood? Of course not. So that leaves with the religious explanation that you will come up with because no freaking explanation is given!!!
And did we need the lesbian romance? Not at all; but since there is a lack of same sex romance in YA, the author thought that mixing a bleeding earth with lesbian love would be a good idea because you couldn't really say that you hate the book because that would mean you are homophobic. Well, guess what. The plot sucks, the romance was lame. The sex scene was unnecessary, and this entire book was just a waste of paper. Thank you Adaptive Books (the publisher) for helping kill more trees.
What this book IS about: a girl in love with another girl.
So, if you want to read this book because of the girl-to-girl romance, go for it. BUT, if you want to read it because it sounds apocalyptic, well, skip it.
Why was the earth bleeding? Not even the author could come up with an explanation for that. This bleeding business was weird. First the ground was oozing blood, and next thing I know Lea is talking about floods. When, how did that happen? In NYC transportation stopped because the trains got blood flooded. At some other point Lea talks about walking with rain boots and the blood running like a river. And people were out and about driving in this... river of blood!?
Wait a minute... where did so much blood come from? Again, not even Ms. Ward knows because she couldn't give an explanation in the plot. Next thing we know, hair is found in the blood, and then bones. Meaning? None whatsoever. Just to give you an idea of how disgusting the world was becoming.
But the best part is that as sudden as the blood appear, it disappeared. That's right. Next scene and Lea wakes up to find no blood and that earth is going back to normal.
So, why was humanity punished with this blood flood? The book mentions the Bible and Noah but it doesn't really say anything about it. So I guess the blood was an act of God to.... (feel free to fill in the blank). Although according to Lea, the blood united her parents who seemed to have grown fond of each other again. Yeah, maybe the blood was an act to unite couples worldwide.
Scientific explanation about the blood? Of course not. So that leaves with the religious explanation that you will come up with because no freaking explanation is given!!!
And did we need the lesbian romance? Not at all; but since there is a lack of same sex romance in YA, the author thought that mixing a bleeding earth with lesbian love would be a good idea because you couldn't really say that you hate the book because that would mean you are homophobic. Well, guess what. The plot sucks, the romance was lame. The sex scene was unnecessary, and this entire book was just a waste of paper. Thank you Adaptive Books (the publisher) for helping kill more trees.
February 17, 2017
Holy Cow. I mean WOW! I was drawn to read Bleeding Earth because of it's unique premise and I tell you it does deliver the goods.
The blood came first as a trickle, quickly turned to a rush. Lea was in the cemetery when she first noticed the blood. As the days passed the Earth becomes thickly layer in blood, then the hair and bones started to appear grinding life to a halt for Lea. As school and businesses are closed she finds herself going stir crazy when she is invited to an apocalyptic party, that ends up being a really bad idea. Things turn worse as her family barricades themselves at home and people begin to lose their sanity as water runs out.
A really enjoyable and inventive read.
The blood came first as a trickle, quickly turned to a rush. Lea was in the cemetery when she first noticed the blood. As the days passed the Earth becomes thickly layer in blood, then the hair and bones started to appear grinding life to a halt for Lea. As school and businesses are closed she finds herself going stir crazy when she is invited to an apocalyptic party, that ends up being a really bad idea. Things turn worse as her family barricades themselves at home and people begin to lose their sanity as water runs out.
A really enjoyable and inventive read.
March 20, 2017
Mini-review:
-Original and perfectly creepy premise
-F/F romance that's super cute
-Solid friendships too
-I would love a sequel!
-Original and perfectly creepy premise
-F/F romance that's super cute
-Solid friendships too
-I would love a sequel!
February 5, 2020
I cannot remember who recommended Bleeding Earth to me, but thank you!
I will admit that I went into this book fairly skeptical that it would actually horrify me. Wow, was I ever wrong!
I couldn’t put this book down and thought about it so much when life’s duties took me away from it. Lea was a great character and I loved the dynamics between her and her family and group of friends. And her relationship with Arecely was so very well done. Great dynamics.
Some of the mechanical things about this book that really made it sing for me were the right pacing, short, punchy chapters, and that increasing sense of dread as you can anticipate how badly things are going to go as scenes progress.
This is one of the best YA horror novels I have read. I absolutely LOVED it.
========== SPOILERS =========
I will admit that I went into this book fairly skeptical that it would actually horrify me. Wow, was I ever wrong!
I couldn’t put this book down and thought about it so much when life’s duties took me away from it. Lea was a great character and I loved the dynamics between her and her family and group of friends. And her relationship with Arecely was so very well done. Great dynamics.
Some of the mechanical things about this book that really made it sing for me were the right pacing, short, punchy chapters, and that increasing sense of dread as you can anticipate how badly things are going to go as scenes progress.
This is one of the best YA horror novels I have read. I absolutely LOVED it.
========== SPOILERS =========
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2016
I added this book to the queer suffering shelf because although I acknowledge that this book is in a post-apocalyptic setting, the fact that the main character's girlfriend was afraid of everyone knowing her queerness for very strange arbitrary reasons felt to me very much an instance of an author creating a situation of awkwardness and fear. Which was just...unnecessary?
Moreover, this book has a disgusting subject (blood everywhere, so obviously) and is also deeply invested in character's reactions v. explanations. On one hand, I get that - what does it matter WHY the author made it so, but rather how does it affect the characters? But I found myself unable to get into the story.
The portrayal of the queer characters also really really squicked me, and from the descriptions of being a queer girl in high school I assume that the author is a Straight Person who didn't think to have anyone proof read it....
Moreover, this book has a disgusting subject (blood everywhere, so obviously) and is also deeply invested in character's reactions v. explanations. On one hand, I get that - what does it matter WHY the author made it so, but rather how does it affect the characters? But I found myself unable to get into the story.
The portrayal of the queer characters also really really squicked me, and from the descriptions of being a queer girl in high school I assume that the author is a Straight Person who didn't think to have anyone proof read it....
July 22, 2020
another unexpected fav!
what I liked:
-the romance??!!!!! to die for!
-the death scenes WRECKED me in the best possible way
-this felt like a good intro to reading horror books as someone who has never read horror before
-the friendships with Lea and her besties, especially Hillary omfg 🥺
-seeing the effects that Lea’s situation has on her and the people around her was super interesting
-I LOOOOVED the discussions of sexuality & coming out. I think that it was handled really well.
-while I wouldn’t say that this book scared me or anything like that, it definitely creeped me out
what I didn’t like:
-the only problem I had with this book was that certain aspects of it felt unrealistic. for example, after the earth starts bleeding, stuff closes down for a week but then opens right back up. I don’t think that was realistic at all. This wasn’t something that bothered me that much tho tbh.
overall, I really really reallyyyyyyyy loved this book & I would highly recommend it!!
what I liked:
-the romance??!!!!! to die for!
-the death scenes WRECKED me in the best possible way
-this felt like a good intro to reading horror books as someone who has never read horror before
-the friendships with Lea and her besties, especially Hillary omfg 🥺
-seeing the effects that Lea’s situation has on her and the people around her was super interesting
-I LOOOOVED the discussions of sexuality & coming out. I think that it was handled really well.
-while I wouldn’t say that this book scared me or anything like that, it definitely creeped me out
what I didn’t like:
-the only problem I had with this book was that certain aspects of it felt unrealistic. for example, after the earth starts bleeding, stuff closes down for a week but then opens right back up. I don’t think that was realistic at all. This wasn’t something that bothered me that much tho tbh.
overall, I really really reallyyyyyyyy loved this book & I would highly recommend it!!
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