Pure (Book 1, Pure Series) (Pure, #1)

by Catherine Mesick

[Kim Deister]

Pure is the first book in the new Pure series by Catherine Mesick. The book opens with Katie, an average teen girl dealing with nothing more pressing than an overprotective grandmother, a complicated relationship with her guy BFF and and even more complicated situation with her girl BFF. But everything changes for Katie when people start disappearing and strange things start happening.

Katie was a great lead character, as was William, although I wish there had been a little more to him. He was almost a little too mysterious for a lot of the story, which made it hard to like or dislike him. Katie, however, was easily likable, an all-around good girl that didn't come off as too sugary sweet or sanctimonious. The story really moved for me once it moved to Russia, the location for most of the book. The author did a great job of weaving the flavor of the country into the story without making it seem like a lecture on Russian language and culture. There was some predictability here and there with different plot points, but not enough to take away the true suspense of the story. Best of all was the unique twist on the vampire genre and the paranormal themes. 3.5 mugs!