Review: Rain (Paper Gods #2) by Amanda Sun

Title: Rain

Series: Paper Gods #2

Previous books in this series: Shadow (#0.5) | Ink (#1)

Author: Amanda Sun

Genre: YA, paranormal romance, Japanese mythology

Publication date: June 2014

Published by: Harlequin Teen

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis: American Katie Green has decided to stay in Japan. She's started to build a life in the city of Shizuoka, and she can't imagine leaving behind her friends, her aunt and especially Tomohiro, the guy she's fallen in love with. But her return is not as simple as she thought. She's flunking out of Japanese school and committing cultural faux pas wherever she goes. Tomohiro is also struggling—as a Kami, his connection to the ancient gods of Japan and his power to bring drawings to life have begun to spiral out of control.

When Tomo decides to stop drawing, the ink finds other ways to seep into his life—blackouts, threatening messages and the appearance of unexplained sketches. Unsure how to help Tomo, Katie turns to an unexpected source for help—Jun, her former friend and a Kami with an agenda of his own. But is Jun really the ally he claims to be? In order to save themselves, Katie and Tomohiro must unravel the truth about Tomo's dark ancestry, as well as Katie's, and confront one of the darkest gods in Japanese legend.

My rating: ★★★★☆

Tomohiro is stuck between two groups of people who want him for his abilities: The Yakuza who obviously want to use his powers for nefarious reasons, but there’s also the Kami, others like him. Kami are descendants of the Shinto goddess Amaterasu, and all they want to do is take the gangsters and crime out of the world. Not so bad, right? Wrong! They have this god complex and think they’re superior. Ugh. I understand their intentions, but they’re going about it all wrong. Katie is also trying to figure out how she’s connected with the Kami, because there IS a connection, even though she’s American and all. And then we find out and... whoa!

“You think my mom ingested ink when she was pregnant with me.”
“If someone drinks the ink, they don’t acquire the abilities of a Kami,” Jun said. “Not even by blood transfusion. But if that ink got trapped somehow, got pumped into you as you were forming...your body might think it was natural.”

Her mom ate a fruit sketched by a Kami when she was pregnant with Katie and they both nearly died during childbirth! Basically, she can amplify Kami’s powers! It’s nuts! Oh, and then we also find out that Tomohiro is the descendant of TWO different gods, which is why he’s been struggling with his powers! It’s so crazy! But it all makes sense now!

Speaking of Tomohiro and Katie, they are so freaking cute together! I really love them and their banter!

He pulled back just a little, his words floating across my lips. “So this is your room, huh? Where’s the giant poster of me?”
“I’m getting it laminated.”

So cute! One thing I did not like was her interactions with Jun. Ugh! I hate love triangles, and while this didn’t have a love triangle exactly, there was a threat of one there (and also Katie did a stupid thing with Jun) and I hated it.

One thing we didn’t get nearly enough of is her friends! Yuki and Tanaka are great!

“Okay, Tan-kun, this is our new lunch spot. Every day we’ll help Katie until she can read kanji better than you.”

They are so sweet! And one person I’m starting to warm up to is Tomohiro’s thug friend Ishikawa. I felt awful for him because he was giving me Alec in City of Bones vibes, in love with his bff and all that. It ended well for Alec and Jace, so hopefully the same will happen here cause this just sucks. Especially because I’m starting to like him now.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I loved the romance, even though that love triangle was ugh. I also really liked the mythology, which we finally got more of in this book. And it was really interesting, what with feuding gods and their superpowered descendants and all that. I’m very interested to see how this is all gonna end.

You don’t scare me, I thought, looking at the inky pile. Not when Tomo’s at my side. We will fight you. And we will win.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊