Review: Storm (Paper Gods #3) by Amanda Sun

Title: Storm

Series: Paper Gods #3

Previous books in this series: Shadow (#0.5) | Ink (#1) | Rain (#2) | Rise (#2.5)

Author: Amanda Sun

Genre: YA, paranormal romance, Japanese mythology

Publication date: June 2015

Published by: Harlequin Teen

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis: After almost a year in Japan, Katie Greene has finally unearthed the terrible secret behind her boyfriend Tomohiro's deadly ability to bring drawings to life—not only is he descended from Kami, the ancient Japanese gods, but he is the heir to a tragedy that occurred long ago, a tragedy that is about to repeat.

Even as the blood of a vengeful god rages inside Tomo, Katie is determined to put his dark powers to sleep. In order to do so, she and Tomo must journey to find the three Imperial Treasures of Japan. Gifts from the goddess Amaterasu herself, these treasures could unlock all of the secrets about Tomo's volatile ancestry and quell the ink's lust for destruction. But in order to complete their quest, Tomo and Katie must confront out-of-control Kami and former friend Jun, who has begun his own quest of revenge against those he believes have wronged him. To save the world, and themselves, Katie and Tomo will be up against one of the darkest Kami creations they've ever encountered—and they may not make it out alive.

My rating: ★★★★☆

With Tomohiro being unable to control his Kami powers, he and his friends are trying to find a way to put them to sleep... without getting him killed 😨

As I've mentioned in the previous two books, I love Tomohiro and Katie’s relationship! They are so cute! And I love their banter!

Diane smiled and turned, slipping from view as she headed down the stairs from the platform.
“She shouldn’t trust you with me,” Tomo said.
I rolled my eyes. “Why? Because you can’t control your manly urges.”
He laughed, but only once. “No. Because I'm the son of a demon, dummy.”

One character I really loved in this book was Sato, Tomohiro’s friend. We get to see that he’s not the asshole we thought he was in book one, but he’s, in actuality, a really good friend to Tomohiro and now Katie too. I mean, they both have the same goal: to help/save Tomohiro. But more than that, I loved their interactions and banter! Their relationship has really come a long way. But it also made me sad because he obviously had romantic feelings for his friend Tomohiro, and it hurt. It reminded me so much of Alec in City of Bones 😔

[Sato] grinned. “I was wrong about you, Greene. I thought you'd distract Yuuto from who he was meant to be. But I'm starting to get it now, that what you guys have is different. Whether it pans out in the end, who knows? But it matters that you have this time, right now.” He took a swig of the water bottle against the bench as he hunched over. “If it can't be me... I’m glad it’s you.”

But his relationship with Katie and Tomohiro was everything! Honestly, at this point, I think I loved Katie and Sato’s relationship more than Katie and Tomo 😂 This is a bit surprising, but I think Sato is definitely my favorite character of the entire series! Especially considering how iffy I was about him in book one.

“Sato.”
Ishikawa’s eyes lit, and he smoothed the snowflakes out of Tomo’s copper hair. “I’m here, man. I’m always here.”
“You...” Tomo coughed.
Ishikawa leaned in. “Yeah?”
“You... stabbed me in the heart, jackass.”
Ishikawa laughed until the tears fell from his eyes. “I’m your best friend, idiot,” he said between strangled laughs. “Of course I did.”

My heart! So, this is how they saved him, actually. It was very City of Heavenly Fire. Except Katie didn’t have the guts to do it, so Sato did. And Tomohiro lived! Had Katie done it, Tomo probably would’ve died. After all this we find out that Sato enrolls for cram school because he wants to take his entrance exams after all. This made me ridiculously happy! I mean, talk about an incredible character arc! Going from a shady character mixed up with the Yakuza to a stand up guy who saved his friend and is going to do something good with his future? Umm yes please!

I really liked this book! It wrapped things up nicely. I loved learning about the Shinto gods and Japanese mythology, which I was very unfamiliar with. I loved the romance and the friendships and the cool magic with the ink. But more importantly, I loved Ishikawa Satoshi... he is a great friend and he is precious 😆

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! 😊