Review: Jenna and Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin

Tags: middle grade, YA, contemporary, he-said/she-said, Hollywood, drama

Summary

Move aside, Hannah Montana. Everybody wants more of Jenna and Jonah’s How to Be a Rock Star, a TV show about two neighbors’ undercover lives as rock stars. But it seems to be “Jenna” and “Jonah’s” off-screen romance that sells…except that in reality, the romance is a publicity ploy, and the two young stars, Charlie and Fielding, can’t stand each other. Fielding thinks Charlie is a Type-A diva who is obsessed with her own career, while Charlie thinks that Fielding takes the whole industry for granted.

But then their fauxmance is blown, and as Charlie and Fielding keep each other company in isolation, they begin to actually learn who the other person is.

Review

I gave this book a try, despite its predictable synopsis, because, hey, who doesn’t enjoy a he-said/she-said formula romance every once in a while, if it’s done well? Unfortunately, JENNA AND JONAH’S FAUXMANCE was a solid miss for me. Clunky writing, undeveloped characters with minimal chemistry, and an ambitious but failed conclusion all contributed.

Let’s talk about the characters first. YA has seen its fair share of Hollywood teen divas. Charlie and Fielding failed at being distinct or memorable. Charlie is supposedly this uptight overachiever who, when relaxed, can be a lot of fun. But when she was relaxed in the book, she was flat and uninteresting, and the only time I felt like she had fun all happened in brief flashbacks. Fielding is an ordinary boy who hails from the Midwest, and who is only in this industry to make enough money so that he doesn’t have to work hard like his dad for the rest of his life and can enjoy his books in anonymity. Now, I like my boys smart, but again, Fielding’s bookishness didn’t ring true for me. The authors seemed to portray Fielding’s literary knowledge only in extremely awkward quotes that fell flat and didn’t lend to his bookish credibility at all.

In fact, that was probably the problem I had with the whole book. Tiny details were fine—Hollywood, Fielding’s bookishness, the Shakespearean performance—but they all lacked cohesiveness. Imagine two people having a conversation in which both just talked about their own interests instead of engaging in a flowing back-and-forth. That was kind of how I felt, reading Charlie and Fielding’s supposed get-to-know-ya interactions. Uh, whut? Fielding, are you really seeing who Charlie is, or are you still attempting to talk at your idea of who she is? That just…doesn’t work for me. The writing was jarring and off-putting.

I can think of better examples of Hollywood drama, he-said/she-said romances, or plots involving acting. JENNA AND JONAH’S FAUXMANCE didn’t have a bad premise, being what it intended to be, but little within the book had the seemingly effortless chemistry that I want in a good book.

Similar Authors
Jennifer Echols
Elizabeth Eulberg

Writing: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Plot: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5


Cover discussion: 1.5 out of 5 - Oh please, do blind me some more with that drab shade of pink.

Walker Books / Feb. 1, 2011 / Paperback / 240pp. / $9.99

Sent by publisher for review after accepting review pitch.

Blog Tour Review: Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Tags: YA, paranormal romance, murder, mystery, werewolves

Summary

Avery Hood remembers almost nothing about the night her parents were murdered and she was found sitting by their bodies, covered in their blood. As she adjusts to her new life with her grandmother and being avoided by her classmates, she meets—and is instantly attracted to—Ben, a new boy at school. She can hardly believe the flashes of silver she sees in her eyes, silver that reminds her of the mysterious something she saw the night of her parents’ death. Avery finds herself unable to stay away from Ben, despite the fact that he may be keeping a secret that is related to the thing that killed her parents…

Review

I should’ve known better. I’ve grown more and more wary (no, not quite weary) of paranormal romances, because so many of them use the exact same formulae, with the same underwhelming results. LOW RED MOON may be an interesting enough read for the eternally paranormal romance-happy, but the number of conventions it uses unfortunately did not win me over.

Is it really even necessary to talk about the many paranormal romance conventions that appear in this book? I will just start listing them in question form: How is Ben attractive aside from his beauty and the inexplicable allure that Avery feels towards him? Why does Avery seem like she would not exist outside the mystery behind her parents’ death and her attraction to Ben, i.e. why does she not have interests, passions, hobbies, and worries outside of the usual “I wish things could go back to how they used to be”?

Also, why do people believe that as long as they don’t mention what, exactly, the type of supernatural creature in the story is, that this makes the story all the more credible? Here, let me explain it to you, in a way that Avery, for some reason, refuses to: IT’S A WEREWOLF ROMANCE. Does thinking that she might be dealing with a werewolf make Avery less credible, when within the first few pages of meeting Ben, she already tells him that she knows there is something unusual about him?

LOW RED MOON’s writing is reminiscent of any number of those paranormal romance visual franchises (Twilight, The Vampire Diaries) that make so much money nowadays. The dialogue is always being spoken at either a fearful, hissy whisper or in the literary equivalent of Kristen Stewart’s expressionless monotone. Ben behaves only like he is always on the verge of breaking down over his concern (or, I suppose, luuuv) for Avery, telling her in panicky voices to leave him alone, go away, save herself, stay away from him. And of course Avery has a one-track mind and cannot. Stay. Away. Of course.

The prose is what I think I’ll call “melodramatic teen prose” from now on: there are a lot of repetitions, repetitions that one seems to think will make the story seem cool, cool or otherworldly, otherworldly in a highbrow manner, and oh—how I love the dashes that appear everywhere—to indicate the dropping off of thought—interruptions because—gasp!—IT CONTRIBUTES TO THE PARANORMAL ROMANCE MELODRAMA, DAMNIT.

Reading this is kind of like how I imagine reading a screenplay of The Vampire Diaries would look like, which was one of the biggest reasons why I stopped reading L. J. Smith.

A sadly great number of recent paranormal romances out there make Twilight look good in comparison, and I’m sorry to say that LOW RED MOON was no exception. If the promise of a low-key supernatural murder mystery intrigues you and you are supremely devoted to paranormal romances so that conventions don’t bother you, then you could give this a try. Otherwise, I would honestly say that you should stay away, or else you’ll end up like me, writing this sort of review in order to expression the frustration that this book manages to eloquently wrap up all that is cliché about YA paranormal romances.

Similar Authors
Maggie Stiefvater
L. J. Smith
Lauren Kate
Stephenie Meyer

Writing: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Plot: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5


Cover discussion: 2 out of 5 - Apparently it looks pretty neat in person, with foil and embossing and all that, and the inside is two-toned, but, while I like the redness (it's a color that hasn't been used much for paranormal romance covers yet), it didn't tell me much except to expect a werewolf love story.

Bloomsbury / Sept. 14, 2010 / Hardcover / 256pp. / $16.99

ARC sent by publisher for blog tour. Sorry.

Review: All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab

Tags: YA, mystery, murder, drugs

Rating: 2 out of 5


Summary

Neily was Carly’s ex-boyfriend. Audrey was Carly’s cousin and ex-best friend. Right before Carly was found murdered, she called Neily’s cell phone, and, when he didn’t pick up, left a cryptic message. Audrey’s father was found guilty of the murder, but now, a year after Carly’s death, Audrey is fairly certain that her father didn’t do it, and that the real killer is still out there. Audrey and Neily team up to discover Carly’s tangled secrets and implicate the real murderer.

Review

I have to admit, I did not take to this book. Excellent writing clashes with unsympathetic characters and a snail-like plot to make ALL UNQUIET THINGS a difficult read for me.

There is no question that Jarzab’s writing is great. Like Curtis Sittenfeld, Jarzab meticulously analyzes nearly every facet of Neily, Audrey, and Carly, making them feel as if they could be your flawed classmates. However, also like Sittenfeld’s characters in Prep, Neily, Audrey, and Carly simply aren’t very likable, sympathetic, or appealing. We know their history and their thought processes as if they were our therapy patients—an overly intimate and annoying form of relationship that I, as a reader, found disturbing and unenjoyable.

I don’t really mind psychoanalysis—at least not when the person has some ultimately redeemable qualities. However, the three main characters in ALL UNQUIET THINGS are just so unlikable. Neily spends most of his time sulking and remembering the past, his relationship with Carly, while Audrey bullies Neily into helping her uncover the mystery behind the identity of Carly’s murderer.

I also found an unsettling disjuncture between how Audrey and Neily are in the present time, and who they were in their flashbacks. I think this is a result of all the telling-not-showing that went on in the narration. I don’t want Neily to tell us that he hates Carly’s new friends, then be shown a passing moment in which they snap off, like, two biting remarks to one another; I’d rather see the tension between the characters, the strain of the past versus the present, of what they think of one another versus who they truly are. As a result, I couldn’t connect to the main characters as real people, so much like untouchable character sketches they were.

I mentioned earlier that Anna Jarzab is a great writer, and I’m not contradicting myself by saying so: if you enjoy ultra-complete character analyses, you’ll find this a great book, a wonderful achievement by a debut author. However, I felt that her writing skills were unfortunately used in the wrong way—too much in the telling and flashbacks, and not enough in the playing out of a genuinely interesting story arc—which led to my lack of connection with the book.

Similar Authors
Curtis Sittenfeld (Prep)
Amy Efaw (After)

Writing: 4/5
Characters: 2/5
Plot: 1/5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5


Cover discussion: 4.5 out of 5 - This is a fabulous cover. It's stark and eye-catching, and doesn't fall into all the YA cover cliches noticeable out there. Personally I'm a big fan of "blocked" covers, in which a portion of the cover is one solid color. This one uses it well. So creepy, yet eye-grabbing.

Random House / Jan. 12, 2010 / Hardcover / 352pp. / $17.99

Review copies received at NCTE and from Random House.

Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate

Tags: YA, paranormal, fallen angels, love triangle, boarding school


Summary

When 17-year-old Luce Price enters Sword & Cross reform boarding school in Savannah, Georgia, she is immediately attracted to the aloof, gorgeous, and strangely achingly familiar Daniel Grigori. Luce could swear she feels a connection with him, but Daniel rebuffs all her attempts to get to know him better, and even though another hot guy named Cam is paying her a lot of attention, Luce still can’t Daniel out of her mind.

Little does Luce know that Daniel is trying to stay away from her for both of their sakes. For they are irrevocably connected by a cruel curse—one that will kill Luce if she gets too close to Daniel…

Review

If FALLEN is the future of YA supernatural fiction, then I fear for this genre. FALLEN is painfully dull and slow, with very little besides the concept of fallen angels and the suggestion of an impossible romance to recommend it to readers.

If the plot of FALLEN were to race a glacier, the glacier would win. From the moment Luce arrives at Sword & Cross, the plot feels like it’s always tripping over its own feet in order to explain itself, and to no avail. I don’t mind a gradually building plot if it contains atmosphere and sets up the exposition well, but the setting of Sword & Cross was never fully realized for me, and the events in Luce’s past that landed her at reform school never attained credibility. Luce floats through boarding school life in a series of disconnected and awkwardly written encounters with her schoolmates, none of which helped me understand Luce or any of the other characters. All of the action and scenes required to get the gist of the story occurred within the last 60 pages, and what happened was not worth plodding through 400 pages of irrelevance to get to that point.

All of the characters in FALLEN were static and artificial, something that less discerning Twilight-fangirling tweens won’t mind but that more well-read readers will definitely take issue with. Luce is about as passive as a bowl of rice pudding. You think Bella didn’t do anything for three-and-a-half 400-plus-page-long books? Luce just might make Bella look like head of the school spirit squad. She flits from scene to scene, never being fully integrated into the immediacy of the story and never coalescing into a comprehensive character. The thing I most remember about her was that she had short hair from when it got burnt off in a fire. If the way I describe a character is by the length of her hair and not any, I dunno, actual personality traits, you better believe that is a serious problem.

Along those same lines, Cam and Daniel were similarly bland male love interests whose only identifiable characteristic was their inexplicable—and inevitable, in this sort of book—attraction to Luce. I constantly got the two mixed up and couldn’t pick them out from a handful of YA male love interests if I had to. I am hardly questioning the appeal of stalker-y, unequal-power-dynamics love—there is a reason why so many of us love bad boys so much—but to have Cam and Daniel be so one-dimensional and predictable, while the story practically insists that we’re supposed to find them heart-stoppingly attractive…sorry, but I really don’t need that.

We’ve all heard the quiet rumblings that fallen angels might be the Next Big Thing in YA lit, but only if they’re done right. FALLEN read like a boarding school story with smatterings of the supernatural dashed throughout, the angels-and-demons element only manifesting itself in the final few chapters. It was a discomforting read because it was so detached from those elements of humanity that make even the most fantastical novel relatable: the Southern setting was never fully realized, and the characters were difficult to empathize with.

That being said, FALLEN gets two stars from me because I can totally see its appeal to middle school girls who have devoured the entire Twilight series and now desperately need something to read in between the next House of Night book and the Eclipse movie coming out in Summer 2010. It contains all the elements of a trendy YA bestseller: a paranormal element, a love triangle, two powerful love interests who compete for the same girl. Unfortunately, the great idea was poorly executed, and I won’t be following the rest of this series. However, consider asking your thirteen-year-old sister or cousin for her opinion on FALLEN, and you might get a totally different point of view, one that justifies why Random House believes that FALLEN will be huge in YA.

Similar Authors
Stephenie Meyer (Twilight)
P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast (House of Night series)

Writing: 2/5
Characters: 1/5
Plot: 1/5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5


Cover discussion: 2.5 out of 5 - It's...cool, I guess? Definitely discombobulated and rather unrelated to the story--kind of like many scenes in the story itself, I suppose.


Delacorte / Dec. 8, 2009 / Hardcover / $17.99


ARC sent by publisher for review.

Comment on this review for an extra entry into my Lauren Kate giveaway.

Review: Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Publication date: September 1, 2009 (Harper TEEN)

Tags: YA, paranormal, romance, evil

Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary

Aden Stone has four souls living within him. One time travels, one predicts the future, one raises the dead, and one can possess other bodies. These four voices clamor nonstop in Aden’s head, giving him no peace…until one day, when he stumbles across an unassuming girl, and the souls are suddenly, startlingly, and wonderfully silent.

Mary Ann Gray has no idea that she is about to become entangled in a world filled with mythical creatures. When Aden enrolls at her high school, she feels an insistent platonic attraction to him, despite his scary reputation and gorgeous looks. Meanwhile, Mary Ann befriends a werewolf with dark intentions, and Aden cannot resist the attraction of a vampire princess who comes into his life.

In this world of darkness, however, love and friendship comes at a price…

Review

It’s unfortunate that the premise is so appealing, because, for me, INTERTWINED was an overwritten, confusing, and crowded paranormal mess. Too much was implied and told directly to readers, the characters were unappealing, and the whole thing was just way too long to hold my attention.

Showalter has the unfortunate penchant of telling, not showing, and making her characters take agonizingly slow paragraphs to undergo a simple thinking process. Any story that relies heavily on the main characters’ romantic appeal must work on showing us readers the attraction and potential, instead of telling us over and over again, “X couldn’t resist Y. Z was scared to show her feelings” etc.

As a staunch fan of Showalter’s adult Harlequin romances, I was disappointed that she seemed to feel the need to “dumb down” her writing for the young adult crowd. Please. It’s the R-rated sexual thoughts and scenes that need to go, not intelligent character development. Teenagers can tell the difference between an author who knows the teen voice and an author who typically writes for adults and is just trying to make his or her way into the YA genre.

It goes without saying, then, that I couldn’t make myself care for the characters. They were self-absorbed, overbearingly introverted when it came to pondering, and didn’t do anything really worth mentioning. So Aden attacks a werewolf, gets bullied, and wants to lavish the vampire princess. So Mary Ann has a few conversations with her friend and boyfriend, and continues to hang out with the werewolf even though his monstrous presence supposedly frightens her because she never knows what’s going on.

By this point, a discerning reader will simply ask the important question: so what? Where are all of these disconnected and emotionally distant events leading up to? In the end it didn’t matter, because I was already tired of being narrated to like I have an IQ of 50 by a bunch of unlikable characters. I put the book down.

I have to give Gena and Harlequin TEEN this, though: they certainly have the right idea of what story elements will appeal to today’s Twilight audience. Readers looking for equally emotionally tortured paranormal romances will no doubt find their way to this new line. I have not read Showalter’s other YA books, but unfortunately I just cannot tolerate stories that insult my intelligence—and nor should I have to. Next time, Gena. Next time, Harlequin TEEN.

Similar Authors

P. C. Cast

Cara Lockwood

Stephenie Meyer

Writing: 2/5

Characters: 2/5

Plot: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

Review (SS4): Evernight by Claudia Gray

Tags: YA, paranormal, vampires, boarding school, vampire hunters

Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary

Bianca Olivier’s parents are new teachers at the boarding school Evernight Academy, and Bianca just knows that she has to get out of Evernight. The students are distant, sophisticated, and creepy; Bianca feels like she doesn’t belong.

Then she meets Luke. He makes her feel complete, and it’s not long before they are inseparable. But Luke acts mysterious sometimes, and Bianca can’t figure him out…until disaster strikes. Suddenly, old family secrets are revealed, and the two young lovers’ lives may be in grave danger.

Review

The first reaction I had when I finished this book was, wow, I’m glad it’s over. That doesn’t bode well for the first sentence of a review, but I’m going to try to explain why EVERNIGHT gave me a headache and had me rolling my eyes through every page.

Don’t get me wrong: there are some good parts to this book. I really liked the concept of a boarding school for vampires; the gothic towers and rooms of Evernight reminded me vaguely of Hogwarts, which was cool. The idea that Gray presents readers of a world where immortal vampires are constantly struggling to fit in, and need to be taught technology, was intriguing, although not as well developed as it could’ve been.

I really liked the tension between vampires and the human vampire hunters, even though the motivations for the vampire hunters’ actions were not well explained. And finally, I was a fan of the huge twist halfway through the book that everyone likes to talk about. Books with unreliable narrators are difficult to pull off, and Bianca’s revelation to us was shocking, yet satisfying at the same time.

However, EVERNIGHT fell flat in all other aspects. Bianca was difficult to like: she constantly feels the need to tell readers things about herself and the world around her, things that we didn’t need to know—like the fact that she’s supposedly shy, even though there’s no indication of shyness beyond the general awkwardness of adolescence among a new crowd—or could have inferred in the hands of a more skilled writer. Similarly, none of the other characters were interesting, least of all Luke. I rolled my eyes at the stilted dialogue and forced attraction between the two, felt my eyelids start to slide shut at the unbearably slow pace of the novel.

I read EVERNIGHT for the express purpose of finding out what that plot twist was, but it wasn’t worth it. Lovers of vampire lit might be interested in the world that Gray has tried to spin, but newcomers to the genre would be better off with other vampire series, such as Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy.

Similar Authors

Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy)

Stephenie Meyer

Aprilynne Pike

P. C. Cast (House of Night)

Writing: 2/5

Characters: 2/5

Plot: 2/5

Want more? No thanks.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

Cover discussion: 2.5 out of 5 - Well, I don't have a problem with it. I like the glossy-on-matte monochromatic look/feel--even if it doesn't have anything to do with the story.

Review: The Plague by Joanne Dahme

Publication date: May 4, 2009

Tags: YA, historical fiction, Medieval England, sorcery

Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary

Fourteenth-century Europe is ridden with the plague, monstrous black rats roaming everywhere. The English Plantagenet princess Joan is heading to Spain to marry Prince Pedro in an alliance that will give more power to the English king. However, the plague ravages the betrothal ship, leaving Princess Joan dead and her lookalike servant, Nell, and Nell’s little brother, George, alive.

Joan’s brother, the malevolent Black Prince, forces Nell to act the role of the princess and carry on with the marriage. It’s up to a ragtag group of people to help Nell and George escape from the Black Prince, but how can Nell know who to really trust? And with an army of rats and a crown to the Black Prince’s name, how can Nell survive the throes of his black-hearted ambitions?

Review

THE PLAGUE was a decisively odd and unsatisfying read. I had expected a grand and exciting adventure full of so much danger you couldn’t possibly flip a page without encountering it. However, this book was slow, disjointed, and inconclusive. I never got a sense for any of the characters, most of whom seemed to pop in and out of the story arbitrarily, their backstories and motivations unexplained. The Black Prince was a too perfect villain, with consistently evil actions and a predictable ending.

My favorite character was little George, a naively optimistic and trusting boy who helps heal the afflicted and has not yet realized how dangerous the world is. Other than that, however, I felt no connection to this book at all.

Writing: 3/5

Characters: 2/5

Plot: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - The cover was what attracted me to this book in the first place. There's just something very intriguing about the fresh-faced model, her face dappled with sunlight. I also like how the green of her eyes matches the background. (Of course, the cover has nothing to do with the story itself. Alas.)

Review: Inferno by Robin Stevenson

Publication date: April 28, 2009 (today)

Tags: YA, rebellion, dissatisfaction, parental misunderstanding, therapy, homosexuality, friendships, arson

Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary

Ever since her only friend, Beth, moved away, Dante has hated her new high school, Glen Ridge Secondary School. Hours of sitting in pointless classes, being bullied by mean teachers, forced to follow the school rules without complaint…Her parents aren’t making it better for her either. Her mother doesn’t want Dante to become a social outcast, and yet insist on keeping her tightly reined, as if that will help her daughter.

Then one day, a strange girl thrusts a flyer that says “Woof, woof. You are not a dog. Why are you going to obedience school?” into Dante’s hands, and Dante thinks she has found a soulmate. The girl, Parker, introduces Dante to two other guys who have similar thoughts about established institutions such as schools and jails, and they do things to protest the mundanity of it all. For once, Dante is elated, and she continues to be inexplicably drawn to Parker and unable—or unwilling—to explain her feelings.

But when her friends plan something that can really be out of control, and Parker needs her help, what is Dante to do? How much is too much, and what done in the name of protest is actually useless, unhelpful, and dangerous?

Review

INFERNO deals with an overwhelming number of issues in a way that leaves us unsatisfied. In the span of a little over 200 pages, Stevenson tries to deal with rebellion, parental misunderstanding, homosexuality, arson, unhealthy vs. healthy friendships…Whoa! There are probably more that I missed. Just one of these topics is something that deserves a book to itself. Cramming all of these into one book results in me feeling dissatisfied and cheated out of a better, more complete and fulfilling story.

Dante is a mediocre protagonist who makes bad decisions I often can’t relate to; as a result, she hardly garners my respect and empathy. Similarly, Parker, while a compelling IDEA of a character, falls flat in practice. Her personality ranges from enigmatic, strong, and intelligent to scared and indecisive, to flirtatious and manipulative. While it is totally possible that all of these traits exist in one character, in Parker they felt disjointed, as if she were three different characters trying—and failing—to masquerade as one. As a result, I was unable to sympathize with her character, even though I admit that her problems are plenty and definitely deserve attention and maybe even therapy.

Similarly, other supporting characters are either one-dimensional or else so caricature-esque that I couldn’t get into them. Jamie, Parker’s boyfriend, is unrelentingly the angry disenfranchised youth with the unexplained past. Leo, their other friend, has a backstory, but it seems totally separate from the person he is now. Dante’s mother was infuriating, but that was probably for personal reasons. I only wish that Dante’s parents were more complex characters, so I could actually believe their shifts in emotions and the mother-daughter bonding moments. Because right now I don’t believe them.

All hope is NOT lost, however. The plot, while predictable, still managed to capture my attention and keep me reading. This book is really a plot-driven one. INFERNO is a beginners’ introduction to a variety of complex issues that need to be explored at a greater depth. I’m not sure who to recommend this to because there are much better books that discuss these topics out there.

Writing: 3/5

Characters: 1/5

Plot: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

Review: Evermore by Alyson Noel

Book One of the Immortals series

Tags: YA, paranormal, death

After the accident that took her parents' and sister's lives, 16-year-old Ever can see people's auras and read their thoughts. She even has conversations with the annoying ghost of her little sister, Riley. The stimulus she receives from the outside world is overpowering, and so she constantly tries to shut it out by wearing large hoodies and toting an iPod with earphones in everywhere.

Until the new student, Damen Auguste, comes into her life. He's dark, beautiful, talented, and perfect--and Ever is terrified of him, even when she's mysteriously drawn to him as his presence and touch somehow manages to calm the psychic chaos in her head. However, there may be more to Damen than he's admitting, and it involves Ever as well--involves her to the point where it may cost her her life if she doesn't come to turns with who she is and what she can do.

I've tried reading Alyson Noel's other books before, and I didn't get very far into them. Now I remember why. Ever's character is about the only redeeming thing I can find in this book. Her character grows and changes in the course of the novel, from a sullen and frightened trauma victim to a teen beginning to "come into herself," so to speak. I found the other characters flat and annoying. Ever's friends Miles and Haven didn't seem real, and I was especially annoyed that there seemed to be no development to Damen and Ever's romance; it was like one moment they've just met and she's avoiding him, and the next--BOOM!--he's stalking her with red tulips and she's grudgingly admitting to herself that she likes him. Please. Additionally, while the story idea is intriguing, the writing lacks immediacy and there are lots of moments when I wanted to throw the book across the room because I did not understand why insert-your-choice-of-plot-device was thrown in so suddenly and randomly.

Still, it's not hard to see why the Immortals series will have a large fan base. Damen--or at least the idea of him--gives Edward Cullen a run for his money. Fans of Stephenie Meyer may do well to check out Alyson Noel's latest book.

Similar Authors

Stephenie Meyer

Melissa Marr

Rating: 2 out of 5