The Emerald Talisman By Brenda Pandos Review #65

Author: Brenda Pandos
Publisher: Obsidian Mountain Publishing
Pages: 280
Source: Amazon Kindle Store
Available: Now, go to Amazon for paperback/kindle or Barnes & Noble for kindle version.
Rating:

To be normal, sixteen-year-old Julia Parker would shed her empathic gift in a second. Life has been difficult since her mother's mysterious disappearance ten years earlier - an event she witnessed, but can't remember. Julia's situation becomes more complicated after a near death experience from a blood thirsty stalker. As high school students go missing it is clear there is a connection to her own experience--past and present. Someone has to stop the madness and a chance encounter with a creepy psychic foretells that only Julia is the key to stopping the madness, but it may require the life of the one she loves.

Where do I begin??? I'm now adding this book to my all-time favorites. I simply loved it, read it in less then a day. Why do I adore it so much? I don't know. I think Twilight might have met it's match. I'm surprised there's not more publicity about this book. I can definitely see this book being quickly optioned for film rights. Not one part of the story did I find uninteresting. It was fast paced and the writing was beautifully done. It was clear, easy imagery with well brought out emotions. Also guess what, the author has never written much before this. Can you believe that?? I find her work very well written, not amerturish.

The characters were well developed and like-able. Especially Julia, I really connected with her. I found many similarities between her and me, and I enjoyed reading from her perspective. Her thoughts were really strong and well written, making her a realistic character. She wasn't annoying. A lot of the situations she got into and her actions were very understandable. If a guy hadn't visited, when he said he would, I'd be pissed off as well. I was actually wondering through the first half of the book where Nicholas was. I found the author did a great job of creating and writing about her. Brenda Pandos definitely connected with her inner teenager.

Nicholas and Phil were the sexiest characters of the novel. Sadly one of them get's down-casted, by the other. The plot was simple and very obvious. Both boys trying to fight over the girls affection. One good and the other bad. Which then leaves the readers in a conflicted situation cause you can't help but love both. Though you can probably guess who wins her heart in the end. Nicholas was protective in a sweet-sort-of-way, and his reasoning was very sincere. But like all other paranormal YA boys, he is a bit of a stalker. I was seriously waiting, throughout the novel, for Julia to ask if he watches her while she sleeps. I think I just finally realized that most paranormal YA boys do that, why not Nicholas as well. Phil was the nice kid turned bad boy in the book. At times I really felt my heart drawn to him.

What I thought... could of been more improved was Julia's power. I felt that it wasn't really brought to the readers attention enough. I wanted to know more, and maybe in the sequel we will learn more about her gift.

Overall this book will definitely be on the top 5 of 2010. I loved it and I'm so excited for it's sequel, The Sapphire Talisman to come out. I will be anxiously awaking it release date. If you haven't read this book yet then I highly recommend that you do.
Yours Truly,