What's In My Mailbox #20 & Infinite Days By Rebecca Maizel Review #68

What's In My Mailbox

Haven Moore cannot control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother's house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves, before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

I've been hesitant on buying this one for quite some time now because I've heard mixed reviews. I finally took the courage to buy it and try it out and am absolutely loving it :)

Author: Rebecca Maizel
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin New York
Pages: 308
Available: Now
Source: Chapters
Rating:

“Throughout all my histories, I found no one I loved more than you...no one.”

Those were some of Rhode’s last words to me. The last time he would pronounce his love. The last time I would see his face.

It was the first time in 592 years I could take a breath. Lay in the sun. Taste.

Rhode sacrificed himself so I, Lenah Beaudonte, could be human again. So I could stop the blood lust.
I never expected to fall in love with someone else that wasn’t Rhode.
But Justin was...daring. Exciting. More beautiful than I could dream.
I never expected to be sixteen again...then again, I never expected my past to come back and haunt me...

WHY, WHY, WHY DID YOU DO THAT MS. MAIZEL??? For anyone who has read this book will probably understand this. I loved everything about this book except that. I'm praying that it's not true and somehow will change by the next book. I don't want to give away what I'm talking about as it was a well hidden plot twist that totally caught me off guard and made me very sad. For those of us who have read this book I'm talking about a scene that happens near the end of the book before the big fight.

Though even though that twist happened it shows how good of writer Rebecca Maizel is. She is able to captivate her readers and make them care, probably just as much as she does, for her characters.

With that aside, I loved Infinite Days. It was a thrilling ride that was fast paste and interesting with every page turned and is truly well written. Ms. Maizel did a wonderful job with writing in first person through the mind of a 592 year old vampire. Lenah was a lot more complex then her companions because of her age and what she has been through and that was well brought out through the novel.

The author switches from present day to the past which, in my opinion, is uncommon in YA but was nicely welcomed in it. I enjoyed seeing the development of Lenah's character go from the selfish, evil vampire to the kind caring human.

The plot was a nice change from all the other vampire-romance books popping up in the YA area lately.

A nice change was that the boys were more the damsel then the women. The male lead was not as strong in handling the antagonists as the female lead was and I enjoyed that.

I loved the humor in the book and I also like the fact that Lenah and the coven spoke multiple languages to communicate with each other.

What I though could of been improved was the romance between Justin and Lenah. It was a bit to fast. I don't know if the author did this by accident or if it was meant to be but I found Tony as a love interest more suitable with Lenah then Justin. I connected more with Tony then I did with Justin and enjoyed Tony's presence a bit more. Though I know Lenah loves Justin I couldn't help feel a little bit on edge. I felt I couldn't trust him. At first I saw him as the hot shot who immediately dumps his girlfriend for the next hot girl on campus. He also was a bit mean to Lena at the beginning. So when they started dating I was a bit apprehensive. But I feel a little more trustworthy of him now. Maybe in the next book, Stolen Nights, I'll like him more.

I don't know I just could connect better with Tony/Lenah then Justin/Lenah.

One other thing that bugged me about Infinite Days was the tears. There were certain scenes were the characters were crying and I just couldn't imagine it or feel it.

Overall I loved Infinite Days. I couldn't stop reading it. It was mind blowing and If this is the start of a series then It's a damn good start.
Yours Truly,