The Eternal Ones Review #69

Author: Kirsten Miller
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 411
Source: Chapters
Available: Now
Rating:

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.

Ah---I'm in love!!!! This story was so romantic, adventurous and a real page turner. I was so hesitant, it seemed so many people were not liking this book and I was afraid I would be the same way. I've been googly eying this since it came out. I think every time I've been to the book store since August I've been picking this book up and putting it down. A week ago I decided enough was enough and chose to try it out. To my surprise--and relief---I loved it. I definitely recommend it as a winter read :)

The story starts out with seventeen year old Haven Moore who lives under her Grandmother's dictator reign in Snope City, Tennessee. For most of Haven's life she has been the odd one. Why? Because she has visions of the past (really she has memories of a past life) and they're all about a young couple name Constance and Ethan. Her only true ally is her dress making partner, Beau (who is seriously one of the best characters in the book). The book deals with reincarnation, faithfulness, trust and the devil.

The first part of the book is set in Haven's daily life in Snope City. You really get a sense of how she's mistreated. How her visions cause her to faint at the most unlikely times and cause great problems on her. Basically her life sucks in Tennessee. Everyone thinks she is possessed by a demon and her Grandmother believes the only one who can save her is Dr. Tidmore who has been helping her overcome her visions by being her psychologist. By the way he is the preacher at the church in Snope City.

I didn't really see how religion played into this story at first but it became more apparent as the novel went on. This book isn't really a hard one to figure out as it's pretty obvious. At points I was annoyed with Haven for not realizing something so simple. I had figured out the truth, way, before she did.

The second part of the book is Haven running away to New York to find the newly reincarnated Ethan who is now known as Iain Morrow. Haven believes that if she finds Iain and solves the reason of Constance death in the 1920's then the visions will stop. But things get tricky, people lie, Haven gets stalk multiple times and it's a big adventure/mystery to solve.

I found it interesting that time seem to be repeating itself in this book. What happened in the 1920's seemed to be repeating itself in the twenty-first century.

All the characters were well crafted and easily came to life in my imagination. I love Beau, Iain, Haven and even Adam. Haven could be really naive at times but I felt for someone in her situation that was believable. Beau had the best one-liners. Adam and especially Dr. Tidmore were good at being who they were (for those of you who have read the book will understand this).

I enjoyed the visions Haven got and was eager to know more about Constance as the pages flipped. I really hope they make a film out of this, I would love to see the 1920's come to life on the screen. Have you notice that 1920's seem to be a popular time line in YA book's lately??

Haven's and Iain's first meeting was a bit rush I felt. Another point I like to mention was that Iain and Haven kept bouncing back to hating each other to liking each other, it got a little irritating after awhile.

The best plot twist comes, near the end, and is about a character in the book. I never saw that coming and found it funny. It was a tidbit about his lives.

This book was truly fantastic. Kirsten Miller has a knack for story telling and making the readers want more. She has definitely created a addictive world that I will be looking forward to learning more about.

Yours Truly,

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,

Paranormalcy By Kiersten White Review #67

0Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: Tween
Pages: 352
Source: Amazon Kindle
Available: Now
Rating:

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.

But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

Quick Note: School. Life. Host Sister. Next Year. Has taken over my life. I apologize and I'm trying my best to kept up with reviewing. Wow can't believe my last review was in August :(

Review: Wow 2 words: Freakin Amazing (well one out of two isn't actually a word but who cares). Ms. White can you please tell me your secret to making an amazing plot combine with great characters and lots of fun. Let me tell you I never thought a bunch of different supernatural creatures could fit into a novel until I read Paranormalcy , which by the way I totally recommend. I will admit I was very hesitant to start to this book for some odd reason. I guess everyone has been saying so much good things about it and I was afraid that I wouldn't feel the same way, but I totally regret waiting cause it's an awesome book.

Evie is your typical girl, well not really. She 16, can see through paranormal glamors, lives inside the Paranormal Agency, has a best friend who is a mermaid and has a faerie trying to steal her heart. Add 2 hot looking guys, a few good plot twists and an end that will have you craving for more and you've got Paranormalcy.

I loved how unique Evie was. She wasn't afraid to wear different fashions and be outgoing with people she meets. Even though she is in a tough situation she does her best to stick through it till the end which makes her a strong female lead. Evie is the type of girl who loves pink and watching her favorite teen drama show known as Easton Heights. She is the girly girl, which usually isn't my cup of teen but somehow I enjoyed her being that way. I also enjoyed seeing her out in the open, in the real world, and how excited she got about the littlest of things. An example of this is a locker (read and you'll understand).

My favorite character was Reth. I was so excited whenever he appeared. He so sexy, dangerous, controlling and unaware of human interaction. I won't say much about him since that would spoil the plot, but I'm excited to see him in the next book.

Lend is another male lead who swoon's Evie's heart. I love the name, lol. It's so original and different.

I'm at a cross as to whether I'm Team Reth or Team Lend. I'm kind of a bit of both.

The only thing that bother me in the novel was that some of the dialogue was a bit unrealistic. But other then that, it was all good.

I'm super excited for Supernaturally, which is book 2 of this series. I have a lot of questions and I can't wait to find out the answers in the next book. If your looking for a good supernatural read then I definitely pick Paranormalcy.

Yours Truly,