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Category: Paranormal

Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

[ 1 ] May 16, 2012

Reviewed by Grace Soledad

Anna has been seeing them all her life: colorful outlines reflecting a person’s emotions surrounding their bodies. Nobody knows about her special gift and she doesn’t plan to relinquish that secret anytime soon. Everything changes when she meets Kaidan Rowe.

Kaidan Rowe is the complete opposite of anybody that Anna ever thought that she would be attracted to, but Anna can’t help herself. His alluring nature and dark personality draw her in, but when she turns sixteen, she finds out the real reason behind her attraction, as well as the reasons behind her father’s absence and her special gift.

Demons and angels control the balance of the world. Anna is the daughter of a guardian angel and a fallen one, splitting her nature and forcing her to choose which side to embrace at any given time. Turning sixteen is hard enough, and having an impossible choice thrust in front of her makes it even worse. So when she falls for Kaidan – the son of the demon of Lust – will she end up in the darkness too?

Hiding her past and trying to unearth her nature turn out to be more difficult than she ever could have expected, especially when she and Kaidan embark on a road trip to find out exactly what secrets lay hidden within her.

Sweet Evil is my favorite book of the year. No other book that I have read has even come close to toppling it from its throne. The character development was one of the most intriguing parts of this book, especially when Wendy Higgins threw in the struggle between good and evil and different shades of grey within the two. Anna was an engaging character and one that I instantly fell in love.

Everything about Sweet Evil – characters, writing, plot – was spot on and it has been one of the most put-together and balanced books that I’ve ever read. It’s hard to even find the words to describe the affection and addiction that I have for this book. The battling forces of dark and light and the sizzling chemistry between seemingly wicked Kaidan and tenderhearted Anna kept my eyes glued to the page.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Grace Soledad is a teenage bibliophile who runs the blog Words Like Silver. She is described as “antisocial” because she constantly has her nose buried in a book or a notebook. When not reading, she can be found dancing, writing, or at the beach.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by HarperTeen. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Until I Die by Amy Plum

[ 2 ] May 8, 2012

Reviewed by Jennifer Jensen

Die for Me by Amy Plum was easily one of my favorite YA paranormal reads in 2011. It featured a heroine that I related to, a love interest to die for, a foreign setting, and absolutely no vampires or werewolves. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Until I Die, the second book in Plum’s trilogy.

Kate lives in Paris, and she’s in love. But Vincent is not like other males her age. Vincent is immortal, a revenant. He has the ability to age, but only if he can resist the urge to sacrifice his life for that of a human. Because he loves Kate, Vincent has agreed to let his kindred give up their lives instead. By doing so, he will be able to age with Kate, and once her life is over, he can resume his duties as a revenant.

Until I Die continues to develop the relationship between Kate and Vincent, as they discuss their future together. In some old texts, Kate discovers that there may be a way to ease the suffering that Vincent feels because he is no longer giving up his life. Vincent is also doing some research of his own, which may prove to have some serious consequences.

Some new characters are introduced to take Charles’ and Charlotte’s places in the mansion, and Kate forms a friendship with Violette, sharing her love of the arts and film with her. Soon the revenants learn that one of their own is sharing information with their enemies, the numas.

Until I Die is every bit as good as its predecessor, and further immerses readers into the history and mythology of revenants. There is also a prophecy, which might pertain to Vincent, and would make him a target for the numas.

I devoured more than half of this book in one sitting, and was frantically turning the last few pages during a very intense scene. I wasn’t able to predict anything that happened in this book, least of all the heartbreaking ending. I will impatiently count down the days until the third and final book in the series is released!

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by HarperTeen. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Slide by Jill Hathaway

[ 2 ] March 22, 2012

Reviewed by Megan Saldecki

Sylvia – Vee – Bell can do something extraordinary, yet she sees it as a curse. She can fall asleep, “slide” into other people and see things through their eyes. This is how she knows that a teacher sneaks drinks, that her sister cheated on a math test, and that Sophie didn’t commit suicide. Sophie was murdered.

Faced with this truth, Vee has to learn how to use her curse and turn it into a gift. She has no one to confide in – she cannot bear to see the same reaction she saw in her father’s eyes when she told him and he didn’t believe her.

Vee has to find a way to make the truth come out and also keep her secret hidden.

Slide sucked me in from the synopsis and kept me interested until the end. I loved every minute of this fast-paced mystery.

Vee is just like any normal girl, yet she has one thing that sets her apart from everyone. She thinks of her gift as a curse; she has to be extra careful around objects people could have left an “imprint,” or an emotional essence, on. She also has to be careful at school, so she isn’t seen as more weird than people already think she is.

I felt that Jill Hathaway really brought Vee’s struggles with her secret – with keeping it from other and keeping herself awake – to light. The plot was absolutely wonderful. It was fast-paced and I found myself practically tearing the pages from the spine in order to find out who killed Sophie. The result was something I was thinking about just a bit, but it was still totally surprising! I also loved that even though there’s a sequel, everything in this mystery was wrapped up nicely, so that there is no waiting for book two to tie up loose ends. It also most likely means a different mystery, which sounds like a great thing to me!

Overall, I loved Slide. It was mysterious and terrifying at times and just the type of novel I wanted to read. I highly recommend it for fans of mystery thrillers and paranormal romance!

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Meghan is a 18-year-old book blogger. She likes to read and write in her spare time and would like to become a published author one day. She plans on going to college soon.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Balzer + Bray. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Arcadia Awakens by Kai Meyer

[ 2 ] February 9, 2012

Reviewed by Jennifer Jensen

Translated from its original German, Arcadia Awakens is a modern day Romeo and Juliet tale mixed with Mafia intrigue and just a splash of the paranormal. Rosa Alcantara is the Juliet character in the novel, an American who relocates to the island of Sicily after experiencing heartbreaking personal trauma. She meets Alessandro Carnevare on the plane, son of the head of a rival Mafia family. Though they don’t get along at first, Alessandro and Rose end up falling in love.

As Rosa settles into her new life, she discovers a secret about her family that will greatly affect her own future as well as her budding relationship with Alessandro. While both of their respective families attempt to control them, they must decide whether their love is worth risking their lives–and the future of their families.

There is more to Carnervares and Alcantaras than meets the eye, however; they shape shift into panthers and snakes, respectively. It’s Alessandro who reveals this nugget of information to Rosa when he gives her a copy of Aesop’s Fables, a collection of stories about animals with human tendencies. This isn’t at all a new concept to me, but I loved how Kai Meyer relates it to Aesop’s Fables. Once their origins were revealed, I became even more invested in this book.

Though I like the concept of the book, the story never really came alive to me. It was a roller coaster ride from beginning to end: at page 181 it began to pick up, and then slowed down again. Then in another hundred pages it picked up again for me, until I finally began to lose nearly all of my interest. I’m fascinated by Meyer’s definition of Arcadia, which is possibly the only thing to tempt me to read further in this series.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Balzer + Bray. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

[ 5 ] January 19, 2012

Reviewed by Megan Saldecki

Nikki Beckett mysteriously vanished last spring, leaving her family, her friend Jules, and her boyfriend Jack devastated. She was taken to the Everneath, a place where immortals feed on humans’ emotions to sustain their immortality.

So when Nikki suddenly comes back to her old town, everyone is surprised. She tries to slowly get back into the flow of things, but she harbours a secret that’ll devastate her loved ones even more: she has to go back to the Everneath in six months. And this time forever.

Nikki must find a way to stay above the ground, or lose everyone and everything again…

I found the premise of Everneath by Brodi Ashton extremely interesting, but because of a few problems, I just couldn’t like this book as much as I wanted to.

Nikki was all over the place for me. One minute she’d be entirely selfless and the next very selfish about having to go to the Tunnels at the end of her six months. She spent entirely too much time whining about the fact that she had to go back and that she wanted to make her disappearance up to her friends and family. Considering that her dad and her brother, Tommy, hardly entered the story, I didn’t feel that she made things better with them. This was also the case with her “best” friend, Jules, whom she hardly ever talked to or hung out with.

Now this is not to say I didn’t like Nikki at all. When she and Jack were actually making progress with each other and figuring out how to keep Nikki on Earth, I really enjoyed her character.

I did like Jack from the beginning of the story, however. I thought he was sweet and incredibly brave and understanding. I thought that he accepted Nikki’s story about the Everneath and her being a Forfeit way too fast, though.

Ashton’s writing was pretty simple, which was good in a way since it balanced out the complexity of the plot. I found the plot complex because it basically forced me to come up with explanations for the new vocabulary words such as Everliving, Tunnels, Forfeit and Feed. Some things were explained briefly in the beginning, but I thought the full answers were given too late, after I had already figured out what most things meant by the context clues.

Two things I definitely enjoyed, though, were the mythology incorporated in the story and the ending. The ending was executed perfectly in my opinion and I wish the rest of the novel was of the same quality.

Overall, once I looked past these flaws, I did enjoy Everneath quite a bit, but since so many things fell flat for me, I couldn’t give it a better rating. I would recommend this to fans of paranormal romance, though with some hesitation.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Meghan is a 18-year-old book blogger. She likes to read and write in her spare time and would like to become a published author one day. She plans on going to college soon.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Balzer + Bray. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Elphame’s Choice by P.C. Cast

[ 5 ] January 14, 2012

Reviewed by Jennifer Jensen

Elphame, daughter of the goddess Epona’s Beloved, has always been treated differently by the citizens of Partholon. Born a combination of human, goddess, and centaur, Elphame’s uniquely beautiful figure is met with awe and shock by all she meets. Having never been comfortable with being an object of worship among her mother Etain’s people, Elphame is led by her prophetic dreams to set out on her own and rebuild the castle of her ancestors. Damaged in the war against the Fomorians centuries earlier, the MacCallan Castle requires all the assistance it can get to be restored to its former glory.

With the assistance of her centaur brother Cuchulainn and a small group of followers, Elphame makes the MacCallan Castle her new home. Instead of looking at her through worshipful eyes, the new tenants of MacCallan Castle become the friends that Elphame has always longed for. It is in the surrounding forest that Elphame will meet her destined lifemate, a man damned by the sins of his ancestors, the Fomorians. Like Elphame, Lochlan is of two worlds. Will he fulfill the prophecy that calls for the blood of a dying goddess and end the madness that plagues his people? Or will Lochlan forsake those like him for true love?

First published in 2004 by Luna, P.C. Cast’s coming-of-age story Elphame’s Choice has been beautifully repackaged and marketed toward teens under the Harlequin Teen publishing house. Fans of the House of Night series will undoubtedly be drawn to Elphame’s Choice, which promises “a different world…where the blood-suckers are truly dangerous”.

Elphame’s Choice takes place in the same world as Divine by Mistake (originally published as Goddess by Mistake) and Divine by Choice. Though each book could be enjoyed as a stand alone story, I highly recommend reading the Partholon books in the following order as suggested by goodreads.com: Divine by Mistake, Elphame’s Choice, Brighid’s Quest, Divine by Choice, and Divine by Blood.

Like Cast’s previous works, there are dark themes and adult sexual situations presented throughout the novel that may not be suitable for less mature teen readers. Adults shouldn’t shy away from this book, as I believe it was originally intended for that audience. Cast’s writing style is definitely appealing to younger readers; I especially found her use of foreshadowing in this novel to be too “telling.” When the events foreshadowed finally occurred, there was no element of surprise. For teen readers especially, Elphame’s Choice will be the perfect bridge to Cast’s adult-oriented novels.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Harlequin. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

[ 8 ] November 14, 2011

Reviewed by Megan Saldecki

I’ve been extremely excited to read Shatter Me for a while because every review I saw has been a positive one. I’m so glad I got my hands on a copy! It was definitely one of the best young adult books of 2011!

Juliette was such a great character. I’ve been reading a lot of books full of tough, independent young women lately and Juliette was such a different story. She was thrown into independency and all she craved was for someone to love her. Tahereh Mafi really did well with describing just how lonely and attention-deprived Juliette was. I could relate to her as sometimes I question everyone’s love for me. Mafi sends a message that sometimes you just have to trust people.

Juliette stood her own ground, though, and I grew more and more proud of her as the story went on. She really evolved to the point of understanding that she was not a monster after all.

Adam was wonderfully perfect. He was strong and sexy and the right choice of character for Juliette. And Mafi once again shined  - this time in her ability to create the romance that every girl dreams of.

I must admit, Mafi’s writing did throw me off at first. For example, since the book was written in first person, some of Juliette’s personal feelings would be crossed out, as if she was writing a diary and getting rid of sentences she disliked. There were also plenty of short sentences, sentences without verbs, i.e. the type of things that would give an English teacher a heart attach. However, I quickly fell in love with this somewhat informal style. It often reminded me of Chuck Palahniuk and a bit of my own writing, which made it just a bit more personal.

Overall, Shatter Me was perfect in every way. I read it in one sitting because I couldn’t get enough. I highly recommend it to anyone that likes both paranormal and dystopian genres, and to anyone looking for a gateway novel into those genres.

Rating: 5/5

Meghan is a 18-year-old book blogger. She likes to read and write in her spare time and would like to become a published author one day. She plans on going to college soon.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by HarperCollins. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Hades by Alexandra Adornetto

[ 4 ] October 30, 2011

Reviewed by Grace Soledad

Hades picks off where Halo left off. Bethany and Xavier are still very much in love. They’ve banished Jake, proven their love, and all they have to do now is finish the school year without anything going wrong. Bethany is in heaven. But, when one Halloween seance goes terribly wrong, Bethany ends up in Hell, the formal name being “Hades”.

Jake is convinced that Bethany will fall in love with him, Xavier, Ivy, and Gabriel are desperately trying to find her, and bringing an angel into Hell symbols the start of the end of the world, the battle between Heaven and Hell. Everything is going wrong and Bethany needs to find a way out in order to make it right. Surviving amongst demons and hellhounds is even harder than it looks when every good deed is punished and Bethany keeps finding good people who didn’t deserve this fate. Bethany and Xavier keep struggling to find each other, but will everything slip away?

Hades was a delight. The writing as usual was impeccable, the pacing perfect, and the lines between right and wrong explored. Alexandra Adornetto’s writing is impressively mature and clean for her age – she’s 19. The description and characters are amazingly crafted. Bethany is portrayed as naive and believing that everybody has good in them. Adornetto manages to bring the reader into Bethany’s mind and show us exactly how she thinks, while still providing a clear understanding of her surroundings.

While my favorite is still probably Halo, I loved Hades. It really showed another side of Adornetto’s writing. Hades was a darker and more diverse look into the Halo world. Adornetto’s writing has grown and explored many of the details debuted in Halo, allowing for a satisfying must-read. I can’t wait for the sequel!

Rating: 5/5

Grace Soledad is a teenage bibliophile who runs the blog Words Like Silver. She is described as “antisocial” because she constantly has her nose buried in a book or a notebook. When not reading, she can be found dancing, writing, or at the beach. 

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Feiwel & Friends. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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