Read more of my reviews at A Bookish CompulsionI picked up this book on sale for my e-reader in one of my mag-pie attempts to have something for my nieces to read if the occasion called for it. It was a teen book that was popular, so I figured they might like it. When going through my books for a treadmill read, I came across this title and decided to give it a shot. Not really sure what I expected but I needed an easy read to help distract from the miles (I am not what anyone would call a runner…or even a very good walker, but I try, and reading helps to distract me from the fact that my legs don’t really want to be walking and would much rather I be sitting.). The best I can say about this book is it is very teen oriented.
The main character, Zara, was very disjointed to me, accepting impossibilities one moment and denying realities the next, there didn’t seem to be and consistency. Our love interest played the alpha male role, but what he had in courage he lacked in common sense (a trait decidedly lacking across the board in this tale, in all characters). All in all, it felt like a high-school soap-opera with supernatural elements added in for additional color.
As for the plot, I kept thinking maybe I had somehow skipped pages, because I had to have missed something from the story to explain just how we got from point “a” to point “b.” Surly there was some explanation I missed and the author didn’t just have her character jump to such conclusions with no back-up support. Sad to say, I didn’t skip any pages. I found the plot both implausible and full of holes. I am a huge fan of paranormal works, and have no problem introducing different supernatural elements, but just throwing them in with the internet as your back-sourcing? I can’t even express how much that killed my suspension of disbelief. Add to that the heavy-handed foreshadowing of other supernatural tropes, which were then met with more disbelief—even when demonstrated—than those gleaned from secondary sources, and it kinda became a hot mess. I’m not even going to touch the totally teen moment, when with all this supernatural mayhem, out leading lady’s question when given the chance to ask anything, is “Do you like me? I mean, like me—like me?” Ouch.
I am obviously not the main demographic for this book, and am not going to be following up with this series.
I give it two stars.
