Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Review: Evermore

Evermore (Immortals - Book 1) by Alyson Noel

Publication Date: February 2009
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: YA, Paranormal
ISBN-13: 9780312532758
ISBN:
031253275X

(E-book from my collection)

Purchase: Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Books-A-Million, IndieBound

If you live in Morehead, KY or the surrounding area:
Purchase from our local independent bookseller: CoffeeTree Books
Borrow from our local library: The Rowan County Public Library

Alyson Noel on the Web: Website, Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Fantastic Fiction

Excerpt from Evermore
Book Trailer:



Synopsis (Author's Website):

Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, Ever can see auras, hear people's thoughts, and know a person's entire life story by touch. Going out of her way to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school - but everything changes when she meets Damen.

Damen Auguste is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head - wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can see straight into to her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she 's left with more questions than answers. She has no idea just who he really is - or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

Thoughts:

I have seen so many reviews of YA fiction lately that really look appealing to me. I have read the Twilight books and really enjoyed them and I wanted to branch out a little bit and read some other YA authors. I decided that Alyson Noel's "Immortals" series looked interested because I love paranormal fiction and this seemed to be a good fit.

Alyson Noel's first book in the "Immortals" series, Evermore introduces readers to some really great characters. Ever is young girl who has been through a really traumatic experience. Her parents and sister were all killed in an accident which she survived. The after affects of the accident leave Ever with some very interesting abilities including being able to hear the thoughts of others, which is confusing and hard to deal with. Her character essentially shuts herself off from the rest of her classmates other than a couple of special friends. Ever is tormented with guilt over the accident and has to come to terms with her involvement in it. She is your typical teenager with lots of baggage.

I thought Noel did a wonderful job making Ever seem normal even though she was anything but. I think it's hard for some people to understand the pressures that teenagers are under in today's world and Noel was able to explore that in this book. One of the things that I found most interesting about this book was the way that the author dealt with death and crossing over to the afterlife. Many people believe in spirits and 'ghosts' if you will. I thought Noel really captured those beliefs in this book in the character of Riley, Ever's dead sister who can't seem to move on. It explored the idea of how people can essentially "hold on" to those who need to cross over. It was just a really interesting idea.

Damen's character was really interesting. He was a little dark, but throughout the book as a reader we are unclear who or what he really is. Those coming into the series late like myself, knew from the beginning what the series was about "immortals" but in my case, I wasn't sure just what kind of immortal he was. He could have been a vampire, he could have been someone like the highlander for all I knew, so it was still somewhat of a mystery as I was reading. Damen was handsome, cultured and very different from the other boys Ever came in contact with, it's no wonder she was attracted to him. He seemed to have a nurturing or protective aspect to him which was endearing as well.

The supporting cast really added a lot of edge to the book, from Haven, Ever's best friend who is searching desperately for a place to fit in to Damen's former lover who is a very vindictive and not very nice. All the characters were very well developed and I really felt like I knew who they were and what they wanted by the time I finished this book. I really liked it a lot and I look forward to reading more from Alyson Noel and the "Immortal" series.

Evermore is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag!



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