Friday, June 18, 2010

The only secret people keep is immortality. ~ Week 28


Evermore is the first installment in The Immortals trilogy. It's about Ever, an orphan after a tragic car accident that claimed the life of her parents and sister. Ever is the sole survivor in her family, and ever since her near-death experience she's graced with the ability to sense people. She can see their auras, hear their thoughts, and if she touches someone she can see their whole life's story. Needless to say, Ever is not the most popular girl in school. She spends most of her days hiding beneath a bulky hoodie with her iPod in the pocked and her ear buds wedged into her ears to block out all the noise.

Ever is living a pretty miserable existence until gorgeous Damen comes into her life. He's exotic, mysterious, and rich. Best of all - Ever can't seem to hear his thoughts or sense anything about him. When he's near, the noise is quieted and Ever feels some form of peace. Immediately intrigued, she gets pulled into Damen's mysterious world and finds herself filled with more questions than answers.

The good: I really liked the frustration that I felt mounting between Ever and Damen. Is he interested? Is he not? I know I was biting my nails. Guys like him simply do not exist and you know that your high school experience wasn't anywhere near as interesting as Ever's. Ever's friendship with Miles was also a definite plus - you can't go wrong with a gay, hilarious, best friend. His character was fun and provided some comic relief to the story. All in all, it was entertaining to live vicariously through Ever's "rollercoaster" ride with Damen.

The bad: Nothing was really "bad" about Evermore. The problem was that nothing particularly stood out about it. In a few months, I will have a very hard time describing the story to you, because there was nothing extraordinary about it. I feel like the plot has been used time and time again in young adult books:

Conflicted girl; usually has faced some type of personal tragedy (i.e. parents dying, illness, injury)
+
Mysterious and really hot guy; he usually comes from another town in the middle of the school year and is really good looking. All the girls fawn over him. Oh, he usually has some type of "secret" that our conflicted girl can't seem to put her finger on...
+
Supernatural element; one or both characters has a supernatural ability.
=
Young Adult book that has been written OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

All that being said... this doesn't necessarily make for a bad book. But it definitely doesn't make for a unique one. I would have a hard time telling you something unique about Damen and Ever. They are the love story that YA writers love to rehash because it's fun and it works. I'm okay with that... but it's always nice to have something stand out a bit.

The verdict: If you take this book for what it is, you will enjoy it. That means, don't expect a literary masterpiece. Don't expect to read anything ground-breaking or life-changing. Expect a fun story with lots of steamy scenes that make you daydream about when you were 16. Good times!

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