Omens jacket#1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong begins her new series with Omens, featuring a compelling new heroine thrust into a decades-old murder case and the dark mysteries surrounding her strange new home.

Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.

But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.

Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.

Aided by her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens’ last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her.

 

This month has been extra special for me, because I finally had the chance to interview my favorite author, Kelley Armstrong. I first fell in love with her Darkest Powers series. Then, I became obsessive over her Women of the Otherworld series. From there, I read the Darkness Rising series. And now, I have come to Omens.

Omens is different than the rest of her books in the sense that there is nothing paranormal or fantasy like about it. It’s about Olivia who was adopted when she was just a toddler and now she lives a rich, plentiful life. She’s engaged, is going to inherit a bunch of money. Life is pretty good for Olivia. That is until it gets leaked that she is the daughter of two famous serial killers who are spending life in jail. From there, Olivia runs away and finds herself in Cainsville, a place full of mystery and secrets. With the help of Gabriel Walsh, her biological mom’s ex-lawyer, Olivia sets out to seek answers about the killings and whether or not her biological parents are truly behind those murders.

I admit, I went into Omens wanting it to be just as good as the Women of the Otherworld series. That was probably my downfall right there. I’m not over that series, and I just wanted more Elena/Clay and Savannah/Adam. The first 100 or so pages of Omens was really good. I like learning about her life and the initial stages of when she first ran from home. After that, though, it got pretty boring. So boring, in fact, that I had to skim a large portion of this book. The characters were flat, the plot was boring and unrealistic, and I just wasn’t interested.

It might have helped things if I had liked Olivia better, but I didn’t like her at all. I didn’t hate her, but there was really nothing that interesting about her. Gabriel’s character was a little bitter, but honestly, he was kind of sleazy. I don’t want to read about sleazy characters. Because when they eventually get together, I’m not going to be rooting for them! That’s another thing, there was absolutely NO romance in this book. Not a drop. There’s a tiny bit of Olivia and her fiancé at the beginning, but it’s really just about them getting it on in the middle of a function in a spare room. It doesn’t even go into details. The romance is definitely nonexistent in this book. Unfortunately, romance is something that I HAVE to have…even if it’s just a little bit! And since this book was already so boring and heavy to begin with that just made it worse.

The story itself was confusing, repetitive, and, yes, boring. I didn’t latch on to any characters, the weird visions and creepy things that were happening in the book didn’t catch my attention at all. Honestly, it just felt like Olivia and Gabriel were interview person after person after person, and then they were going to the prison and talking to the mom. And when they weren’t doing that, Olivia was either working at the restaurant or talking to her cat. I mean….I pretty much got to the point where I knew what was going to happen next because the same things kept happening over and over.

I think my biggest complaint about this book was how unrealistic it really was. Okay…it’s true that some girl could be adopted and later find out that her biological parents are serial killers. It could, I admit it. But, okay, WHY was Olivia adopted by someone who apparently didn’t even want a kid? And her biological mom had NO idea that Olivia’s biological parents were serial killers, but her adoptive dad did know. And her adoptive mom just abandons her and pretty much informs her that she’s not her child and allows Olivia to go running off and provide for herself. AND SERIOUSLY? Olivia’s family’s lawyer would have never gotten away with the shit he did, and everyone wouldn’t have turned their backs on Olivia like they did. I was constantly rolling my eyes, because it was ridiculous! And THEN, Armstrong was making it seem that if you’re not rich, then the real world is dirty and dangerous everywhere you go. I’m sorry, but I can’t go into town and even FIND a prostitute. How the hell did Olivia manage to do that within like the first day? How did she get herself into such messed up situations right away? Honestly? Life doesn’t work like that, and it was kind of insulting. I’m not rich, and I think my life is pretty damn good.

Overall, I didn’t care for this book. Hell, I didn’t even finish it. I think that Kelley Armstrong fans need to go into Omens knowing that it is nothing like her other series. This is an adult mystery book plain and simple. Do I think the YA crowd is going to enjoy this book? Probably not…..but there will be some! I definitely think this book is more focused toward mystery lovers who enjoy books without paranormal twists or romances.

 

If you like this book you should read:

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

 

Pages: 486

Publication Date: August 20th 2013

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Source: Finished copy provided by publisher

Rating: : ★★☆☆☆