Posts Tagged "Supernatural"

In case you don’t know, Richelle Mead is the author of the ever popular Vampire Academy series. The fourth book in the series, Blood Promise, is scheduled for release in August 2009. Fans will be happy to know that she’s embarking on a book tour throughout America and Australia. Here are her tour dates and locations:

August 25—Seattle, WA
August 26—Los Angeles, CA (Upland)
August 27—San Francisco, CA
August 28—Denver/Boulder, CO
August 29—Houston and Austin, TX
August 31—Detroit, MI (Birmingham)
September 1—Chicago, IL (Naperville)
September 2—Lexington, KY
September 3—Alpharetta, GA
September 4-7—Atlanta, GA (DragonCon)
September 8—Baltimore, MD (Ellicott City)
September 9—Washington, DC (Fairfax, VA)
September 10—Boston, MA (Burlington)
September 12-19—Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney) Schedule TBA

For Ever, life at Laguna Beach is anything but sun, fun and living the Californian dream. Ever hides her slimline figure and pretty face under baggy jeans and hooded sweatshirts so she doesn’t attract any unwanted attention, or any attention at all, in fact. You see, Ever is in mourning. She lost her entire family in a car accident the year before and doesn’t think she deserves the second chance she was offered. Why not her? Why them? Why did they have to leave her behind like this?

To make things even more traumatic, Ever is seeing the ghost of her dead sister everywhere. They’re even having conversations. It’s a comfort for Ever, though, because it almost feels like Riley is still alive – even if she is in the whispy, non-corporeal sense. Something else is happening to Ever, too. She’s developed a kind of psychic power where she can see into people’s minds. But Ever knows it’s not polite to wade through people’s privacy like that so she does very little with her gift.

But then Damon comes along and things start to change. For one, she can’t see inside his mind at all, which is very strange indeed. But it’s more than that. Something about Damon is off. Ever notices this straight away but can’t seem to put her finger on it. The more time she spends with him, the more her imagination gets carried away and suddenly she finds herself contemplating all kinds of crazy things about him.

Damon is totally not what he seems. Or at least, he’s not what Noel wants you to think he is. He’s old – very old, in fact – he drinks a red substance straight from a glass at dinner, he keeps disappearing, he’s got loads of money, and he’s got books signed by authors that died a century ago. Sounds familiar, huh?

Well sorry to disappoint, but Damon is no vampire. He’s just a guy that has lived for a helluva long time. And apart from the mind reading stuff, his tricks are limited and fairly unimpressive. He’s not running from a big bad (not really) and he’s not a threat to Ever in any way. Where oh where is the conflict, I ask? This is no forbidden romance guys, so don’t go into it thinking it’s going to be all hopeless like Romeo and Juliet. It’s not. Not even close.

I know that there are hoards of girls out there that really got into this novel, but I found Ever so irrational and so whiny that being inside her head was just annoying. As I sit here and type this, I’m strapping on my protective armour and picking up my sword, because I know I’m going to offend masses of readers when I say that this book was average. In fact, I think the best thing about it is the beautiful cover art. I put it down three times before I forced myself to pick it up and keep reading. It took foooooorreeeeevvveerrrrrrrr to get started.

Having said that, I didn’t hate it, but I most certainly didn’t love it. I’m not even quite sure I liked it. If someone handed me the second one, I’d read it (or I’d at least give it a chance) out of sheer curiosity. But I’m hoping someone I know has a copy because I’m not forking out my hard earned dollars to acquire it.

On a final note I would like to ask why everyone is comparing this to Twilight? Why are people comparing every single novel that comes out these days to Twilight? There are no vampires present within the pages of Evermore, and the love story that plays out between Damon and Ever bares no resemblance to that of Bella and Edward. So I ask you, why oh why is this being compared to Twilight? In my personal opinion, the two don’t even really belong in the same genre. My two cents, though, and I’m sure others will have much to say about the issue.

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Seth wasn’t trying to pretend things were all right.

“I don’t know what happened between you two before tonight but I can probably guess…”

The look Keenan gave him confirmed Seth’s fears.

“Right. Here’s the thing. If she chooses to give you more than her friendship, it’ll suck for me. Probably how you feel now.”

Keenan was motionless, but it was much the same way that caged lions became motionless – sizing you up for weakness. For all their feigning humanity, faeries were something Other. Aislinn was Other, and the longer she was with them, the further away from mortal normalcy she would be.

And from me.

If you liked Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange then you’re going to love this.

Aislinn is Seth’s world. Before Ash came along, Seth never pegged himself for the couple-type. He’d always been happy to cruise along and engage in a little no-strings-attached kind of fun when it suited him. But Ash changed all that. Changed him. Now Ash is Seth’s whole world. She is his everything and he can’t bear the thought of losing her. But as Ash falls further into her role as queen of the Summer Court, it’s a thought that he’s entertained more than once. He can see the connection between his girlfriend and the king of the Summer Court – Keenan – growing stronger the more summer approaches.

And Keenan has noticed, too. Keenan notices nothing but Ash. He watches her every move, doesn’t miss a single bat of her eyelid. The fact that Ash is still with Seth is killing Keenan. He swears his romantic interest in Ash is for the betterment of the court only, but that doesn’t exactly make it any easier for Seth. If Keenan keeps pushing Ash, keeps testing the boundaries with her, will she give into his charming ways? Seth, being the smart, savvy guy that he is, knows all too well that if he doesn’t act now, he’s going to lose his girl.

You won’t believe what he does…

And what about Donia? Poor Don and Keenan have been trying to work things out for ages. Are they ever going to get their stuff sorted, or will Ash and the whole court rivalry thing going to keep them apart always? Donia is one feisty chick that you don’t want to put off side. Is Keenan smart enough to see that, or will he put himself, his queen and his entire court in danger because of his blindness?

I couldn’t possibly write a review of Fragile Eternity without throwing a shout out to Niall. Although his role is sort of secondary, he still manages to throw his bad ass self around, making sure that everyone knows that he’s one fey not to be messed with. Niall’s protectiveness over Seth is more than a little endearing and I can’t help but wonder if perhaps the strength of their relationship that we saw in this novel is a taste of wicked things to come…

Niall, ruler of the Dark Court, you rock my socks off. I can’t wait for more action from you in the future.

Melissa Marr’s faery world is one I love to get lost in. Seth, Aislinn and Keenan are all so alive and real in my heart that I can feel Keenan’s jealousy pulling at my insides, hear Ash’s tears as she weeps for her lost love, and see the desperation painted on Seth’s face as he watches his lover engage with another. The words flow effortlessly across the page and paint a picture so beautiful that its hard to believe they’re just words. There’s not one single part of Fragile Eternity that I didn’t love. The character development is mind blowing, the twists and turns are both tiny and ginormous (and totally surprising, let me add) and even though nothing goes the way I want it to, as I turned the last page I still had a huge smile on my face.

I think the divide between Team Seth fans and Team Keenan devotees will become clearer than ever now. While Melissa Marr lays out a pretty solid case for both her boys, if you were sitting on the fence before Fragile Eternity, I’m willing to lay money on it that you wont be at the end. And I reckon it will be a pretty easy choice, too.

Totally and absolutely brilliant in every possible way!

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