Evermore by Alyson Noel (The Immortals #1)

Synopsis:
Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever can see auras, hear people’s thoughts, and know a person’s life story by touch. Going out of her way to shield herself from human contact to suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school—but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste… Ever sees Damen and feels an instant recognition. He is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy, and he holds many secrets. Damen is able to make things appear and disappear, he always seems to know what she’s thinking—and he’s the only one who can silence the noise and the random energy in her head. She doesn’t know who he really is—or what he is. Damen equal parts light and darkness, and he belongs to an enchanted new world where no one ever dies.


Review:
I had this book sitting on my shelf for over a year and had never read it. As a book I bought and not one for review it often got passed over. Well I decided it was a perfect day for it by the pool last week and I was correct (and mad at myself for waiting so long to start it).

I really enjoyed this book, I like Ever and I think the book is original and a really fast read. Ever is a great main character with quirky, fun friends and a scarred, haunting past. The fact that she regularly hangs out with her dead sister is really just the tip of the paranormal iceberg in this case.

Her relationship with Damen is somehow romantic, mysterious and frustrating all at the same time. The times they are together are amazing and so much fun to read about but his sketchy disappearing acts and lies kind of made me hate him at times. At the end it all made sense, although the drama in between is incredibly, but there were times early on when I wanted to jump in the story and demand answers. I figure a passionate reaction, even if it is partly frustration, is a good thing when reading. I want something that makes me care about the characters.

The plot is really original and I really didn’t see the ending coming, best of all I put down the book and couldn’t wait to get to the library and get The Immortals #2 Blue Moon. This is a promising start to a series that already has three more in the series available: Blue Moon, Shadowland and Dark Flame. I can already tell this angsty thrill ride is going to be an addiction for me.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge

The Perfect Couple by Brenda Novak

The Perfect Couple by Brenda Novak

Summary:

A mother faces her greatest fear.

Zoe Duncan’s thirteen-year-old daughter goes missing from her own backyard while she's home sick from school. The police suspect Samantha’s a runaway—she’s not happy about her mother’s upcoming marriage—but Zoe knows Sam would never do that.

Terrified of losing the person she loves most, Zoe is willing to do anything to bring Sam home, even if it means giving up her job, her nice home and her relationship with the man she thought she wanted….

A detective faces his hardest case.

Jonathan Stivers is a private investigator who donates his time to The Last Stand, a victims’ charity in Sacramento. He’s good at what he does, the best. Which is why he’s called on to help Zoe Duncan find her missing daughter. But never has he had fewer leads to work with—or been more attracted to a client. He’s sure of only one thing: Sam was taken by someone close to the family. He doesn’t realize how close until he realizes that the “perfect” couple next door is anything but…

Review:
Brenda Novak wrote the Last Stand series in two parts. The first three books, Trust Me, Stop Me and Watch Me are about the three women who opened the Last Stand, a non-profit that helps victims of violent crimes. The first three books were their stories and I was completely captivated by them, reading all three in a weekend.

After I finished them I learned three more books had been written, The Perfect Couple, The Perfect Liar and The Perfect Murder. They all have ties to the first three but are very different.

The Perfect Couple was a good book but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the first three books in the series. This time the book is much more about the villains then the members of the Last Stand. Jonathan, a private detective who has been a major help to the Last Stand is the tie in this time and while he is a major character he isn’t the focus.

He is helping a woman, Zoe, whose daughter was kidnapped by her neighbors, although she has no idea her daughter is so close. Naturally Jonathan and Zoe are attracted to each other and the moments they share are some of my favorite in the book.

Tiffany and Colin are the seemingly perfect couple next door who have more than a few secrets. None of this is a spoiler since you find out they are the kidnappers from the very beginning. What Novak does so well is tell the story with shifting points of view. We see the story from every character’s point of view which is both interesting and adds to the suspense. When Zoe is in the same house as her missing daughter you want to scream at her because she is sharing a meal with the kidnappers and we are getting the story from every possible angle.

While the changing points of view is consistent with the first three books, we get way more of the villains in The Perfect Couple and somehow is took something away for me. I really liked Jonathan as the link the The Last Stand but I didn’t get enough of him. He was completely overshadowed by Colin and Tiffany and their crazyness.

I think as a stand alone novel I would have really enjoyed The Perfect Couple but because I was expecting it to follow the same pattern as the first three books I didn’t like it as much. I am hoping that I will be able to readjust my expectations and enjoy the final two books in the series.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge.

Watch Me by Brenda Novak

Summary:

Sheridan Kohl was just a teenager parked at the lake in Whiterock, Tennessee with a boy named Jason when a stranger wearing a ski mask shot them both. Sheridan lived but Jason died--and the stranger was never caught. Twelve years later, by working at The Last Stand, Sheridan has learned a thing or two about investigating crime. She returns to Whiterock, intent on achieving answers at last.

But someone doesn’t want the truth to come out. Someone unexpected. Someone who is willing to resort to murder. Again.

Review:

This is the third book in Novak's Last Stand Series and it was my favorite book in the series. Sheridan is an incredibly likeable main character and her story was the hardest one for me to figure out so I just couldn't put the book down.

Sheridan was shot when she was a teenager and the boy she was with died. She immediately left the area and hadn't been back until she returns determined to solve the case. The book opens in a totally different way from the first two with Sheridan being attacked for the second time and fighting for her life. Cain, the brother of the boy who was shot along with Sheridan, comes to her rescue and sets off a crazy series of events.

As in the first two books there is a smoldering relationship between Cain and Sheridan but there is so much history that it is never simple but it is always interesting.

Cain's entire family is part of the story and the mystery and family dynamics almost always make for a great thriller and this is no exception. Every time I thought I had this one figured out there was a crazy turn that threw me (and Sheridan) off the trail.

As with the second book, Stop Me, I was a little sad that the book was set so far away from the Last Stand Headquarters but with a guest appearance by Skye I didn't mind it as much. Novak created yet another great mystery and I thoroughly enjoyed Watch Me.

Stop Me by Brenda Novak

Summary:
Widower Romain Fornier lost his reason for living when his daughter was kidnapped and murdered. When the killer got off on a technicality, Romain used a gun to mete out his own justice. Now that he’s finally out of prison, free to return to his Cajun roots, the last thing he wants to learn is that he might’ve killed the wrong man. But that’s exactly what Jasmine Stratford of The Last Sand, whose job it is to help victims of violent crime, has come all the way from California to tell him.

Review:
The second book in the Last Stand Series was another great, edge of my seat read that I flew through. In all honesty I didn't like it as much as the first book, Trust Me, but I still really enjoyed it. Simply put, I didn't relate to Jasmine as much as I did Skye but I still found her story incredibly interesting and I couldn't predict how her story would end the way I did with Skye.

Jasmine is in New Orleans searching for the person who kidnapped her sister and her back-and-forth with Romain Fornier is really the heart of this book. The relationship between these two is what makes you want to keep reading and find out how their separate tragedies are connected.

Jasmine has minimal psychic powers which are an interesting plot twist but also a bit of the reason I didn't connect as well with her as I did with Skye. Her story is also told in New Orleans, away from the Last Stand headquarters in California which I didn't enjoy as much.

Also, like I said I couldn't predict at all how this story would go and when it all unraveled at the end I was shocked. It was a great ending that I really didn't see coming. There were so many separate strings that got wrapped up in a way I could never have predicted and I loved it.

So far I have loved both books in the series, be on the lookout for my review of the third book, Watch Me later this week.

Trust Me by Brenda Novak

Summary:

Four years ago Skye Kellerman was attacked in her own bed. She managed to fend off her knife-wielding assailant, but the trauma changed everything about her life. As a result of that night, she joined two friends--also survivors--in starting The Last Stand, an organization to help victims of crime.

Now her would-be rapist is getting out of prison. Early. And Skye knows that Dr. Oliver Burke hasn’t forgotten what her testimony cost him.

Review:

I took a break from my YA reading to go back to the genre that got me hooked on reading: thriller/mysteries. Trust Me is the first book in the Last Stand Series by Brenda Novak and it is fantastic. Skye Kellerman was attacked and managed to not only fight off her attacker but send him to prison with her testimony. No one in Dr. Burke's life believes it could possibly have been him and yet Sky and Detective David Willis know it was him.

What I really enjoyed about this book is the constant change in point of view. You get pieces of the story from Skye, David, Burke and Burke's wife Jane. With all these pieces you feel like you should be able to figure out what is going on but Novak really keeps the reader guessing. I particularly like the scenes told from Jane's point of view. It is devastating to her that her husband is in jail and you can really feel her unraveling as she realizes what her husband is capable of.

The relationship between Skye and David is captivating. You can really feel the spark between them but you also understand he devotion to his ex-wife. You just know they will end up together but the process is very entertaining.

You can tell how this book will end after the first chapter but how that resolution comes is surprising and entertaining. This is a completely captivating story that I couldn't get enough of. It is also the first in a series and the next two books tell the stories of Skye's best friends and business partners Jasmine and Sheridan.

My First Contest Win!

So less than a week into my head first dive into the world of book blogging I have won my first contest. A big thanks to Katrina over at Stone Soup for picking my name out of a hat. I can't wait to to read the Brenda Novak trilogy!!