Blue Moon By Alyson Noel
So I've just recently finished listening to the audiobook of Blue Moon, the sequel to the infamous, Evermore by Alison Noel. Now if any of you are wondering about how much I enjoyed Evermore well, until The Host, it was the worst book I'd ever read. That begs the question of how did the sequel fair...
I will admit that listening to the book, rather than reading, it was much less painful. Which is probably why I finished it in a day, rather than the weeks it took me to finish its predecessor. That being said it didn't make listening to Ever Bloom, our protagonist, gush about the "true love of all her lives" and "soul mate" Damen Auguste.
The background of our main character is as such: A year ago she was involved in a car accident that killed her mother, father, sister and gender flipping dog. This turns her from a popular, blonde, cheerleader from Oregon to a depressed, outcast, psychic teen in Orange County. She has a frenemy "goth" friend named Haven and a gay best friend Miles. None of these characters develop, but that's because they are not important.
Ever meets the "sexy-fine" Damen and discovers that she has been reincarnated over three times. In each of these lives our dear Damen was the love of her life and right before they had smut she was killed. We find out that the culprit is Damen's ex-wife Drina and is killed by dues-ex-machia (aka an attack on her Heart Chakra). This leaves Damen and Ever free to have smex...excuse me be in love. :D
Oh, right this is paranormal romance so what is the paranormal? Damen is an immortal. He became this was by perfecting the philosopher's stone and turned himself and six others into "Immortals." He turns Ever into one when he saves her from the car accident that claimed everyone else. His ex-wife is a "rogue" immortal.
There is other irrelevant stuff, but that gets covered more so in the second book.
Blue Moon opens with Damen helping Ever practice with her manifestation, which is the ability to create things out of thin air. They start making out and getting hot and heavy, but Ever isn't ready. That's okay with Damen because he's a gentleman. The first half of the book is mostly made out of telling us how much Damen loves Ever, Ever dealing with her insecurities about Damen's 400 years of sexual conquest and her preparing to "do the do."
In the middle of her melodrama there is a new kid at school name Roman, who she immediately detects to be the bad guy. Roman manages to smooth talk everyone, including Damen, but not our feisty little Ever. She can tell something is wrong with him.
More in between sections until the "meat" of the story finally comes in. After being jilted by Damen over the weekend, Ever comes into school the next day and during lunch sees the entire school sitting together. Preps and Emo/Goths (because its all the same to Ever) and Jocks and Gays; all together somehow because of Roman's doing. It is from this that we get the most entertaining quote from the book:
"The lions are now lunching with lambs" I almost peed.
The only thing more annoying than this is the term "immortal juice" which just sounds nasty no matter how you swing it.
I'm not going to rag about the plot, because honestly the plot could work if it was written better-in fact it has been written better. My real problem is the character of Ever. She is so incompetent that it is frightening. I do understand that a lead as to be somewhat incompetent otherwise our story wouldn't get anywhere. However, Ever is painfully dense throughout the book she doesn't do a single thing right, not even in minor situations. To top it all off in the final decision of the book she proves that she needs to be lobotomized.
During her final confrontation with the cause of all her problems, Roman, who is a "rogue" Immortal (which doesn't make sense because the Immortals are not an organization) that has been poisoning Damen whilst turning him into a Jerk-Ass, he offers to give her the antidote to save him. There is another character there who urges Ever nor to, saying he cannot be trusted.
Her choice will infuriate you.
Final Grade: D+
These books just rub me the wrong way and at first I thought I was just being picky, but I enjoy other "similar" YA books like The Vampire Diaries. Ever is just a poorly named, constructed and executed character. She and the other Immortals are too perfect that there is no where to go from there. The only tension is the drama of her own life, which unless you like the character, and I don't, makes the book a shallow read.