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Evermore (The Immortals, Book 1)
by Alyson Noel
Available in paperback, 301 pages by St. Martin's Griffin
Description: (from author website) Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, Ever can see auras, hear people's thoughts, and know a person's entire life story by touch. Going out of her way to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school-but everything changes when she meets Damen.
Damen Auguste is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head-wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can see straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. She has no idea just who he really is-or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.
The really quick review:
The publishers want you to think Damen and Ever's relationship will be the main focus of the book. It's not. It might be for the series, but not for this book.
Enjoyment of this book with depend mostly on three factors:
1. What type of reader you are (focus on characters or plot)
2. What genre you gravitate towards (romance readers will have an easier time looking this book)
3. How much attention you will be paying to the romantic subplot (which also depends on the above two factors).
The long version:
The author's website makes it clear she's a twilight fan. Whether she wrote the original manuscript before or after twilight's publication is not relevant -- Evermore was published in the hopes of attracting readers of twilight.
What is relevant is the fact that the novel reads as if the author liked twilight, was inspired by it, but also recognized it's flaws and went online and read all the criticism about twilight, then wrote a book that addressed and fixed a lot of the problems twilight had. Problems that included a passive and uninteresting main character/narrator and stalker issues.
And that's good, because I wouldn't have read this book if the heroine was anything like twilight's Bella. I read the excerpt on the author's website, and liked and felt Ever's voice was distinct enough to keep reading.
The book can be divided into to major plots. The main one in this book is Ever dealing with her family's death and finally letting her sister go. The second is, for this book at least, a side plot: Ever and Damen's (re)relationship. I think I've read enough YA featuring talk dark guys attracted to the heroine to know the latter plot will become a much bigger plotline in the following books.
Which brings me to my next point. Even if you're not a twilight fan, even if you're to a romance reader, even if you're not a romantic, this book is a good read. Ever's voice and the plot line with Ever's sister is done well, thankfully overshadowing the paper-thin attraction between Damen and Ever.
The minor characters do play a significant part in Ever's growth as a character. The author pleasantly surprised by following up on minor minor characters, such as Ever's homeroom teacher. A small nit-pick is how "special" all the names are, like Ever, Haven, Sabine etc.
I liked this book but after the book's ending and learning the nature of Damen and Ever's relationship, I don't think I'll be picking up the next few books.