Evermore - Alyson Noel

Evermore by Alyson Noel
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Form: Paperback book
Series: The Immortals

After a horrible accident claims the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people's auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone's entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school - but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Damen 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 peer 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. And she has no idea just who he really is - or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

Source: back of book

One word analysis: Decent

There are many ways in which Evermore was a good book, and many ways in which I felt that it could have been a better book. I felt like Alyson Noel was sort of going for the attraction found between Bella and Edward in Twilight, and fell just barely short in that area. Perhaps it was the similarities found in the relationship of Bella and Edward that made Ever and Damen’s relationship pale in comparison or perhaps it’s the fact that Ever was never quite as fascinated, so while we understand Damen was gorgeous, rich, and apparently supernatural, I think we still felt disconnected from him.

But it is unfair to try and make a book live up to Twilight expectations. The story line was good. It moved forward, and kept you captivated almost to the very end. I say “almost” because around the time that you figure out Damen’s secret, I feel like Ever spends too much time wavering in what to do next. It was at that point that I was loosing interest in the book all together. I mean, we made it that far – and now she’s just being silly. Damen had perfect explanations for everything that happened throughout the book. My mind wants to say, “ah Damen, you don’t deserve her, you’ve waited forever for this moment and she’s on the edge of throwing everything away.” This was true even at the very end after the final show down, at which point I almost threw in the towel with 2 pages to go, sooo frustrating. But alas, I’m giving too much away.

Another part of the story that I felt could have had a bit more play time was the fact that apparently this isn’t the first time Damen and Ever have crossed paths, in the recent and also very distant past. Where was the foreshadowing? Why didn’t we play that up a bit more? Flashes of memory? I mean the reason was explained, but wouldn’t some kind of memory, confusion, etc., made a more interesting plot?? Ah well, I’m not doing the writing I suppose.

The characters get an A+, and as readers of my blog know, this is a major for me. I do like the characters, even the antagonists were well written. They wrap you up in to their story, especially at the beginning. I’m not sure if this is Alyson’s first book or not, but I’ll probably keep an eye on her books, because I expect that with experience her stories are going to get really good!