Pages: 324
Publisher: NAL
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Reading Level: 14 years old+
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Theia Alderson has always led a sheltered life in the small California town of Serendipity Falls. But when a devastatingly handsome boy appears in the halls of her school, Theia knows she's seen Haden before- not around town, but in her dreams.I've been wondering how exactly I was going to write this review for a very long time. I always came up short for words to adequately describe what I thought of this book, because they're actually really contrasting. I just hope this review can do it justice.
As the Haden of both the night and the day beckons her closer one moment and pushes her away the next, the only thing Theia knows for sure is that the incredible pull she feels towards him is stronger than her fear.
And when she discovers what Haden truly is, Theia's not sure if she wants to resist him, even if the cost is her soul.
To start off: I love this book.
Also: I hated this book.
Yes, both those things at the same exact time. I know, it's weird, but it's the truth. Here's my reasoning:
Why I Hate It: On a purely logical level, this novel was full of cliches. Very Twilight-esque in some parts, especially with the whole "You shouldn't be around me, I'm dangerous" thing from Haden. The romance is the Instant Love kind, where girl sees boy, girl loves boy, they are soul mates for the rest of eternity, *insert romantic swoon here*. I mean, Haden was a total jackass for 75% of the novel. If I saw the guy I was interested in grinding against a half-naked skank on purpose, I would literally tell him to screw off. That is not the way to win my heart, bud. The plot was also pretty weak, another one of those "We can't be together, oh no! *cue teenage angst and lust*" books. I also wasn't really fond of Theia, the main character. I understand that she's oppressed by an extremely over protective father, but she was still weak and naive. I didn't hate her, I just didn't like her much.
Why I Love It: This is where I say bye-bye to logic. This novel was a guilty pleasure. It was a novel that should have made me want to throw it against the wall because of all of the above issues I had with it. But sometimes, I just fall so far into the fantasy that I can sort of overlook the negative things. They're still there in my mind, but I can just enjoy the teenage angst and lust and romance, instead of analyze it. When Haden wasn't being a royal douchebag, he was hot. I admit it, he was hot.
Gwen Hayes also created quite the cast of side characters, whom I also loved. Donny and Ame, Theia's best friends, were the perfect comic relief. I laughed several times while reading their dialogue. Varnie, the psychic drag queen that helps the girls was also interesting to read.
The most intriguing part was the mythology behind the novel. The concept of the dreams and Under, the world where Haden is from, was unique, yet reminded me a bit of the myth of Hades and Persephone, which is always a good thing.
I loved it, I hated it, it's my guilty pleasure read. That's really it. I give this novel 3.5 out of 5 stars.
It does sound a lot like Twilight... :D
ReplyDeleteWow! You really got into it with this one. =) GREAT review! I'm sorry you had issues with this book, I've been wanting to read it for a while, but haven't gotten to it yet.
ReplyDelete@Sikka, it really is a lot like Twilight. But I feel that it has much more potential than Twilight ever did, mostly because of the absence of sparkling vampires, lol.
ReplyDelete@ Vintage Bookworm haha yeah I did get pretty into it. That's just because I had really conflicting feelings about this one, I was pretty torn right down the middle of loving and hating it.