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Saturday, June 20, 2015

Review: Grasping at Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper

Grasping at Eternity
Pages: 368
Publisher: Starry Sky Publishing
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
#1 in Series
Source: Purchased
Leave it to Maryah Woodsen to break the one rule that will screw up eternity: Never erase your memories.

Before entering this life, Maryah did the unthinkable—she erased. Now, at seventeen years old, she’s clueless that her new adoptive family has known her for centuries, that they are perpetually reincarnated souls, and that they have supernatural abilities. Oh, and she's supposed to love (not despise) Nathan, the green-eyed daredevil who saved her life.

Nathan is convinced his family’s plan to spark Maryah's memory is hopeless, but his love for her is undying. After spending (and remembering) so many lifetimes together, being around an empty version of his soulmate is heart shattering. He hates acting like a stalker, but has no choice because the evil outcast who murdered Maryah in their last lifetime is still after her.

While Maryah’s hunter inches closer, she and Nathan make assumptions and hide secrets that rip them further apart. Maryah has to believe in the magic within her, Nathan must have faith in the power of their love, and both need to grasp onto the truth before they lose each other forever—and discover just how lonely eternity can be.
Review

Don't you love being surprised by a book? I'll admit I didn't feel too strongly about this book one way or the other. It's been on my Kindle for ages and I just figured I'd give it a go. I didn't expect anything monumental, although I was of course hoping for a good read.

I ended up really enjoying myself while reading Grasping for Eternity. I finished it in a day, mostly because I like finishing books as quickly as possible and also because I wanted to know more about the characters and the story. I was nicely surprised at how unique the premise of this book was, even if it did incorporate common tropes found in a lot of YA paranormal romance books.

The good...

Heck yeah, awesome reincarnation idea.
Reincarnation is pretty cool, and I like stories that can use it effectively. I've read a few books where I was like 'eh' about the whole reincarnation thing, but I like the concept of Elements and how at death one can choose to retain or erase their memories. I'll admit the idea of the story was a nice change in the YA scene, although it's not a groundbreaking change that breaks the mold. If I'm going to be honest, I can actually draw a lot of parallels between the Luna family and the Cullen family (from Twilight, for those who were spared the torture of reading it and somehow are blessedly ignorant of the reference.) Not to say that Karen Amanda Hooper tried copying Twilight or anything, because I don't think she did. I just mean to say that it's hard to escape the common tropes that popular YA fiction, but I thought the author did a good job of sculpting them to suit her needs.

The cast of characters was pretty cool.
This book was positively stuffed with characters of all different ages and personality types. I'll admit in the beginning this was a little annoying because I couldn't remember everyone's name and it was disorienting for awhile. But I came to like just about everyone (besides the main character but I'll talk about that in a bit.) Nathaniel had me on the fence sometimes as a love interest because he did one pretty crazy thing that I was just like... yo, dude. But then again he was just responding to Maryah's emotional word vomit so I can't really blame him.

The critical...

Maryah.
Girl, you are the most dense human being on the face of the planet. For real? I'm sorry, but I just couldn't relate well with Maryah. This girl wouldn't be able to see her own hand in front of her face in broad daylight, she's so dense. The most obvious things were happening in front of her and she never even stopped to question what was going on. She never took the time to connect the dots or to critically analyze just what the hell was going on with the people in her life. And I felt like she never did anything, in the whole book. She let things be done to her, and just kinda went through life like a pinball, letting herself bounce off of things and be shot off in whatever direction. Interestingly enough, though, my reading experience wasn't really hindered because of her. I think it had to do with the fact that the book is written with alternative points of view, vacillating between Nathaniel and Maryah. The changes in point of view kept it fresh, and I still wanted to know what would happen next even when reading from Maryah's perspective.

There's still plenty of questions that need answering, so the sequel is definitely on my wishlist.

FREE BOOK ALERT! The kindle edition of this book is free! If you're in any way interested in this book and have a Kindle, there's no reason why you shouldn't head over and download it right now!

Amazon: Paperback | Kindle

About the Author
Born and bred in Baltimore, frolicked and froze in Colorado for a couple of years, and I'm currently sunning and splashing around Florida with my two beloved rescue dogs.

I'm addicted to coffee, chocolate, and complicated happily-ever-afters. I am a constant work in progress.

A self-proclaimed twisted little pixie, I believe that magic and true love really do exist, even in a world that can be ugly at times. I like to dance down rabbit holes and ride shooting stars while playing a never-ending game of “Imagine If…” Then I write about my fantastical musings and call myself an author. I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love storytelling way too much.

Due to my strong Disney upbringing, I still believe in fairy tales and will forever sprinkle magic throughout all of my novels.
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This book was downloaded from Amazon for my Kindle. All views expressed above are solely my own.

1 comment:

  1. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a little romance, a little mystery, and a little magic in their stories. This book has it all and I can't wait to start the second book.

    Penelope
    Web Marketing

    ReplyDelete

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