Evermore by Alyson Noel (Book Review)

Title: Evermore
Author: Alyson Noel
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin


My synopsis: Ever is left to start over with her aunt Sabine in California after a car accident leaves her parents, little sister Riley and dog dead. She is alive, but she is now capable of hearing people's thoughts and seeing their "aura's". The slightest touch of another person catapults her into their thoughts. For this reason, she tries to seclude herself behind baggy clothes, sunglasses and her Ipod becomes her constant companion. It helps to drown out the constant "noise" that now surrounds her. Despite this, she does become friends with two other "misfits" at her new school in California, Miles and Haven.

She also attracts Damen, a super-hot new student, and for the life of her - she cannot understand why he has singled her out. She does what she can to resist him, but discovers that when he touches her, all sound and noise around her is calmed and it is silent. She also cannot read his thoughts and detects no aura around him. For these reasons (despite the "super-hot" factor) she finds herself drawn to him.

Haven, who desperately seeks the attention that she doesn't get from her parents, becomes friends with a long-time acquaintance of Damen's by the name of Drina. Ever also cannot see an aura around Drina, but always gets a really bad feeling when she is around.

As odd as Ever's life is, she begins to wonder who Damen really is and how he seems to know so much, be good at so much, lived in so many places, and have unending wealth - all while being emancipated from his parents. And just how does Drina fit in with his life?

My thoughts: I enjoyed this YA adult book - first of The Immortals series. I liked Ever and though she didn't like her ability to read other's thoughts, wouldn't that be a fun power to have - at least for a little while? I forgot to add above about the fact that she could see her dead sister Riley and carried on conversations with her all the time. I loved their relationship and what they gave up for each other (Riley in the beginning of the book and Ever in the end). I found some of the antics of her little sister to be so typical of a younger sibling - but being a ghost, she could get away with so much more and only Ever could see her.

Her gay friend Miles was also very funny - especially with all his "texting" relationships. Having 2 teenage daughters I can certainly relate to all the texting! Haven was so easily led to do things that I don't think were in her nature - but just because she wanted so desperately to be noticed. If she thought that she was going to gain someone's attention, especially someone like the beautiful Drina, then she was all for it.

I think that I will go on in this series and try the next book, Blue Moon, as I did enjoy this one. I am curious to see where Ever's and Damen's relationship is going to go.

Evermore
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Griffin, Feb 2009
ISBN: 978-0-312-53275-8
320 pages

Library Loot: 12-16-2009

I have been spending way too much time at the library recently - the problem is that I have actually been combing back over all my Friday Finds and Waiting on Wednesdays and reserving them!

Library Loot is hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures.

Evermore by Alyson Noel (audio book)

The first book in Alyson Noel's extraordinary new Immortals series. Enter an enchanting new world, where true love never dies.

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. (back cover)

Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater

This is the second book following Lament which I should finish by tomorrow - I am the first one to check it out from our library. I don't think that I have ever been the first person to check out a book!

James Morgan has an almost unearthly gift for music. And it has attracted Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and then feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. James has plenty of reasons to fear the faeries, but as he and Nuala collaborate on an achingly beautiful musical composition, James finds his feelings towards Nuala deepening. But the rest of the fairies are not as harmless. As Halloween -- the day of the dead -- draws near, James will have to battle the Faerie Queen and the horned king of the dead to save Nuala's life and his soul. (inside cover)

Velva Jean Learns to Drive by Jennifer Niven

One Sunday when she is ten years old, Velva Jean Hart is saved. But being saved isn't anything like Velva Jean expected, and life soon brings devastating changes: her father disappears on one of his adventures, and her loving mother becomes gravely ill. Before her mother dies, she urges Velva Jean to "live out there in the great wide world."

The only world Velva Jean knows is her home in the gold-mining and moon shining mountains of Appalachia. her secret dream is to become a big-time singer in Nashville -- until she falls in love with Harley Bright, a handsome truant-turned-revival preacher. As their tumultuous love story unfolds, Velva Jean struggles to find happiness. Will it be as the demure wife Harley wants her to be?

Beautifully written, this is an unforgettable story about love, spirit, and finding the courage to follow one's dreams. (back cover)