Review: Blew me away!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 26, 2012
Oh my gosh! This book absolutely blew me away. I really didn't know what to expect going in to this because I don't like really reading the summaries of books, weird, I know? But it was a pleasant surprise and it was done so great. Vampires, shape-shifters, witches, were-creatures (who I hope we'll meet in the next book?) and fae! A world in which I love, paranormal all the way! I fell in love with Kelley's first book, Hushed, and couldn't wait to read something else from her. Completely different but equally as great!There's plenty of action to keep you excited, lots of family drama and drama in general but I especially like the family drama between Ruby and Briar (by the way, totally love these names!), oh and did I mention there is romance. Tension filled romance but romance nonetheless and I cannot wait to see how this relationship between Briar and her boyfriend, Noah plays out in the next book!Briar is just a normal girl, wanting to live her life, love her boyfriend and enjoy her friendship with her best friend and roommate, Sherry. Unfortunately for her, normal is not what she becomes. She is attacked along with Sherry and she watches as the light leaves Sherry's eyes before fading into unconsciousness of her own. But she doesn't die...exactly...Two strangers, Cole and Oliver, are there to help her recover and accept the change that is coming over her. It's hard to accept the fact that the life you once had is gone and in a sense, you are being reborn. Starting a new life, if you will. I absolutely LOVE Cole and Oliver. Cole is so calm and so just relaxed about everything but he's so incredibly inteligent. He is absolutely someone to look up to and take after, for sure, so I am glad he has taken claim to taking care of Briar. Oliver, on the other hand, I can't quite figure out. He's younger, he's got a bit of an attitude but he's got a huge heart that he doesn't flaunt to the world.Then we have her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend or...well, we're not really sure what's going on with them but all we know is he hates vampires. You can tell he's struggling when it comes to Briar, though. It's an internal struggle about what he's always believed in and what his heart is telling him.I can't even tell you in words how much I enjoyed this book. All the characters were awesome, even the bad guys/girls. Guess what? These vampires don't sparkle either, so you know it's going to be good ;) But seriously, the story, the characters, the constant fighting makes this for one enjoyable read. One I really had trouble putting down! Highly recommended to any YA paranormal fan!