Review: I want more!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 16, 2013
Got caught up in the sample and ended up reading the whole book in one sitting. Very well-written with great characterisation and pacing. It's written in first person, so the first thing I must say is I'm SO THANKFUL to the author for not letting the main character go off into long, rambling internal monologues. No "information dumps" here, which shows a great deal of skill on the part of the author. We do get to see inside Celina's head but never did I feel like I was stuck in there and wanted to get out, nor did I at any time feel like I was getting information that was superfluous to the story.Celina, although portrayed as a bit of a klutz and "a plain girl" (at least, that's what she thinks of herself) comes across as endearingly normal. I love how she reacted when she found out the secret of her true identity. The way she responded was very real and exactly how I thought an ordinary person would probably react. In addition, it was lovely how Celina (or Lina, as she prefers to be called) had many hints of something unusual happening before it finally happened. We got to travel with her through the whole process and feel the anticipation of knowing that something was going to happen, but not knowing when or how it would finally happen. It was also great to see that when Lina finally embraced her identity, she started to come into her own.I loved that she had a best friend for support and I felt sad that we hardly got to see much of Kat once Lina's big secret was revealed. But I did think that Kat accepted the news a little too quickly and easily. Aaron was a little weird, especially at the beginning, but I liked that although Lina thinks he's hot, she isn't all slack-jawed and tongue-tied around him. I hate it when heroines lose their train of thought and are frozen to the spot because they're so distracted by the hero's handsome face.I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5 because some things weren't cleared up. For example, Lina starts to read an important letter, then loses her temper and stops halfway, but after she cools down we're never told what the rest of the letter contains. We're told that Lina resembles her great-grandmother, who supposedly lost her grip on reality and then simply disappeared. What really happened to her? We read that Lina leaves an angry message on her dad's answering machine, but he never calls her or comes to see her after he gets that message -- strange behaviour from a parent. Which makes me want to know why her Bayberry side of the family has been so distant when they could have helped her through this whole process of finding out who she is. And how is it that the special ability Lina is supposed to have inherited still hasn't shown itself, even though she has embraced her true identity? The ending also is a cliffhanger of sorts as we never get to know... well, you'll find out when you read the book. There had better be a book 2 in the works or I'll be annoyed because I REALLY want to know how this whole thing works out.