Review: Exciting and Sweet All Rolled into One
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 30, 2013
Though I received this book for free, in no way did that influence this review.I was pleasantly surprised with this book. The story has excellent pacing, starting out a bit slow as Ms. Anderson builds her world and introduces us to the people that populate it. From the very beginning it is different than most stories, but in a very intriguing way. We meet Caledonia's parents when they are very young and looking lost in the middle of a rain storm. Their luck turns when a kindly trucker picks them up and gives them a ride north.Fast forward seventeen years to Caledonia wandering through the forest, completely at home and in tune with everything around her. She and her parents have lived off the grid for her entire life, her only connection to the world outside the forest being the education her parents give her and the books that her father brings back from his rare trips into town. Those and books the sheriff drops off every so often when he swings by to check on them. Caledonia reads everything she can get her hands on, including every single volume of the Encyclopedia she was given.Not everything in Caledonia's world is idyllic, as her parents struggle with horrible flashbacks and hallucinations, though Cali has no idea what causes them. However they always help each other through the bad times, until the fateful day when their motorcycle is hit head on by a trucker as they were returning home from a trip into town. They were killed instantly.With her parents gone Caledonia, still a minor, is sent to live with her only living relative, Aunt Angie. Angie is not too hot about suddenly having a kid, and her boyfriend Phil is far from pleased. As time progresses Phil starts looking at Cali the wrong way, going so far as to make passes at her. She takes to sleeping in graveyards and parks at night to avoid his advances. When Caledonia tells Angie, she refuses to believe Cali & chooses to champion Phil instead, so the situation continues to spiral out of control.The only good thing in Cali's world is Calvin a.k.a. Cal. At first Cali wants nothing to do with him, but time and her growing abilities change all that. Just knowing Caledonia changes Cal from a misogynistic jerk to being a sweet and considerate young man.But there doesn't appear to be a rosy future on the horizon for the young lovers, as Caledonia is being pursued by an incredibly evil man. By now the pacing of the story has you stuck to the book, unable to put it down. Watching the two main characters change is sweet, and the action is pretty much non-stop, with one obstacle after another thrown at the determined pair.I must say that this story had me firmly in its clutches, enough so that I bought the second book before I even had a chance to complete this one. I'd say that is pretty much a ringing endorsement! Easily a great summer read, but also works for curling up in front of the fire on a cold day. I can't wait to get stared on book two!