Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Rating 5

Plot:

Paranormalcy follows the story of 16 year old Evie. Ever since she discovered her ability to see through paranormal creature’s glamor at age 8 she has worked for the International Paranormal Containment Agency (IPCA), an agency that captures all the nasty creatures that haunt human’s nightmares, the paranormals. Vampires, werewolves, fey, mermaids, dryads, and dragons are a few examples of such creatures.  Although her life is filled with weird Evie has always thought of herself as normal. Then stranger things start happening. Evie finds out that she is in fact paranormal and IPCA has been keeping it from her. Then another paranormal just like Evie, Vivian starts stealing paranormal souls.  Vivian lacks a soul of her own, so she steals the souls of others to “fill herself” and stay alive. Evie has to break out of the center which is more corrupt than she thought and save the paranormal world.

Then in Supernaturally Evie finally starts to have the normal life she has always wanted. However, she quickly discovers how boring normal is. So Evie goes back to work for an allegedly reformed IPCA. With the help of her new friend Jack, and old enemy Reth, Evie discovers the truth about her and Vivian’s origins. She also discovers just how powerful she can be.

In Endlessly the last book in the trilogy Evie is thrust into her destiny, save the entire paranormal world and send the paranormals back to their home. The complication is their home is an entirely different world.

Opinion:

                Personally, I loved these books and may have cried a little at the end of Endlessly. First of all I love how much Evie changes. She starts out a naive teenage girl who is as reckless as she is stubborn. She blindly trusts IPCA and doesn’t stop to consider the feelings of the others. Seeing things through other people’s point of view is something Evie struggles with throughout the story and I was really proud of her on the end when she is willing to sacrifice herself for the good of all.

By the end Evie is mature and responsible. She has a sense duty and how the actions of some can affect people, although her core values never seem to change.  It is that quality that makes her so lovable in the first place. When she is tempted by the desire to gather paranormal souls she never does. The only time she does is in self-defense. Even in the end when she needs souls to essentially save the world she won’t take it from the unwilling and hesitates to take it from the willing.

Most of the characters like Evie do experience tremendous growth which was one of the things I loved so much. Take Reth for example. He starts off as arrogant, and you just want to hate him no matter what he does, but by the end you’re sad to see him go.

It was not only the characters had me hooked, but the plot as well. There was action, light-hearted fun, and serious moral conflicts all wrapped up into one. The first page would have you thinking while the next would have you laughing. This series was a non-stop roller coaster of emotion.  I was sad to see it end but also happy for the characters. I highly recommend it.

Unraveled by Gena Showalter

Rating 3.75

          Unraveled is the second book in Gena Showalter’s Intertwined series. It follows the story of Aden Stone who have three- formally four- human souls trapped in his head. As if this wasn’t enough each soul has a different power. Elijah can predict the future, Caleb can possess people, and Julian can raise the dead. Now, while Aden is the main character of the story, the novel also closely follows the story of his friend, Mary Ann who mutes Aden’s powers and their relationships with Victoria, a vampire princess and Aden’s girlfriend, and Riley Victoria’s guard and Mary Ann’s boy friend.

So basically what you need to know about the last book is Aden was crowned Vampire king, but he isn’t a vampire. Also someone is going to stab him sometime soon. The group also had a run in with some witches that Mary Ann and Aden accidently alone with other supernaturals lured to Crossroads Oklahoma. Now these witches cursed the group with death if Aden doesn’t show up to some meeting they told him nothing about. Fun right?

        

         Let us start with Mary Ann. I tried so hard to like her, I really did, but sometimes she is too much of the typically whiny heroine. She doesn’t know why Riley likes her, she is so plain, she isn’t as special as his other girlfriends, and she is a burden. However, unlike most Mary Ann does something about it. She tries to help the group by coming up with plans and observing the witches. She even goes to Aden for self defense lesson.  She honestly tries her hardest to prove herself in this book and you got to love her for it.  I just admire her for her selflessness as well and even through her insecurities she really is a strong character especially in the end. For all these reasons though Mary Ann also stands as probably my favorite character. 

           The plot was kind of irrelevant in some spots. By that I mean a lot of the plot I feel was spent setting up events for the next novel rather than the current problem of ‘we are all going to die in 2 days’.  The focus was not really even on that little problem until about half way through. And I am going to be honest, half the time I was waiting for some Mary Ann/ Riley moments because I love them even if Mary Ann gets on my nerves sometimes.

            Little quirks aside this really was an excellent book. I constantly found myself wondering what was going to happen next.  I love this because so many books are super predictable but this one was just full of plot twists. I can’t wait to read the next one Twisted. I would recommend it as well as its predecessor. 

The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa

Rating 5 stars
              The Iron fey is a young adult fantasy series that follows Meghan Chase, through her journey in the Nevernever or more commonly known as Faery. Meghan’s story starts when her brother Ethan is kidnapped by the Iron King and brought to Faery. Then her and her best friend Puck must travel to Faery to help him. Along the way the meet Grimalkin, a cait sith who loves to collect favors, Prince Ash of the winter Court, and Iron Horse an iron fey whose loyalty runs deep. Together they must team up to save Ethan and the entire Nevernever from the Iron Fey. The story is beautifully written and has a great story line. The characters mature so much throughout the story but still maintain their core personalities, which is why you fall in love with them to start. The story line also matures with the characters keeping the story interesting.  I highly recommend it.

Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking

         Rating 4.5 Stars

            I loved these books. This is honestly one of the best books I have read in while; I sat down one night and started reading and before I knew it I was half way through.  The book follows Wendy Everly who finds out she is a changeling. Not only that but she is Trylle Princess. Throughout the series Wendy must fight her Dad, the King of the Vittra, who is set on destroying her and taking her kingdom. However, Wendy must also fight society she has to fight for who she loves and her right to rule.  These books are exciting and full suspense. Wendy changes a lot throughout the story and she is a character that the reader can relate to and love. Now, I discovered after I finished the final one in the series , Ascend, Trylle is going to be a movie! The rights were signed over March 27^th, 2012. So if you don’t want to read it because it is an amazing story, at least read it because it is going to be a major motion picture.

The Immortals by Alyson Noel

Rating: 2.5 stars

              I usually love a lot of the books I read but this one I am not too sure. The characters develop so much over the course of the book only it seems like no matter what they revert back to their old flaws by the beginning of the next book. The plot does not seem to exist. It is the basic life of a teenage girl, but one who have physic powers. This sounds really good. She goes about but the plot twists are not presented in the best way they can be which makes the plot choppy at parts. The best part of the book in my opinion is the villain Roman. He is evil, deceitful, and really good at it to boot. However, he can seem good to all other characters except our heroes Ever and Damen.  He is a good guy, he just does not like them, and the feeling is mutual. The main focus of the plot the moment of truth in the books also seems to not get the shining glory it deserves.  When Haven almost dies a moment that is crucial to the rest of the novel s she gets about two pages before the story moves on. The books are entertaining however, do not get wrong, but I just feel there are too many flaws with the characters and plot. The Immortals also offers a lot of information about the afterlife, and magick. But melding the two worlds proves difficult. For example souls reincarnate after they die in to a new life so they can balance their karma. However, Ever’s little sister Riley died. However she crossed over into the afterlife and visits Ever on occasion. But, shouldn't she be reincarnating? There are certain details like this in the book that confuse me. Overall it is a good series to read for people interested in things like magick or just wanting to kill some time.