REVIEW #2 - Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

TITLE: Shattered Souls
AUTHOR: Mary Lindsey
GENRE: paranormal romance

PUBLICATION DATE: Dec 8th 2011

SYNOPSIS:
Lenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she's a reincarnated Speaker - someone who can talk to and help lost souls - and that he has been her Protector for centuries.
Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon.

REVIEW:

Cover
Just look how gorgeous it is! It drew me in immediately. I just knew I had to read it, and luckily, I wasn't disappointed. It doesn't really matter that the cover has no connection whatsoever to the story. Who cares, pretty!

Plot
The concept seemed really well thought and I could sense that the author put some real brainstorming into the idea of soul-sharing. Add reincarnations, evil spirits, a bit of history and a Gandalf figure (I call all of those old, wise, Dumbledoresque guys Gandalfs) and you get Shattered Souls.
I absolutely loved the idea of Speakers and Protectors! It gives a lot of possibilities and I feel the author used the idea quite skillfully.
The pacing was just right, I wasn't bored. And during the climax I couldn't put the book down!

Characters
I was surprised to discover that Lenzi is a likeable character. I'm not used to liking female main characters, especially when the story is told from the first person perspective! Lenzi is resourceful, she thinks about the pros and cons, she can properly evaluate a situation based on observation. Whoa! And she's even got some sense of humor. I loved it.
On the other hand we have Alden, our main male character. He's just lovely, funny, and completely in love. He's neither a weakling nor macho type, and that's why I loved him so much. I'd describe him as a boy next door. And who doesn't like boys next door? I was totally bought during that scene between Alden and his little sister, too.
Other characters were fun too (mentioned Gandalf figure, or other Protectors). I had a major issue with Zak, though. Even if the story he was involved with became quite relevant to the plot, I wasn't entirely convinced it had to be described the way it was. I'm not spoiling the story to you, dear readers, but tell me what you thought about it, too!

Writing
As I mentioned earlier, the pacing was flowing quite nicely. I'm not a native English speaker but I didn't find the language Shattered souls is written challenging. I appreciate the humor though. A lot of YA novels lacks humor these days, focusing on angsty turmoils of romance or the horrors of awful dystopian reality.

Overall

Nice surprise! I recommend it to every fan of paranormal romance and to anyone who wants to read something light and entertaining, with fun characters, cute romance and a bit of humor.


Rating