REVIEW #16 - THE FOREVER GIRL by Rebecca Hamilton

 

TITLE: The Forever Girl
AUTHOR: Rebecca Hamilton
GENRE: paranormal romance
PUBLICATION DATE: Jan 26th 2012

SOURCE: from the author

SYNOPSIS:

 Sophia Parsons’ family has skeletons, but they aren’t in their graves...

Solving the mystery of an ancestor’s hanging might silence the clashing whispers in Sophia's mind, but the cult in her town and the supernaturals who secretly reside there are determined to silence her first.

As Sophia unknowingly crosses the line into an elemental world full of vampire-like creatures, shapeshifters, and supernatural grim reapers, she meets Charles, a man who becomes both lover and ally.

But can she trust him?

It’s not until someone nearly kills Sophia that she realizes the only way to unveil the source of her family's curse: abandon her faith or abandon her humanity. If she wants to survive, she must accept who she is, perform dark magic, and fight to the death for her freedom.

REVIEW:

I had a problem with this book. While it's not a bad book nor it is badly written, there were things that bothered me too much and forced me to lower my overall rating.

Sophia Parsons is a Wiccan who tries to live peacefully in a small town. But it's not that easy. She starts hearing voices in her head and after a ritual that goes awry, she gets mingled with the supernatural world. Little does she know that her part in the forthcoming event will be crucial...

The book starts a little slow, but picks up the pace in the later half. As much as I love fast action, I admit that I liked the first half better. I liked the relationships presented between the characters, especially Sophia and Charles before they started being together.

The most intriguing characters - the creepy twins - were introduced to us at the end of the story. It left me with the feeling of wanting more to learn about them, where did they come from, what could they do? Hopefully it will be explained in the next books.

I liked the dialogues - it's not a secret I'm a fan of witty banters and discussions that can melt your heart. There were a few of these in The Forever Girl and it showed the skill of the writer.

What did bother me then?

Little things, like over-explanations of some things (history info dumps in dialogues, for instances) and lack of explanations of other things. I had to stop and stare at the book in disbelief at the mention of supernatural beings being able to produce photography in 17th century. The explanation was that their world was far more advanced than ours. Just that one sentence, nothing else.

What irked me the most were the deus ex machina devices all over the place. Sophia doesn't know how to draw her powers - she doesn't even know she had any powers - for the most time, yet she learns how to do it just in time. Conveniently, one of the characters remembers what could enhance her powers just before they jump into the climax part of the book. And just as conveniently, Sophia finds in her head that she can understand random Latin incantations. What?

I don't mind occasional damsel in distress action, but Sophia had to be saved all the time. At the end of the book, she was rescued by a secondary character readers all but forgot about throughout the events, yet it was Soohia who got all the thanks and standard "we'd be dead if it wasn't for you". I was a bit surprised.

The writing, however, is strong. I think many of you will love this book! The Forever Girl has got an interesting mythology, a whole new world of supernatural beings - Strigoi, vampires, witches and so on. There's a Great War coming and human race is in danger. Will Sophia, Charles and their friends be able to stop it? 

We will have to wait for the sequel to find out.

OVERALL RATING:

2 out of 5 stars.
For older teens (scenes of non-explicit sex).