About the Book
-
Author:
- Alyson Noël
BFF Charm: Yeh
Talky Talk: Textbook Fantasy Romance
Bonus Factors: Immortal Juice, Summerland, Alchemy
Relationship Status: That Kind of Cute Kid In English Class
The Deal:
Ever and Damen couldn’t be happier. Well, that’s not true, because although they are v. v. much in love, and spending all their time together, and Ever is practicing all of her new ‘immortal’ skills, (i.e. manifesting things, super strength, the youzh.) there’s a hangup. Or rather, Ever has a hangup. They have yet to seal the deal in a horizontal way. I mean, Damon’s been around for like, 500 plus years, so his, ahem, experience intimidates Ever. (Plus, even though he’s really only ever loved her– in all her various lives– she always died before they were together together, but that didn’t necessarily stop boyfriend from seeking ‘comfort’ in the form of other ladies, and that thought makes our Ever a wee bit jealous.) But Ever decides to push past that and truly be with Damen, and they make reservations at a fancy hotel and everything, (eeeee! tacky!) and then… he disappears. She searches and searches and leaves him about 60 messages, and knows something’s wrong, (after all, he HAS been getting a little sick lately, and Damen is NEVER sick.) but when she shows up at school on Monday, he’s there, and suddenly pulling an Angelus on her ass. (And they didn’t even do it, yet!)
Meanwhile, there’s this new boy at school, Roman, and everyone, including Damen is smitten with him. Well, everyone except Ever. Suddenly, all of the jocks and theatre kids and goths are sitting at one big table, and they’re all best buds, and they’ve ALL turned against Ever. She knows Roman is behind it, but can’t prove anything with the whole school walking around like pod people, so she enlists the help of psychic lady Ava, and the two of them visit Summerland (the magical place that exists between realms) to seek answers. There, Ever finds a way to reverse time, so she can go back and save Damen, but wait! If she can reverse time, should she just go save Damen, or give him up and go further back, and save her whole family, leaving immortality and true love behind?
BFF Charm: Yeh
I already gave Ever my BFF charm when I was in London, and I did enjoy it when it felt like it was just me and her, trying to solve the mystery of what was happening to the whole school, but I kind of only stayed her friend out of loyalty to our time together overseas. I mean, I know I should cut the girl some slack, because she was well and truly abandoned by EVERYONE, but I really felt the age difference in our friendship. It could have been worse, because at least the girl was proactive, and she didn’t sit around moping and feeling too sorry for herself, or whining ALL the time, (like some girls) but she did it just enough to make me feel like if I could see her through this rough patch, we’d probably go our separate ways.
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
Now, I’m a sucker for fantasy romances. Mostly because they are EPIC and also full of adventure. But when you’re dealing with ULTIMATE TRUE LOVE/SOULMATES, what’re you going to do to stir things up? Because it would get pretty boring if there was no challenge for our couple to overcome, and they were all just happy and googly with each other all the time. That said, I liked the approach Noël took with this over the usual love triangle. But it did cut down on the swoon, because most of the book was just about Ever.
Talky Talk: Textbook Fantasy Romance
Let’s face it, there’s a formula to these things. Some authors just do it better than others. (cough Suzanne Collins cough) Ms. Noël handled this story well, and I still like the fact that Ever is, as far as this genre goes, a pretty strong character. (A proactive heroine, even if she’s always messing up, always beats a placeholder for me.) My only gripe was that the cute British boy was the evil one? Come on! I spent the whole book kind of wanting Roman for myself.
Bonus Factor: Immortal Juice
A drink that not only makes you immortal, but keeps you that way, adds inches to your height, and amplifies your senses? Only problem– you have to drink it every day for the rest of your v. v. long life.
Bonus Factor: Summerland
A place you can access where it can be anything you want, if only for a time, and you can do anything you want, and learn anything you want (if you’re worthy) and see anything you want? I’d def. go for one of those.
Bonus Factor: Alchemy
I’m fascinated by alchemy. In fact, I wish there were even more about in this book. Although, if I mastered alchemy, I might be too busy turning poo into gold to think about making immortal juice.
Relationship Status: That Kind of Cute Kid in English Class
I sit across from this book in English, and we kind of make eyes at each other a lot. But while I enjoy our flirtation, and the distraction from reading The Scarlet Letter (again) the poetry this book writes isn’t THAT great. We don’t hang out after class, or sit together during lunch, and I don’t really think about it until I’m at my desk, wishing I was taking AP English.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). Blue Moon is available now.
