Novel Review: Save Me by Jenny Elliott

Rating (Out of 5): ~2.5

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Swoon Reads (Feiwel and Friends)

Release Date: January 6, 2015

Spoilers?: Yes.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Debut-novelist Jenny Elliott’s thrilling romance, chosen by readers, writers, and publishers for the first list in the new Swoon Reads imprint, pours on the tension and danger in an addictive combination that will keep you turning pages!

Something strange is going on in the tiny coastal town of Liberty, Oregon. Cara has never seen a whale swim close enough for her to touch it—let alone knock her into the freezing water. Fortunately, cute newcomer David is there to save her, and the rescue leads to a bond deeper than Cara ever imagined.

But then she learns something about David that changes everything, and Cara is devastated. She turns to her best friend for support, but Rachel has changed. She’s suddenly into witchcraft, and is becoming dangerously obsessed with her new boyfriend….

Cara has lost her best friend, discovered that her soul mate is off limits, and has attracted the attention of a stalker. But she’s not completely alone. Her mysterious, gorgeous new friend Garren is there to support her. But is Garren possibly too perfect?

The Cover:

I actually love this cover. I think it's super pretty, the image is gorgeous, the colors, the words... All of it is super pretty. But I really don't think it goes with this book. It gives a more supernatural, ethereal look to the book, which is not present in it at all. It makes it seem like the water and/or angel aspect is more important, when it's not.

Review:

I was a little wary of this book, if only because I don’t read a lot of YA paranormal romance, and a lot of them tend to be very similar. I started it and it was all right. I was surprised by how much hate this book was getting—I didn’t think it was that bad. Now that I’ve finished it, I didn’t love it, but I didn’t think it was horrible. I probably would have enjoyed it when I was younger.

Cara is pretty average. She’s not a standout heroine, and she’s not really the greatest at anything, but she was relatable. She took everything in with disbelief and very slowly, which is somewhat normal. She was honest with her mother, which you don’t see a lot, and I liked that.

The romance is extremely present. This is more romance than anything else, honestly. Cara falls for David very quickly—too fast, as far as I’m concerned. But she fought to give their relationship a chance, and I understood that. It was very insta-love, but aside from that it was all right. David was a good guy, and I liked how honest he was. I think he gave up being a teacher too fast, with almost no hinting that he didn’t like it. They moved too fast in all ways, aside from sex—trusting each other, saying I love you, deciding to stay together for so long. Even Cara’s mothers disapproval, which is a problem the entire book, changes in an instant.

The paranormal aspect… was just cheesy, and given so little development. It’s pretty apparent from the beginning that something weird is going on, including with Cara’s best friend, and yet no one does anything. Cara even finds out that it’s pretty much a demon possession, and still waits forever to do anything. There’s literally like a hundred page pause, in which months pass, where all the attention goes to the romance, and Cara’s best friend is only mentioned in passing. It kind of astounded me how little Cara paid attention to her best friend, who she’s known forever, and is suddenly being horrible and hissing and has black eyes.

But then the demon possession goes to exorcisms, and those are just anticlimactic. There’s two of them, and they are just so boring. Extremely straight-forward, no scare to them, the first one over very fast, and the second not much better. It just seemed like a waste.

Cara makes friends with Garren, a new boy in town. I actually liked Garren, and how he acted with Cara. They were just friends, and I appreciated that. There’s a lot of hinting at what he is, with Cara not even thinking about it the entire time. I wasn’t surprised, although a little disappointed at how anticlimactic that was, as well. Hinting the entire book, and then Garren just tells her at the end.

The whales are given a lot of attention, as well. They’re a symbol to Cara, but that’s pretty much it. No paranormal stuff with them. And then their problem is solved in minutes as well. A bit disappointing.

The entire book was kind of just boring. It was easy to keep reading, don’t get me wrong, but it was also easy to put down. All of the problems are solved easily, disappointingly so. I didn’t fall for the romance. I didn’t really grow attached to any of it. I’m glad it’s over, I guess.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Swoon Reads. Thank you!