Review: the Alchemy of Forever (Incarnations, #1) by Avery Williams

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Pulse It)

Spoilers?: Yes. (Full of 'em.)

Goodreads Synopsis:

Seraphina has been alive since the Middle Ages, when her boyfriend, Cyrus, managed to perfect a method of alchemy that lets them swap bodies with any human being. Sera ran away from Cyrus years ago, when she realized that what they were doing--taking the lives of innocent people--was wrong. She doesn't want to die, so she finds young people who are on the brink of death, and inhabits their bodies.

Review:

This was... a little better and a little not as good as I thought it would be.

It's about Seraphina, who can take over other peoples bodies, but they don't last too long, and has done so for hundreds of years, along with Cyrus, the alchemist's son who made her that way, and the coven that they've made. At the beginning, it was nice, Cyrus was sweet, but then he changed. And their coven expanded. And Cyrus got mean, controlling. And now Sera wants out. And in the midst of getting out, letting her soul go to whatever is after this, she accidentally takes over a girl while trying to save her.

I liked the subject matter; it sounded really interesting. It reminded m of the Immortals series, only a little different. Also, Sera's situation (what with her knowing she's not going to around long) reminded me a little like the one from A Need So Beautiful, only not as good (but, to be fair, I rather loved A Need So Beautiful). But then Sera kind of ruined it, just a little.

My main problem with this was that she took over the girls body, got stuck in her life, and then pretended to go along with everything. But she had no idea who the girl was or who her friends were or anything. And she took her over after the girl was in a car accident, so why didn't she just feign amnesia or something along those lines? I guess that would have caused more of a scene, though, huh? It just bothered me.

And I didn't like that Sera didn't try to put up much of a fight. She should have fought with Cyrus, stood up for herself, instead of running away. That was dumb of her. And if she wanted to end it, she should have just killed herself, like she was going to originally, instead of hiding out for the rest of her given life or whatever. One thing I did like about her is that she was a bit damaged after what happened with Cyrus, but that's always a deal-maker for me.

I'm interested in finding out what happens with Kailey's (the girl that Sera took over) friends and family. Although some of it seemed a bit dramatic for drama's sake. Also, what happened with the rest of the coven after she left? I'm assuming that we'll find out in the next one, because it's obvious that something happened between them all and Cyrus. And Cyrus, is a jerk.

And I liked Noah. He was sweet, and he liked her, and he has a bit of a broken home life, and I want to know more about him (like just about everyone else in the book). And the ending. Oh my god, the ending. That's a huge cliffhanger! Please tell me that that only means that Cyrus got to him, not that he took him over. Because I will not be okay if he took him over. Not okay, at all.

Also, a little off topic: what is up with people that have been alive for hundreds of years being so much like teenagers? They should act older than that. (And, yes, I see the symbolic meaning there.) They should be smarter than that. Although, I guess Sera is in a bit of a different situation, given what Cyrus put her through. Still, it bothers me.

Anyway. This was pretty good, even with the things that bothered me about it. I really want to know what happens next, especially with Noah. And I hope that Sera gets stronger, and better, in the next one. (Also, how many are there? Is this a two-shot, or a trilogy? Or more?)

[Oh, also, I read this online on Pulse It's website, as they upload about two complete books every month.]

Review: Shadowland (The Immortals, Book 3) by Alyson Noel

~1 of 5 Stars

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ever and Damen have traveled through countless past lives—and fought off the world’s darkest enemies—so they could be together forever.  But just when their long-awaited destiny is finally within reach, a powerful curse falls upon Damen…one that could destroy everything.  Now a single touch of their hands or a soft brush of their lips could mean sudden death—plunging Damen into the Shadowland.   Desperate to break the curse and save Damen, Ever immerses herself in magick—and gets help from an unexpected source…a surfer named Jude.

Although she and Jude have only just met, he feels startlingly familiar.  Despite her fierce loyalty to Damen, Ever is drawn to Jude, a green-eyed golden boy with magical talents and a mysterious past.  She’s always believed Damen to be her soulmate and one true love—and she still believes it to be true.  But as Damen pulls away to save them, Ever’s connection with Jude grows stronger—and tests her love for Damen like never before…

Review: 

I'm going to talk about what happened in this book before I go on about how I feel about it. I feel a lot, and that could take a while.

In the second book, it ended with Ever being stupid and messing up the cure for Damen, and so now they can't touch skin to skin or he will die. I thought this was a cool idea and I was excited to see where it was going. It reminded me a bit of the tv series Pushing Daisies. I do have a problem with it, though. I thought that she was the recipe earlier in the book? Maybe she saw the recipe for a different thing... Was it the thing to bring her back to the past? I thought it was the cure for Damen, and so she should have had an idea, and known not to put her blood in it. But maybe I'm wrong?

Anyway, in this book, Ever continues to be stupid. She talks with Damen a bit, and she tells him that they can't touch. I see why this would suck. I mean, no kissing or holding or sex. What's the point if there's none of that, right? It would suck, but whatever.

[Spoilers!] The twins end up stuck in the normal world again, which they are mad about, and Ever doesn't want to let them stay at her place. And Ever decides to do this spell thing without really listening to the directions, so she messes things up and ends up making her and Roman connected. And she starts feeling things for a boy named Jude who works at the witch craft-y store, who apparently was also a part of her previous lives. I guess he was sometimes the reason they didn't work, and Damon is taking it that he's being punished, and so he is putting some distance between him and Ever, which she thinks is ridiculous. And near the end, she sees a tattoo on Jude and immediately jumps to conclusions and freaks out.

And the ending! The ending, aside from Ever herself, frustrates me. Earlier in the book, as I've mentioned, Ever messes up a spell and gives her and Ramon a connection, and in the last book, she messed up another potion-thing. At the end of this book, Ramon has Haven almost dying. He gives her the choice of the cure for Damon, so that her and him can touch again, or the cure for Haven, so that she can be an immortal like her. Usually, it would be a good idea for her to help Haven. I mean, girls have to stick together and all that. But Haven sucks. In almost every way. She's bitchy and stupid and whiny and mean and selfish. She's not very nice to Ever, and she's always on the enemies side... It was a stupid decision to save her. And yet Ever decided to do it. And Damon isn't mad at her about it, (which is good, I guess?).

I don't really have much of a feel for Damon. I liked him in the first book, or I remember liking him, but I don't remember why. And in this book, I didn't get too much of a voice from him, either. He wants to follow the rules and tries to keep Ever from straying from them too much, and he wants to do things right and believes in karma and all that. But that's just about all that's left an impression on me, which isn't particularly good.

Now, Ever. I hate Ever. She's stupid and a little whiny and stupid and selfish. She does a lot, and tries to do a lot and be helpful, but she just keeps making stupid mistakes. And not learning from them. She messed up twice with magic-related things, and she chose a terrible friend over someone who will actually stay with her, and she assumes something with thinking about it much. And when her aunt started dating her teacher, all she thought about was how it would affect her. Not considering much on how her aunt felt, like if it would make her happy. She just jumps into things without thinking about it or listening to anyone and never thinks about doing something different next time. I'm wondering if this is how Noel thinks teenagers act, or if this is just how she writes her characters to be. But I haven't read anything else by her, so maybe all of her characters are like this? (I hope not.)

I didn't mind Miles, her boy friend from school. He seemed to be one of the only people that's alright. Well, I do like the twins and Riley. I don't like Roman, but I don't intensely hate him, either. And Jude doesn't even seem like too bad a character. I don't particularly want him or anything, (like how I don't want anyone else in this book,) but I don't mind him. It's a little lame to make a triangle at this point in the series, but whatever.

And the writing wasn't bad. It didn't bother me, and it was a little pretty. It wasn't amazing, but still. Which makes it even worse, really, how much I disliked this book.

I really kind of hated this book, and I don't know if I'm going to read the next one. From what I've heard, it doesn't get much better. It sounds like Damon's curse-thing just drags on, and that's the only thing I want to see get solved. And, maybe, for Ever to smarten up, but I don't have any faith that that'll happen. I might just skip to the last book to see how things get resolved (which is saying a lot, because I don't like reading things out of order,). And I haven't read Riley, Ever's sister's, story, because I haven't heard very good things about it, either.