Guest Review! The Eternal Ones

Title: The Eternal Ones

Author: Kirsten Miller

Pages: 411

Publisher: Razorbill

Rating: 2.5 stars

Book jacket:

Haven Moore has always lived in the tiny town of Snope City, Tennessee. But for as long as she can remember, Haven has experienced visions of a past life as a girl named Constance, whose love for a boy called Ethan ended in a fiery tragedy.

One day, the sight of notorious playboy Iain Morrow on television brings Haven to her knees. Haven flees to New York City to find Iain and there, she is swept up in an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Is Iain her beloved Ethan? Or is he her murderer in a past life? Haven asks the members of the powerful and mysterious Ouroboros Society to help her unlock the mysteries of reincarnation and discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves, before all is lost and the cycle begins again. But what is the Ouroboros Society? And how can Haven know who to trust?

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So, I must first clarify a few things before I get into my review. First, I’d like to thank Bex for letting me guest on the lovely Bookworm Boulevard. Second, I normally don’t judge a book by its cover; however, in this case, I kind of did. At least, I judged by the title, and who could not love this one?! Especially the subtitle “What if love refused to die?” So intriguing! Third, I’d like to tell you all that this is the first book I’ve read in about, oh, a month. And a half. SCARY long time without books, if you ask me, all thanks to school. So all I had read before this was random stuff for my English class. Oh, and analyzing Macbeth.

Any book you read after analyzing Macbeth is just not gonna cut it.

That being said, there were definitely parts of this book I loved, and a majority of the book that I liked. Beau Dexter, for one, is the most amazing best guy friend I can think of (I mean, he drove to New York City from Tennessee just in time for the amazing rescue. He is amazing). However, I was still in analysis-mode for most of the beginning of the book (and by this, I mean the first half or so), so I definitely picked up on the heavy religious parallels, as well as a few major contradictions (Haven is deeply religious, enough so to believe her grandmother when she says she’s possessed, yet she has sex before marriage; the book is about reincarnation, but the main character is supposed to be very religious… I was really confused). I think the main problem I had with the book was the contradiction between genre and setting: this was a paranormal romance, yet the settings were small-town in the Bible Belt of Southern America, New York City, and Rome, with somewhat sudden transitions between each. But the way the story played out was different (not your straight-forward plot outline), which I enjoyed greatly. I had originally had a few problems with the ending, mainly because I thought it could have stopped earlier and had a better point, as opposed to the and-now-we’re-all-happy-yay it seemed to be, but now that I know there will be a sequel, I’m a lot happier: it all makes sense now.

All in all, I do recommend this book, because it was a good book – just not exactly my cup of tea. I think. (As a matter of fact, I’m still somewhat confused about whether I like it or not.) And everybody should know who Beau Dexter is. Because he is just that amazing.

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Thanks, Tonya! <3

Introducing....Tonya!

So as you may have noticed in yesterday's In My Mailbox post, I mentioned that my dear friend Tonya would soon be posting a guest review. That will be up tomorrow. In the meantime, Tonya has written a little introduction mini-autobiography type thing that she (and I) would like to share with you all, especially seeing as she might post more guest reviews later on. So without further ado...Tonya!
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HEY Everybody!

So, I’m Tonya, and I’ll be guest-reviewing for you in a little bit, mainly because I was like “OOOO book that looks interesting” when Becky was reading one of her books recently, but also because I do like to read, am one of Becky’s close friends at school, and quite frankly would have a blog of some sort like this if I weren’t too lazy to go make one. Therefore, I am mooching and posting a review on the Bookworm Boulevard instead. Yay me.

In all honesty, it was Becky (who I shall from now on refer to as Bex) who first asked me to review for the blog, and I really do feel honored to be invited. But I felt that some introduction of myself would be needed, so here I am, ready to give you a few important factoids.

Name: Tonya. But not really. That’s just my Blogger identity; however, my friends do call me Tonya in real life, and I will respond to it as readily as my true name.

Grade: senior. I’m also 17, and about two months older than Bex. :) We attend the same high school, and have been friends since we met at a writing camp the summer before 9^th grade (we both wore our high-school t-shirt to camp one day, and were like “OMG you’re going there too?” and then bonded over our shared love of Harry Potter, as the 7^th book was being released that week).

Interests: Obviously reading, as well as writing (although not as much as Bex, who writes constantly). But I’m also one of the Cross Country captains this year, having run varsity the past four years, and will hopefully be one of the varsity soccer captains this spring (I’m a four-year member of that team as well). And I’m somewhat of a computer geek, inasmuch as I am taking AP Computer Science, and plan to major in Computer Programming.

Um, I think that’s all I really need to say, as of now. Hopefully, I will be able to do more than the one review; for now, I just hope you all look forward to my review of The Eternal Ones, by Kristen Miller. Until then, this is Agent Tonya, signing off!
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Thanks, dahling! And now you're all excited to read her review, right? ;) Don't worry, it will be up tomorrow! (I told her to follow any format she wanted, and she chose to follow mine, but don't hold her too closely to my system.)