Monday, March 25, 2013

Review: Evermore by Alyson Noel

Title: Evermore (The Immortals #1)
Author: Alyson Noel
Published: February 3rd 2009
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The first book in Alyson Noël's extraordinary new Immortals seris. Enter an enchanting new world, where true love never dies...

After a horrible accident claims the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people's auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone's entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact to suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school — but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Damen is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head - wieling a magis so intense, it's as though he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is - or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.


Here’s the deal: I’ve seen raving reviews for this book, but I’ve also seen loads of hateful ones. I wanted to know what it's about and since I’ve seen it on my library a million times, I finally borrowed it and guess what?! I actually liked it. Am I weird? I hope not. The Immortals is in a way similar to Alice Sebold’s My Lovely Bones which I absolutely LOVED! (Summerland reminded me the afterlife in MLB. It was beautiful.) There were some things I disliked, but overall I was quite okay with this book.


“I guess by now I should know enough about loss to realize that you never really stop missing someone-you just learn to live around the huge gaping hole of their absence.” 


Evermore follows the life of Ever – a girl who lost her parents, sister and their dog in a car accident. She now lives with her aunt and the once popular girl is now the freak in her new school. She talks to her dead sister Riley daily, sees auras and when she touches someone or something, she can see its history, thoughts. Until Damen comes along. Damen doesn’t have an aura nor can Ever hear his thoughts. He is hot, snarky, mysterious and a part time magician, because he seems to be able to do things a rational mind cannot explain. I liked their progressing relationship and even though Ever was a bit whiny doubtful at times, I can forgive her that, because she has been through SO much and even the best of us could break under that pressure and grief. Some of the plot made me roll my eyes though and Haden as someone who was supposed to be Ever’s friend, was a complete bitch towards her. I think Ever should dump her and find someone else to hang with her and Miles. I liked how Damen and his presence, existence was explained.

My favorite character was probably Riley. I just adored her. She was scared, concerned and it just broke my heart that she was stuck between two worlds – living and dead – and couldn’t fully be with her sister nor their parents. I think the best books are the ones that make you think and this book made me realize that watching/reading about someone else’s struggles to leave their siblings behind is terribly painful and even though my sister is a teenager and most of the days she seems to hate my guts, I love her like no other and I would never want to part ways with her forever. So it’s safe to say I understood Riley’s motives and decision to stay with Ever. The conversation about why she stayed was also the only part of the book that made me teary-eyed.

I will definitely continue with this series and right now, while writing this review, I’m reading the sequel and I hope I’ll enjoy it. If you’re a doubter, try reading The Immortals yourself and see if you’ll like it. You might, but then again you may not. It’s not for everyone, but maybe after reading more contemporaries recently rather than fantasy, this book was a little refreshing even though it didn’t bring anything new to the table. I liked it, though.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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8 comments:

  1. I've seen really widely varied reactions to this book too Siiri, and I've always been curious about it. I'm glad to know you enjoyed it overall and that you were even teary-eyed at one point with Riley. Any book that brings on a tear or two is worth reading to me! Looking forward to your thoughts on the rest of the series:)

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    1. Yup, my thoughts exactly! I was touched by their sisterly bond and that was the best part of this book for me:)

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  2. I have seen reviews that are just all over the place for this one too, I was never sure what to make of it. I have been in such a huge contemporary kick lately and everytime I try to get into a paranormal I just can't! I think I am going through a phase and I hope it ends soon because I don't want to only read one kind of book, you know? Fabulous review! Good to finally know what to make of this one.

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    1. Ugh, I know! I have been reading contemporaries more than necessary at this point and I think it's time to read some fantasy and sci-fi/dystopia to spice things up a little so I'm trying to keep contemporaires to minimum (which doesn't seem to work out that great lol). Thanks, Jenni!

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  3. The quote you've picked is absolutely gorgeous <3 I have read two books about her sister Riley and I really liked them, so I hope that this series is similar to it. And I always have a weakness for snarky characters like Damen.

    Mel@thedailyprophecy.

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    1. Thanks, Mel! It just kind of stood out to me:) Oh yeah! I heard about there being Riley's books as well, but they're supposedly MG more than YA, so I don't think I'll read them even though Riley was by far my favorite character in this book. Theheee, Damen was snarky, indeed;)

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  4. I read the first 3 books in the series a few years ago. I loved Evermore and Blue Moon. I'm curious to see how you feel as you progress. I'm glad you likd this!

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    1. Ooh, you liked them? I've heard they only get better. At least.. people in GR tend to think so. I don't know though, sometimes they're so off from my opinion and perspective, but we'll see. Blue Moon was definitely something else than Evermore.

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