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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Fury

Sometimes sorry isn't enough....

It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems...

Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.

On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.

In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.

Em and Chase have been chosen. (from Goodreads)

So this book was like Pretty Little Liars with a paranormal aspect. For me, at least. Whiny main characters who I absolutely despised? Check. Teenagers doing naughty things then getting caught? Check. Stalkers? Check. A beautiful yet mysterious girl named Ali? Check. Yet: Staying up to finish the thing because I was hooked? Check. Being freaked out at the end by what happened? Check. Like I said before, almost everything was like PLL, except, of course, the supernatural part.

I found I connected more with Chase than Emily, even though he's star quarterback/Mr. Popularity, and she's a semi-geeky writer like myself. The reason? Chase was poor. He lived in a trailer with his mom; his dad died years ago. To me, he felt more realistic, and I could relate to his fears about being teased and found out. Emily just seemed kind of...flat. Plus, Emily had one thing that I absolutely hate in a character: she was hopelessly 'in love' with her best friend's boyfriend. Yes, I get that she might be attracted to him, that she might have a crush on him. And yes, I know that it's hard to deny those kinds of feelings. But when the whole first chapter is spent on her fantasizing that he feels 'those sparks she feels'...let's just say it's not a good way to start a book. I'm a realist. You aren't in love with someone in high school, especially if you aren't going out with them. And this romance wasn't the paranormal 'you're destined for me' type of romance. It was a simple high school romance. Emily might have felt that way, but this part really turned me off.

For about the first half of the book, nothing really major happened. Sure, Emily and Chase did some pretty nasty stuff, but that started to get static after a while, and we only learned who the three girls actually were in about the last quarter. And that last quarter went by very quickly. I know this is the first book in a trilogy, but still.


The characters were either cardboard or totally hyped up stereotypes, the mythology was moderate, the book was slow paced, yet this still gets a 2/5. Why? Elizabeth Miles managed to keep me reading up until midnight, when I finally finished the book. She might need work on character development and plot lines, but she's got a great way of hooking readers.

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