Shadowland

Shadowland (Immortals #3) by Alyson Noel

*Spoiler in here, if you can really spoil this book.
Ever and Damen are unable to solidify their eternal bond because Ever added her blood to the elixer that saved Damen.  Now, if their bodily fluids mix, their immortal souls willl perish and be sent to Shadowland.  Ever wants more than anything to rectify the situation.  Damen at first decides that this is all because of bad karma that he caused by being so self centered for 600 years. 
Ever tries to persuade the elusive Roman to give her the information she needs.  Roman in turn tells her she will have to pay the price (which Ever imagines is probably sex, but turns out to be saving her friend Haven from death by having to decide if Haven becomes immortal or dies). Damen decides to dress like he shops at Wal-mart and ride the bus in order to turn his karma around.  Pointlessness.....upon pointlessness.
Ever gets a job at a psychic shop.  The owner, Jude, turns out to be a major player in their immortal game.  It seems that we now find Jude has followed Ever throughout her lives and that he may have also been her boyfriend/lover.  Damen thinks that because he has persued Ever throughout time, that he has actually negated her agency to choose and now leaves her to spend time with Jude and decide once and for all whom she wants to be with.  In the mean time, he cares for two twin witches that left Summerland in the last book, and have now lost their magik.
The whole book was like an after-thought/segue (and not a smooth one) to book #4.

Rating 3   I can connect with the whole I wish we weren't damned to hell if we touch each other......meh, okay, that's horrible.  But the rest of the story was blah.  Ever's friendships are dull and shallow.  Ever and Damen can't do anything but wish they were together.  The whole Jude ordeal may have been interesting if we were ever given anymore information than 'he followed her through every life'. 
Rating PG........honestly I can't remember....they can't do more than kiss with a magic forcefield between them so it couldn't have gotten too bad.

The Time Taveler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audry Niffenegger

Okay..........eep! This really isn't a book review per say. I just saw the movie based on the book. In general I do not condone book to movie. They are almost always ruined with poor casting or creative license. However, I loved this movie almost as much as I loved the book. The movie concentrated more on Clare and Henry and not as much on their surrounding family and friends (whom I didn't like anyway). Also the movie took out all of the parts of the book that made it rated R. Can you believe the movie was cleaner??? In the book Clare was a trash mouth, which just made me cringe. I still fell completely in love with Clare and Henry........and especially Henry. I cried my eyes out from beginning to end.....probably because I already knew the story. So, if you are ever going to see a book to movie......this is the one.

Book Rating 5 So emotional and unique. It is one of my top faves ever.
Book Rating R This is the part that makes me hesitate recommending it to anyone I know. Clare truly has the mouth of a convict, not a woman. I'm sure there are other parts also but it's been about a year since rereading it and I only remember Clare.

Blue Moon

Blue Moon (#2 the immortals) by Alyson Noel

I was like what?......and then I was like huh?.........

Ever and Damen are now immortal together. Damen has waited hundreds of years to have a relationship with Ever. It looks like he will have to keep waiting. Not long after the book begins, Roman comes on scene. Everyone in Ever's high school seems to like him except Ever. Roman gives her the creeps. For all of her psychic powers she can't seem to get a true read on him. And then just when Ever decides to give in to Damen and go all of the way (this was an irritating part.....it seemed one sided which I didn't like) Damen up and leaves her and begins acting strange. I could go on and on about what happened but since I was semi bored and a little confused........I won't.

Roman is there to ruin everything and Ever has to save the life that she and Damen have waited so long for. The answers lie in Summerland where Ever jumps in and out of.

I really loved Evermore (book 1) despite the fact it did seem Twilightish. I still felt it was unique enough to hold its own. Blue Moon however.........although unique....did not do anything for me. What I liked about the first book was the relationship between Ever and Damen and I was excited for that to progress. It died in the water in the second book. Roman was not a clear character to me. He and his purpose even when sort of explained still seemed ambiguous. Summerland just rots my mind. It seemed like every character changed so much that I wasn't even reading about the same people. I am truly sorry that I spent money on this book.

Rating 3

Rating PG 13 Some make out.......but more for the pressure to give in to sex. I disliked that the relationship seemed one sided on this one subject.

Evermore

Evermore by Alyson Noel

Ever's family is swiftly taken from her in a tragic car crash. She is the only one to survive. Along with the guilt she also walks away with psychic power and the ability to read auras. She is whisked away to live her her rich lawyer aunt in Laguna Beach. Ever has a hard time dealing with the psychic noise and her changed life. She befriends the kids on the fringe knowing they are the only ones to accept her strange behavior.
Ever's life falls into a predictable pattern......go to school in hoodie/ipod to drown out psychic noise, sit through classes full of information she now already 'knows', go home to empty spacious house and wait for visit from dead little sister Riley. Even though it isn't what it used to be, Ever's life is as calm as she can make it. Then Damen arrives. Hot and lusted after by the whole student body for his Italian good looks. And despite the hoodie and mood swings he still likes Ever.
Damen seems hot and cold toward Ever. The touch of his hand makes all of the psychic noise go away and she feels normal again. Eventually Ever learns Damen's story. He is immortal and he has been searching for her.....his lost love. Ever is faced with letting Damen go and resuming her life...making it as normal as possible or sticking with Damen and choosing to possibly never see her family again in heaven.

So.......I was sucked in. I am now officially obsessed with immortal love of all kinds. I now really want to read the next book in this series......Blue Moon which will be released on July 7th.

Rating 5 Yes I will read this again........and now I have to buy it because I borrowed it from my neighbor. Love true/soul mate love.........I really do. I am in love with love.

Rating PG 13 Ever takes to alcoholism for a brief time when she realizes that when she is toasted she can't hear the thoughts of others or see their auras. Also she and Damen get frisky but don't go all of the way. I wouldn't be really happy to have my teen reading something like this that gave them the same kind of desires however it is probably clean compared to many teens real lives. So even though this is a young adult series I would hesitate to recommend it to a young teen..........but mom's go right ahead and get your fix.

The Hourglass Door

The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum

Wowie! I am so glad I found this book! I had so much fun with it.

Up until recently Abby has had a very predictable life. She is dating her next door neighbor Jason. She is planning to go to the state college and room with her friend. Then Abby begins to feel like she needs something different. She applies to a college in the East that cares more about 'living without limits' that her grades. She also meets Dante while she is helping direct her schools production of 'Much Ado About Nothing'. Dante is hot, mysterious and Italian.

Before long Abby finds that Dante may also be dangerous. Dante came from no where and is somehow connected to a hot new band Zero Hour. The band seems to be hiding a secret and bewitching everyone that hears them.

Abby falls for Dante and has a rather smoothe breakup with Jason. Dante and Abby fall head over heals for each other. Dante feels that Abby is able to accept truth. He tells Abby that he has really come from the 1400's and that he was an apprentice to DaVinci. DaVinci made a time machine and Dante was one of the test subjects, chosen because he was fingered for a crime he did not commit. Zero Hour's band mates have also arrived from the same time period and they happen to be the reason Dante was put through the time machine.

I was a little thrown off by 'keeping the balance' thing that Dante has to do in order to stay in the present without going insane. It grew on me the longer I read. Very imaginative.

I love the romance parts......I am such a sucker. All I want is for Dante and Abby to be together! My biggest complaint is that I found this series while only the first book has been published. I wish I wouldn't have stumbled upon it until there were more.

Rating 4.5

Rating G