Book Review: Fated by Alyson Noel.

Product details:
Publisher: MacMillan Children's Books.
Release date: May 24th 2012.
Paperback, 448  pages.
Rating: 2½ out of 5.
Ages: 12+
Source: Received from publisher for review.

Strange things are happening to Daire Santos. Crows mock her, glowing people stalk her, time stops without warning, and a beautiful boy with unearthly blue eyes haunts all her dreams. Fearing for her daughter’s sanity, Daire’s mother sends her to live with the grandmother she’s never met. A woman who recognizes the visions for what they truly are—the call to her destiny as a Soul Seeker—one who can navigate the worlds between the living and dead.

There on the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, Daire sets out to harness her mystical powers. But it’s when she meets Dace, the boy from her dreams, that her whole world is shaken to its core. Now Daire is forced to discover if Dace is the one guy she's meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she's destined to destroy.

As one of the first post-Twilight YA books I read I will always have a soft spot for Alyson Noel’s Evermore. While the rest of the Immortals series was a struggle for me at times, I loved that first book, and so I was hoping for equally good things from this new venture of hers. With its amazing premise and gorgeous cover art, I really thought I was onto a good thing with Fated (Soul Seekers #1).  I thought nothing could go wrong.  And I thought that surely I wouldn’t be faced with another Ever Bloom.  Surely she couldn’t happen twice…

If, like me, you thought Ever was annoying, then just wait till you meet Daire, because she makes Ever seem like a pleasant dream.   I totally understand that it can take some time to connect with a character, but from start to finish, I didn’t like Daire, finding her all round shallow and spoiled. A total brat.  As the daughter of a Hollywood make-up artist, Daire lives an enviable life, travelling around the world and making out with the hot young things of Hollywood on a regular basis. And this could be fun to read about, but it’s not, because it’s Daire, and she’s just not an easy girl to like.

If the paranormal element of this book had hooked me, I could have gotten past my issues with Daire, but I found Fated to be cliché, formulaic, slow in pace and repetitive. Oh, so repetitive. Alyson Noel is a superstar YA writer – she’s sold a gazillion books, and so she’s obviously employing a formula that works – but this one just didn’t work for me. From Daire’s visions, to her dreams, to those twin brothers with the icy blue eyes, to the very strange part of the book where Daire starts experiencing life through the eyes of the cockroach… None of it worked.

Usually when nothing is working I can at least count on a hot book boy to save the day, right? Not here. Dace and Cade are twin brothers. One is good, one is evil, and apologies, but the only thing I can really recall about them is that they have these amazing piercing icy-blue eyes, a fact that is mentioned dozens and dozens of times throughout the book. OK, I get it; they have those Ian Somerhalder eyes. Hot. I don’t need to hear it all the time.

I hung on in there with the Immortals, but it’s safe to say that I won’t be doing the same with the Soul Seekers series.  There are unanswered questions at the end of this book, of course, but I’m not going back there, not even to find out the secrets of the Echo, because if I have to read about those freakin’ icy-blue eyes one more time…! 

Cover Candy #17 - Recent Swoonworthy Cover Reveals.

Today I have another installment of delicious Cover Candy for you to feast your eyes on. So much yum that you just might fall into a sugar coma!

Let me know what you think of the featured covers in comments. Will you be adding any of these to your wish list? 

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I LOVE this cover! It's one of my favourite recent covers for sure! Fated, the first book in Immortals author Alyson Noel's new Soul Seekers series will be released in both the US and UK in May 2012. I haven't seen the UK cover yet, but I'll post it up here when it's available. I'm excited for this new series!

Fated (Soul Seekers #1) by Alyson Noel.

Publisher: St. Martins Griffin.

Release date: May 2012.

Ages: YA.

*official synopsis is not available. This is from an interview where I asked Alyson about the new series.*

A Young Adult paranormal, about a sixteen-year-old girl who, as the daughter of an on-location makeup artist is used to a vagabond, movie-set existence until she begins having terrifying visions her grandmother recognizes as the call to her ancestral legacy, and summons her to New Mexico where she teaches her to walk among the Upperworld and the Underworld and trains her in the magick she’ll need to battle the malevolent forces that have lain dormant for years but are now rising again…Oh, and of course there’s a high school, friends, and a guy so hot my fingers get scorched just typing him!

*The next two books featured are next in a series books, so if you don't want spoilers, don't read the synopsis. Just look at the pretty covers! 

I've always loved the covers of the books in Katie Alender's Bad Girls Don't Die series. They are super creepy,  and this cover for Book #3 As Dead is no exception. SHAME ON ME though - I haven't read any of the books yet, although I do own a copy of the first book in the series, which I must get to soon. So many books, so little time and all that...

 

As Bad As It Gets (Bad Girls Don't Die #3) by Katie Alender.

Publisher: Hyperion.

Release date: May 2012.

Ages: YA.

It's been three months since Alexis helplessly witnessed Lydia Small's violent death, and all she wants is for her life to return to normal.But normal people don’t see decaying bodies haunting photographs. Normal people don’t have to deal with regular intrusions from Lydia’s angry ghost, sometimes escalating to terrifying attacks.
At first, it seems that Lydia wants revenge on Alexis alone. But a girl from school disappears one night, and Alexis spots one of Lydia’s signature yellow roses lying on the girl’s dresser the next day. Soon, it becomes clear that several of Alexis’s friends are in danger, and that she's the only person who can save them. But as she tries to intervene, Alexis realizes that her enemy is a much more powerful ghost than she's ever faced before... and that its fate is tied to hers in ways she couldn't possibly imagine.

Not even in her worst nightmares.

Eeek! Another series that I haven't started even though I've had the first book since it released. I'll get to that one soon too. Promise, promise! Diva, the third book in Jillian Larkin's Flappers series releases in July 2012. Diva, the first book in the Flappers series has its UK release in March 2012. You can see the cover for that one here.

You might also like to read my interview with Jillian who was one of my very first Delightful Debutantes when I started the feature last year!

Diva (Flappers #3) by Jillian Larkin.

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers.

Release date: July 2012.

Ages: YA.

Parties, bad boys, speakeasies—life in Manhattan has become a woozy blur for Clara Knowles. If Marcus Eastman truly loved her, how could he have fallen for another girl so quickly? Their romance mustn't have been as magical as Clara thought. And if she has to be unhappy, she's going to drag everyone else down to the depths of despair right along with her.

Being a Barnard girl is the stuff of Lorraine Dyer's dreams. Finding out that Marcus is marrying a gold digger who may or may not be named Anastasia? A nightmare. The old Lorraine would have sat by and let the chips fall where they may, but she's grown up a lot these past few months. She can't bear to see Marcus lose a chance for true love. But will anyone listen to her?

Now that the charges against her have been dropped, Gloria Carmody is spending the last dizzying days of summer on Long Island, yachting on the sound and palling around with socialites at Forrest Hamilton's swanky villa. Beneath her smile, though, Gloria's keeping a secret. One that could have deadly consequences . .

 Here's the paperback cover for Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma, and, guess what? You got it right first time. I haven't read this one either...YET! I can't decide whether I prefer this new cover or the original hardback cover. What do you think? I can't really decide. I think I love them both! Have you read Imaginary Girls? Is it one you'd recommend to me?

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Publisher: Speak.

Release date: June 2012.

Ages: YA

Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged. When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.

But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood.

With palpable drama and delicious craft, Nova Ren Suma bursts onto the YA scene with the story that everyone will be talking about

And...Last but not least, here is the cover for Dreamless the second book in Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed series. I can't wait to read this one. I've been told that it's so hot it sizzles!! Dreamless will be released in the US and the UK in May 2012. This is the US cover - love the colours that they've used for this one. I'll post up the UK cover as soon as it's available! 

* Please note: These covers may not be  final and may be subject to change.  
** All Cover Images have been taken from Goodreads/Amazon/Authors/Publishers websites.