Review: Evermore by Alyson Noël

Evermore

Author: Alyson Noël

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Series: The Immortals #1

Pages: 356

Genre: Paranormal

Release Date: February 3, 2009

How Received: Library 

Summary: Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever can see auras, hear people's thoughts, and know a person's life story by touch. Going out of her way to shield herself from human contact to suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school--but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Ever sees Damen and feels an instant recognition. He is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy, and he holds many secrets. Damen is able to make things appear and disappear, he always seems to know what she's thinking--and he's the only one who can silence the noise and the random energy in her head. She doesn't know who he really is--or what he is. Damen equal parts light and darkness, and he belongs to an enchanted new world where no one ever dies. 

My Thoughts:

I debated about reviewing this one for a while. I’m still not even sure if I should. As many of you know, I was born and raised in Southern California. Where was the story set? Southern California. Now, I’ve never read a book set in So. Cal, so I got all excited and was pretty much fan-girling at the beginning. Then... I thought it might be better if I don’t read a book set in an area around me. Why? I review it more harshly and critically than intended. And it usually ends up ruining the book for me.

So before I even begin, I’m going to say I teeter on a like/dislike slate with this novel.

Let me start off with there were almost no descriptions whatsoever. At all. We’d get descriptions on clothes, and fleeting descriptions about their surroundings, but that’s it. If I wasn’t such a Laguna Beach junkie, I wouldn’t have been able to envision this area at all. We don’t even get a description about her school, or her house. This is where my So. Cali’an offense comes in. She never mentioned the mountains looming in the background, or the winding streets, or the ocean, or the beautiful Californian sunsets at the beach, or the crisp, salty scent of the ocean air. I’ve been to Laguna: it’s a crime to have the only thing you mention about it be about the MTV shows.

The second offense is one that hits close to home: the trip they took to Disneyland. There was just no description! She mentions Main Street, but never about what it looks like, the crowd, or the castle at the end. She mentions my two favorite rides, but nothing about what’s inside, or the Rivers of America, which is basically just outside the two rides. And mostly, she never mentions the atmosphere – that everyone is so happy and friendly, even if they really aren’t. Also, it’s just so weird imagining a paranormal occurrence happening at the happiest place on earth. Should I stake out the front gates in hopes of snagging a paranormal romance? :P

Like Need (which I’ve recently reviewed), Evermore is so reminiscent of Twilight, but with the roles reversed. Ever is the one who can read thoughts, not Damen. On page 81, Ever makes the observation that Damen talks funny, as if he’s not from this era. Sound familiar? Wuthering Heights, a central novel in Twilight, makes an appearance in Evermore, too. There were too many coincidental connections that I couldn’t help but compare it. Also, why does Ever never ask how Damen gets her number or her entire schedule? She sure never gave it to him (even off-screen, I’m pretty sure), so why does she never question why he suddenly has all of her personal information?

And while I’m on the topic of Ever, she annoyed the living daylights out of me. I get that she’s hurting, but ohmygod. I could have sworn Ever was bipolar half the time. She’s jealous, petty, paranoid, suspicious, and has no trust whatsoever. She’s so freaking... stupid. Constantly, she’s finding things about Damen that are strange but she never pauses once to consider it, to think about it, or to even ask him. Not very realistic. She says she won’t do something one moment, and the next she’s doing it again. I’m not sure, but I think I didn’t like her so much because she reminds me of me (less PMS-y though). Oh, and I forgot to mention... What in the WORLD is up with her unreasonable hatred towards Ava? The lady only wants to help you shield and send your sister to a better place, and Ever throws glares and witch-fits toward her as if Ava’s trying to kill her or something. Her anger towards Ava is totally unwarranted.   

The one character I could stand was Damen. I felt sorry for him for having to put up with Ever – she NEVER listened to him or let him explain anything. Ever heard benefit of the doubt? (haha, see what I did there? :D) I also loved Ever’s best friend, Miles. He’s gay, and totally awesome – his sense of humor totally lightened up all the drama with Ever and Haven and he always put a smile on my face whenever he was talking. I won’t even mention Haven because I have nothing good to say about her.

Okay, so this is mostly looking like a negative review, which isn’t what I thought overall. So I’ll go back to some positives. The storyline threw me for a loop for a while there, because I did think I was getting into a vampire story. I knew nothing of this series, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was definitely not a vampire story, let me tell you. There weren’t any plot twists (or if there were, I didn’t count them as plot twists) so nothing was too surprising. But when the storyline finally revealed what was going on, I figured that hey, maybe this is a bit unique. But since we didn’t get an elaboration of what happened yet, I’ll have to read the second book to confirm that.

Cover Musings: Nothing wow-tastic. I love the purple hue and the red tulip (and what it represents), but it wouldn’t make me want to pick it up in a bookstore.

Memorable Quotes:

[as much as the book lacked in description, it lacked in quotes, too.]

“I guess I never wonder: Why me?

Mostly I think: Why them and not me?” (pg. 19)

‘I was, but then—well, I kind of got cramps, and—”

‘Stop right there,’ Miles says. ‘Seriously, say no more.’

‘Did I miss anything?’ I ask, closing my eyes against the thoughts in his head , the words scrolling before me like a late-breaking news ribbon on CNN: Ew! Disgusting! Why do they insist on talking about that stuff?” (pg. 265)

Overall Thoughts/Comments: Even though this sounds like a mostly negative review, I really did actually like the book. After getting past Ever’s annoyingness and Haven’s stupid dramatic antics, I was able to enjoy the book overall – I wanted to see what in the world was going to happen. The plot and storyline aren’t quite original, but it’s heading that way. It was a quick read, and easily made me want to read the next book!

Rating: 3/5