Teenage mage Channie Kerns struggles to overcome two curses—one cast by her parents to change her power-name and another keeping her from being with the nonmagical boy she has come to love.
In Abel’s world, mages live among magically disabled people (or “Empties”), mostly in hiding, and each has a power-name that denotes what kind of magic the individual wields. In Channie’s case, her father’s unfortunate power-name is Money, and his gambling addiction drives his family away from their hometown when he incurs the wrath of the powerful mage queen by casting a spell on her horse during a race. Channie’s troubles don’t end there, though; not only does she now have to blend in with the Empties at a new school in suburban Colorado, but her parents grossly overreact to her flirtation with some boys and cast a curse to change her power-name from Enchantment to Chastity. This plan only serves to increase Channie’s desire—for one boy in particular: Josh Abrim, a BMX racer who, despite being “zapped” by Channie’s new chaste powers any time lustful feelings surge, is unwaveringly drawn to her. From their first meeting on, the novel’s storyline descends into the overly familiar push-pull of confused teenage emotions regarding sex and love. Conflicts such as Channie’s runaway sister and her father’s gambling debt fall by the wayside as Channie’s main concern becomes how to overcome her new power-name and other curses thrown her way that keep her from physical intimacy with Josh. After Channie uncovers a secret Josh has been hiding from her, she hitchhikes back to her hometown with the hopes of freeing herself from a curse she had unwittingly enacted. The consequences of this journey lead to the novel’s fairly predictable conclusion. Although Abel adeptly describes the all-consuming, tangled feelings of teenage passion, readers hoping for magic and adventure will find the back-and-forth, melodramatic teenage jealousy wearisome. Plotlines and character development are sacrificed for pages of seductive glances, self-imposed restrictive cuddling and arguments about how appropriate it is to act on their desires. But these situations will undoubtedly appeal to fans looking for another Twilight-influenced teen paranormal romance. Abel’s novel starts imaginatively, but in the end magic mostly serves to add further fuel to the flames of teenage lust in an overly familiar story of young, fervent first love.
Pub Date: June 18, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463632090
Page Count: 360
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.
A vampire and an Alpha werewolf enter into a marriage of convenience in order to ease tensions between their species.
As the only daughter of a prominent Vampyre councilman, Misery Lark has grown accustomed to playing the role that’s demanded of her—and now, her father is ordering her to be part of yet another truce agreement. In an effort to maintain goodwill between the Vampyres and their longtime nemeses the Weres, Misery must wed their Alpha, Lowe Moreland. But it turns out that Misery has her own motivations for agreeing to this political marriage, including finding answers about what happened to her best friend, who went missing after setting up a meeting in Were territory. Isolated from her kind and surrounded on all sides by the enemy after the wedding, Misery refuses to let herself forget about her real mission. It doesn’t matter that Lowe is one of the most confounding and intense people she’s ever met, or that the connection building between them doesn’t feel like one born entirely of convenience. There’s also the possibility that Lowe may already have a Were mate of his own, but in spite of their biological differences, they may turn out to be the missing piece in each other’s lives. While this is Hazelwood’s first paranormal romance, and the book does lean on some hallmark tropes of the genre, the contemporary setting lends itself to the author’s trademark humor and makes the political plot more easily digestible. Misery and Lowe’s slow-burn romance is appealing enough that readers will readily devour every moment between them and hunger to return to them whenever the story diverts from their scenes together.
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593550403
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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