Review: Evermore by Alyson Noel

Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, Ever can see auras, hear people's thoughts, and know a person's entire life story by touch. Going out of her way to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school—but everything changes when she meets Damen.

Damen Auguste is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head—wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can see straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. She has no idea just who he really is—or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

Reading the synopsis for this novel, I was extremely intrigued. How could a character who reads minds and auras be boring? However, this novel disappointed me. It wasn't the whirlwind I expected, and there just wasn't enough magic. The mind reading and aura reading wasn't cute or shocking, it just was. It didn't spice up the story like I would have liked.

Also, the plot seemed quite predictable, and even though there was a twist, it seemed contrived and pointless. You think Damen is one thing, and he turns out to be something slightly different, but it really makes no difference to the story. It seemed that many plot points were disjointed, having nothing to do with the story, and were never explained. Not only that, but the explanations for certain important things, like Damen's motives for playing mind games with Ever, or the villain's reasons for wanting to be rid of her, didn't seem totally logical or parallel.

Despite the predictability of the novel, and the uselessness of some of the scenes, I couldn't put this book down. I had my suspicions, and I needed to be sure they were correct before labeling the novel "predictable". I figured, either my suspicions would be correct or incorrect, and either I would feel I had predicted the ending or be shocked and amused at a surprise ending. However, I got neither. Instead, I found that I was only slightly wrong, enough so that there was no triumph in the predictability, but not enough so that it changed the plot and shocked or amused me. In a way, I felt trapped, reading a novel that I knew would disappoint me, but unable to stop.

I guess my main problem was the book's ending. It just left a lot unexplained or poorly explained or illogical. Not only that, but it seemed rushed, as if the author had to squeeze the entire climax, explanation, and resolution into the last pages.

As for Ever, I found her character amiable, if dull. She seemed very wishy-washy and not exactly likeable, while not being annoying either. She wasn't totally underdeveloped, but she wasn't developed enough for me to feel compassion for her. Also, her reaction to her family's death seemed more accepting and guilty than sorrowful, which made me care less about it.

I really didn't like Damen. He had all the personality of Edward Cullen. On top of that, rather than focusing on Ever, as Edward does Bella, he just seemed like your average player until the end of the novel, and even then, his motives aren't totally logical. He seems to toy with Ever's heart, flirting with other girls and the like, but he never really explains why. He only says he didn't mean to hurt her. When he was with Ever, he was charming and likable, but as a whole, he just fell short.

Riley, Ever's sister, and Miles, Ever's best guy friend, seemed to me the shining light in this novel. Riley's situation was interesting, cooky, and heartbreaking all at once. She was the perfect sardonic little sister, and I really loved her. As far as Miles, I just wanted to be his best friend the whole novel. He definitely didn't get enough "camera time". He was funny, supportive, entertaining, charming, and lovable. In fact, he was my favorite character. If he hadn't been gay, I would've been rooting for he and Ever to get together.

The mean girls in the novel, who's names I can't be bothered to look up, were depthless and unimportant, just vessels for Damen to flirt with and Ever to worry over. Haven, Ever's best girlfriend, just seemed like someone who helped the plot along. Ever's aunt seemed to be necessary for Ever's living situation to make sense.

All in all, this novel seemed like a bad version of Twilight to me. It just didn't hit it's mark. There were some shining moments, a few adorable or interesting scenes, but I just didn't like it very much. Let's just say this, it wasn't absolutely horrible, but it wasn't good either. I wouldn't buy the second book, but I might read it if it fell into my hands. Then again, I might be afraid of getting trapped again.

But the fact that I got trapped is a compliment to the writing, I suppose.

Plot: 6/10

Readability: 6/10

Character Development: 5.5/10 Miles gets a .5 all to himself.

Ending: 6/10

Writing: 6.5/10

Don't take my word for it though, snag my copy here, and tell me how you felt about it. Maybe I've got it all wrong.

Tashi <3