Evermore by Alyson Noel

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pub. Date: February 2009
Age Range: Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: from publisher - St. Martin Press

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.

I'd came across with so many mixed reviews of this book before I actually started that it became confusing to me. And now, after finishing Evermore, I'm even more confused. Why? Because I'm now having more mixed thoughts and feelings about the book.

Let me tell you what holds me back from being completely into Evermore - it's quite unrealistic. Sure it's paranormal, but it's still about a girl living in a normal world right? For some reason I cannot feel connected with the characters. Trust me, I've tried, yet I don't think I know much of Ever or Damen. Well, everyone would be able to learn that Ever was a poor girl with a sad past and some gift she didn't want to possess, and Damen - an immortal who was madly in love with our female lead. But that was it. I'd love to see more of the emotions side, something other than how Ever felt so left out and jealous of the girls. Everything seemed to revolve too much about her relationship with Damen, which to me, too, was pretty vague as well. I don't see how they got together so fast and how Ever was like, head over heals with him in such a period of time (for Damen it's okay because he's been there like...forever yeah?). At some points the story was draggy - one day Ever came to school happy because Damen was all over her, the next one she was mad for he acted like he didn't know that she existed and the unncessary repitition went on. You know, even at the last page, what I felt was that I was still in the process of understand the characters. It was a little bit sad.

On the other hand, there're a lot of things about this book that got me exicted. I like Ever's abnormal ability and how everyone around her was described in their auras - I actualy had fun learning the aura chart. Besides, there're some cute moments of Ever and Damen that would keep you giggling and aww-ing, like the tulips thing, for example. My favorite character? Riley. She was adorable though very cheeky, her love for Ever was something rather heartfelt. And of course, I must not forget to say how much I like Alyson Noel's writing - a nice and well-arranged kind.

Much as I pointed out the weaknesses of Evermore, I still think it got great potential. It's just the beginning of the series so there must be much more to come. Maybe in the future the characters will fully develop and we'll see every side of them clearly. There'll be many thrilling adventures await us in the next books, so don't hesitate to give Blue Moon a try when it comes out in July. Maybe Alyson Noel will blow us away with it, hopefully.

Rating: 3/5