Amaterasu Reads: Review: Evermore (Immortals #1) by Alyson Noel

I will be honest in this review. It took me quite a while to finish this book, a month actually. I'm not sure if that says something about the book, but I did love it quite a bit.

Title: Evermore (Immortals #1) by Alyson Noel
Pages: 356
Release Date: October 2nd 2009
Published by: Macmillan
Source: Publisher (thanks Hattie, you're awesome!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary (from Goodreads):

Sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom is the sole survivor of a car accident that killed her family. Exiled to sunny California. Ever is haunted by her little sister and by the ability to see people's auras, hear their thoughts and know their entire life story by touching them. She wants to hide from the world, but when a stunningly handsome guy arrives at school, she can't seem to keep away. Falling in love with Damen is dangerous - he's not what he seems. But if Damen is her destiny, how can Ever walk away?

Ever's life changed when her family died in a car accident. She should've died too, but instead she woke up one day in the hospital, broken and with powers she never had before. She used to be normal, and she'd give anything to be normal again. Then she meets Damen, and somehow he looks familiar. But Damen's keeping secrets. Dangerous ones that might have dire consequences even for Ever.

It might be because I have read the spin-off series focusing on Ever's sister, Riley, before reading this, which is why I have a different, or more like backwards perspective on this book that affected my reading in two ways. One, is I'm piecing together parts of the story the other way around, and two, I was understanding the story in the opposite order. I think it made the reading experience a bit unique, and I loved it. It's a different way to enjoy this series and it wasn't as confusing as I thought it would be.

It wasn't easy to like Ever as a character. She's a tortured teenager who spends all her living days blaming herself for the loss of her parents and little sister. It doesn't help that she also has developed the power to read minds with a single touch and see auras. Or maybe she's just really misunderstood? Her peers at school sure doesn't help her improve her personality. But I think she retained that little bit of real factor, even with her downward descent to alcohol addiction. I couldn't say she's a model character, but what Ever went through, a lot of teens would learn a lot of lessons from it. At least she had the courage to change and realize that she wasn't alone. I do think the powers Ever gained made her a lot more interesting character than without it.

I have a lot of questions regarding Damen. A lot, which I think were deliberately left unanswered in this book as this is the first in a series. I still haven't formed much of an opinion about Damen because he was, and is still, an enigma. There wasn't much to think of even with the revelation of what he was. I did, however, like how his character make readers think, especially at the start, if he really is an enemy or the hero in the story.

Riley is an adorable character! I think she became more lovable and gave her character more spark. She's the typical little sister, naughty, a blabber mouth, and always tends to irritate her older sister. But she was the one person who got Ever through the difficult times, and she's just this little girl who is like a big ball of excitement. She makes Ever's gloomy character a little bit brighter.

Plot wise, it feels a little bit like the author tried to build up the mystery behind Damen and Ever's situation too much, holding out the last minute and deciding to bring out the answers to some (not all) of the questions a bit too late into the book. More than half of it was spent trying to shroud Damen's identity, which I think readers already knew even before they're halfway through. But I think what made up for that was the chemistry between Ever and Damen. There were a lot of intense moments that readers couldn't help but look forward to, and even though their relationship is still a bit shaky and new, it's worth trying to wait and see where it takes them.

Also, I think the meaning behind the Tulips is very romantic. The tulip was definitely a significant part of the story, and I like how it's prominently featured in the cover.

I hope the books get better as the series progresses, but Evermore is quite an interesting start in a series. I will give this book a chance because there's definitely a lot more room for growth, character wise and plot wise. I'm pretty sure it will get more intense in later books!

Give it a try and tell me what you think!

My rating

Content (plot, story flow, character):