Review & Giveaway: THE ETERNAL ONES by Kirsten Miller

Review: THE ETERNAL ONES by Kirsten Miller

Haven Moore can't control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother's house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

Publisher: Razorbill, An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Genre: Young Adult

Single Title/Series: THE ETERNAL ONES is a stand alone novel.

Cover Thoughts: I'm really lovin' the simplicity of the cover and how it focuses entirely on the very important aspect of continuity which is portrayed by the symbol of the snake eating its tail. Also, the blood red background provides a great representation of the suspense plot and the evil that sinks its claws in from page one. Very striking and interesting without all the distracting fluff of other Young Adult covers.

Why I Read It: I received an Advanced Review Copy from the publisher.

My Review:

An organization specializing in reincarnation, The Ouroboros Society claims that a soul is repeatedly returned to Earth when it clamors to imbibe once again upon a deeply ingrained addiction such as greed, lust, or power. In some cases the addiction may even be love. For seventeen-year-old Haven Moore, that addiction is Ethan Evans.

Surviving for the last eight years under grueling supervision in the small town of Snope City, Tennessee, Haven Moore is a virtual prisoner longing to break out and break free specifically to New York City and Ethan Evans, the boy who's continuously consumed her thoughts since childhood. But despite the urban city's overwhelming pull upon her soul, Haven's forced under the hawk-eyed watch of her grandmother and guardian, Imogene, to resist. Instead Haven tries her best to keep her thoughts and prayers on God with the hope of preventing the fainting spells that conjure a past life and love with Ethan. All occur with amazingly rich clarity but sadly they all create detrimental repercussions.

Reincarnation is a concept unbelieved, unspoken and untaught in Snope City and while a part of Haven feels that the things she knows can only be attributed to the remembrance of a past life, her instincts are smothered by so many who believe her strange knowledge to be the work of the devil. Already an ostracized outcast, Haven snaps a desperate stranglehold on her visions, submerging them so deep within her heart that she even manages to stop them for a time. But when a rare glance at the TV features New York City play boy, Iain Morrow, Haven knows instinctively that he's Ethan Evans reborn. Overcome by a tsunami wave of emotions, Haven becomes inundated with the suppressed yearnings she'd believed - hoped - were long gone, buried and denied. Now, as overwhelming need floods her soul with aching remembrance, her desperation for Ethan ignites a flaming drive to find him once and for all and this time the urge won't be ignored.

Escaping to New York City and locating Iain Morrow is surprisingly easy for Haven but trusting him proves to be more than difficult. While Iain sweeps her off her feet, re-establishing a grand love that he claims extends as far back as two thousand years, Haven is more then wary of the overwhelming emotions she's experiencing. It's a love so adult, so deep and ancient that Haven can't grapple with the frightening power it wields upon her soul. Meanwhile, Iain is so confident and the way he's proven their past love is beyond concrete yet Haven's instincts are firing with the suspicion that he's hiding something. As the city ignites more and more visions of her past life in New York with Ethan - then ninety years ago as a woman named Constance - Haven begins to suspect that she's in close and immediate danger with all signs pointing to Iain. It soon becomes alarmingly clear that perhaps there's more to Constance's and her soul's determination that Haven locate Ethan and it may have nothing to do with love but more to do with murder.

My Thoughts:

THE ETERNAL ONES is written in third person from Haven's point of view which will make readers whom may be disgruntled with first person narrative, very happy. The novel starts with an immediate bang but fizzles to a crawl as the author dedicates nearly half the book to Haven's time in Snope City, establishing her already blooming distrust in herself and Ethan Evans whom she has yet to even meet. And while Haven's indecision and her naive trust in those that obviously intend to do harm is frustrating, its a bonus to the genre in that it was a realistic story telling from an adolescent. Bravo Ms. Miller! And fortunately, the odd loose ends of the first half of the book are tidied up nicely in the end which was something I both appreciated and applauded. But its the second half of the novel that propels the story to incredible heights of intrigue, despiration and evil sealing my investment and interest.

What surprised me most about THE ETERNAL ONES is the depth of the underlying sinister evil that permeates the novel from beginning to end. Like black oozing tentacles, this evil is allowed to seep into every nook and cranny of the plot culminating into a shocking finale that is both decidedly delicate in its presentation as it is terrifying with its gruesome purpose. Miraculously this evil succeeded in reeling in my trust as well as it dispelling it thereby aligning me nicely with Haven's plight.

A fantastic debut that's sure to appeal to multi-genre romance lovers, if you're looking for only one Young Adult novel to read this year, THE ETERNAL ONES is it and should definitely not be missed.

B+

Giveaway Details:

Thanks to Razorbill Books and The Book Report Network, I have one copy of THE ETERNAL ONES to give away. Here's how to enter:

*Comment with a Valid Email Address (Entrants that do not leave an email address will be disqualified)*

**Contest Open to USA and Canada Only**

***Must be 18 or Older to Enter***

****Contest Closes Thursday, August 12th at Midnight U.S. Pacific Standard Time and Winners will be Chosen Randomly and Announced Friday, August 13th****