I’ve been sitting on this review for more than a week, trying (in vain) to compose myself enough (from it’s CLIFFHANGER ending!!!) to be a sensible, rational, well spoken reviewer.
And… after hours of agony and approximately 750 gummy bears I’ve come to realize that it’s not gonna happen.
So…in the interest of saving most of you time, and me the fitful anticipation of getting this off my chest, I’ve decided to just throw this out there, and then move on…to that whole “rational” thing I was talking about a second ago.
Here goes nothing. “Go Team Tristan!!!!”
Alright, now that I have proven to all of you that I’m A: obviously a fan of the dark side (see the synopsis) and B: A 15 year old girl with a horrible acne that locks herself in the closet instead of going out in public… we can move on; to the synopsis.
“Two years ago, Scarlet awoke in the forest alone, afraid, and unable to remember anything. Lost and confused, her life was a mystery…until she met a boy with a familiar voice.
Gabriel Archer has a voice from her past, and Scarlet’s determined to remember why. She immerses herself in his life only to discover he has a brother he’s kept hidden from her: Tristan Archer.
Upon meeting Tristan, Scarlet’s world becomes even more muddled. While she’s instinctively drawn to Gabriel, she’s impossibly drawn to Tristan–and confused out of her mind. As she tries to piece together her history Scarlet realizes her past…might just be the death of her.”
Now, how about we learn a few things about this stunning book.
#1 It’s original. That’s right people… I said Original, with a capital ‘O’ *gasp*
This is probably THE thing I harp on the most when it comes to anything paranormal, so the fact that I didn’t have to berate my good friend Chelsea about it being just another wolf if sheep’s clothing was (to say the least) a relief.
Now… just because it’s original (*throws confetti*) doesn’t mean it didn’t have it’s flaws; the most important being that it had a very slow start. Maybe I’m just used to Chelsea’s quick style of writing (see Sophie & Carter) maybe… I think that Chelsea is better than she allowed herself to be (relationship wise) in the beginning of the book. But I was literally (no..seriously, I marked it) at page 120 when I finally felt drawn in. Up until that point I was just really annoyed by the 7 hundred million mentions of hanging stars and (cue evil music) Tristan’s need to be a total jackhole. But man… I tell you what, once I hit page 120, it would have taken 3 cheesecakes and a side order of Sam Worthington to pull me out of that book.
“Hey Misty…what did you like best about this book?”
Well, other than the love triangle, which…let’s all be honest with ourselves, we knew it was coming. I loved Chelsea’s choice in narration.
“Anew” is, (for all intents and purposes,) a partitioned book. No, it is not divided into “parts” but the narration is not singular either. It is multi-narration, which allowed me (or you…if you follow my advice) to be drawn in from 3 VERY DIFFERENT angles. The helpless, the hungry and the brooding, (I’ll let you guess which one is which) Following Scarlet, Gabriel and Tristan’s journeys separately only acted as a catalyst in Chelsea’s crafty mind games, and in the end…made the plot much more exciting than it would have been one sided.
I will admit… there were a few parts that were predictable (maybe I’m just hard to fool anymore, who knows) and as a follower of mine (Farin) pointed out… it was a little surprising that it took the other characters (mainly Scarlet and Gabriel) so long to piece things together, but hey…it is what it is.
Overall… I enjoyed it. I was furious with Chelsea and the way she ended it (regardless of how smartly plotted it was) but it was well worth the first 120 pages to discover a whole new world of opportunities that may or may not spring up in the cursed lives of the Archers.
My advice…if you love ANY type of YA, Paranormal or even just romance; get this book. Hell, it’s only $2.99…if you are like me, you spend more than that on coffee every day.
Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: if he’s hot…it’s ok to follow him into his basement of doom. Ok, not really, but you get what I’m saying.
Click image for additional details
[Rating:4/5]
Book Trailer
Hey guess what!!! I’m not done.
The lovely Ms. Chelsea shipped me a signed copy of “Anew” to giveaway to one of you lucky lucky readers, so… just hop on down to the Rafflecopter sign-ups and get busy!
The Giveaway!!