He's persuasive, charming, and way too mysterious. And for Samara Marshall, her co-worker is everything she wants most--and everything she most fears. . .
Samara Marshall is determined to make the summer before her senior year the best ever. Her plan: enjoy downtime with friends and work to save up cash for her dream car. Summer romance is not on her to-do list, but uncovering the truth about her flirtatious co-worker, Caleb Baker, is. From the peculiar glow to his eyes to the unfortunate events that befall the girls who pine after him, Samara is the only one to sense danger behind his smile.
But Caleb's secrets are drawing Samara into a world where the laws of attraction are a means of survival. And as a sinister power closes in on those she loves, Samara must take a risk that will change her life forever. . .or consume it.
This just wasn't my kind of book. I kind of knew that after reading the synopsis, but I decided to give this book a chance for three reasons. 1. The book has a high average rating and very positive reviews. 2. The MC is biracial and that is so rarely seen in paranormal YA (even rarer at the time of this book's publication) 3. I owned copies of the entire series. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of this book.
Samara, or Sam, is a bit suspicious of her coworker, Caleb. He has a revolving door of ladies and when Sam catches him making up with a customer in the shelves, she's not surprised. But then the woman turns up dead. She wants to get to the bottom of this and she ends up sort-of going on a date with Caleb. When more women turn up dead and Sam starts noticing how oddly women act around Caleb, she starts finding up that there is more going on.
I downloaded this ebook in 2012. In 2012, I was still devouring YA paranormal. I don't read much in YA paranormal anymore, and if I do, I am looking for unique ideas. Maybe with some spookiness, and I am not so much interested in the romance. This book starts with the plotline that I've seen so many times, in which the main girl meets a guy who is secretly a paranormal being. As I said, so many things about the synopsis were off-putting to me. I don't like it when a synopsis makes it clear that a boy is changing a girl's life. It bothers me when it pays certain attention to the guy's eyes and how women are so attracted to him. "From the peculiar glow to his eyes to the unfortunate events that befall the girls who pine after him". Caleb's eye color turns out to be violet and, yeah, that's in the title, but I hate seeing violet eyes in books. For some reason, it's so common in paranormal YA and it's always used as a symbol for a character being special.
I will say that while the general premise (girl meets secret paranormal boy) is not new, there are new ideas here. The paranormal entity is this book is not one I've seen much of in YA and I do think Reed did a new take on it. But, not much seemed to happen in this book. Eventually, the plot picked up near the climax of the book, but looking back at the book now, not a whole lot happened. There is the progression of Caleb and Sam's relationship, and Sam figuring out Caleb's abilities, but most of the book felt like filler. For instance, both Sam and Caleb work at a bookstore and the bookstore employees meet every so often to pick a staff pick. Staff members summarize a (fictional) book and give their opinions on it so everyone can vote. We see two of these meetings and there was no reason for it. I'm not kidding, we hear full plot summaries for books that don't even exist. The only reason we see these sessions is because the author wanted to make fun of Twilight. One of the staff loves a YA paranormal book similar to Twilight, which Sam makes fun of. I don't like Twilight, but it didn't sit well with me that this was put into the book. I think it was supposed to be funny that Sam hates this Twilight-esque book when she is involved with a paranormal boy, but it didn't come across as funny to me. It also bothered me that she makes fun of adults who read YA books.
Sam was an okay character. She does have some witty lines, but sometimes it rubbed me the wrong way. Like her sarcastic comments at the adults liking YA, or the fact that she used the word "retarded". She is a strong character in spirit, standing up for others at times. I also like how the book tried to showcase her family life and her interactions with her family. Sometimes I feel like parents get pushed around in YA paranormal. Sam is shown as a bit special and different, though. She's not as susceptible to Caleb's charms. This is explained that it's because she is closed off and is a virgin.
I wasn't really a big fan of the romance. I'm really picky about romance in books and I don't really go for romance in books anymore. The romance in this book made me cringe. I admit it was sweet at times, but the romance was very quick. Sam went from being annoyed with Caleb, to liking Caleb very quickly. I love hate-to-love romances, but it has to be a slow one. I also don't like lust-based romances and because of Caleb's abilities, there was more lust involved in the storyline. I mentioned how I don't like books featuring love interests that every other girl wants. In other books it makes me sick because it shows girls as only wanting a boyfriend and competing with eachother. Thankfully, this book didn't do that. It did not read as very toxic examples as girls and it's explained that the "attraction" is due to Caleb's abilities, not any uber-hotness. Still, I thought it was odd that every girl would be interested (besides Sam).
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, this wasn't my cup of tea. I should have known that before reading it, but I was hopeful. There wasn't anything really new in YA paranormal to me, the romance made me cringe, and not enough happened in the story. I think there are people who may enjoy this series, as evident from the ratings, but it was disappointing for me. I won't be continuing the series.
I hereby give this book
2 Stars
Meaning: It was okay
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