Elixir

Elixir (Elixir, #1) by Hilary Duff and Elise Allen

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Pages: 327

Favourite Quotes: "How dare he? After what we did last night, how the hell dare he? If he was my soulmate, my soul needed to develop better taste."

"What are you doing? I can't do that. It's impossible. My hips don't go like that. How do your hips go like that?"

"He always believed that people live up or down the amount of trust you put in them."

Seventeen year old Clay Raymond has felt the glare of the spotlight her entire life. The daughter of a renowned surgeon and a prominent politician, she had become a talented photojournalist who takes refuge in a world that allows her to travel to many exotic places. But after Clea's father disappears while on a humanitarian mission, Clea begins to notice eerie, shadowy images in her photos of a strange and beautiful young man - a man she has never seen before.

When fate brings Clea and this man together, she is stunned by the immediate and powerful connection she feels with him. As they grow closer, they are drawn deep into the mystery behind her father's disappearance, and they discover the centuries-old truth behind their intense bond. Torn by a dangerous love triangle and haunted by a powerful secret that holds their fates, together they race against time to unravel their pasts in order to save their lives - and their futures.

I have a lot of respect for Hilary Duff for what she has achieved in her life, despite the constant scrutiny of the media she has to deal with. So, when I discovered that she was writing a book series, I was more than eager to read it and also quite surprised at this potentially risky move. It's hard enough to put your own work out there when you aren't famous. But, when you are? It's like giving people a VIP card to rip you apart. Because of this, I ended up having rather high expectations of this novel, especially after I read the plot summary (and that beautiful cover!). The concept of a mysterious stranger in your photos? Give me. Now.

I think Hilary Duff and Elise Allen did a great job when it comes to the relationship between the characters. I liked the friendship Rayna, Clea and Ben shared. It wasn't the sophisticated kind, like some novels like to create, in the pretense that that's how friend's interact. Theirs was silly, comfortable and real. I also think Duff and Allen did a good job (in the majority) of portraying Clea. It's not easy to write a character that is so clearly privileged without making her seem spoiled. In fact, Clea's social status never seemed particularly relevant in the story compared to who she was as a person. Bonus points, as well, for creating a likable personality for her, without making it unrealistic.

Unfortunately, as a whole, I was rather disappointed with the novel. While I enjoyed many aspects of it, I can't help but be bothered by the strong similarities with Elixir and The Immortal series by Alyson Noël and the predictable story line. I didn't enjoy how the story focused on Sage and Clea's love life when I felt that there were far more relevant and interesting directions the story could have taken instead. I think it would have made far more sense to integrate the romance in a stronger story line rather than let it become the focus.

Of course, there were several strong plot points involved, but I don't think they have been explored to their full potential and I also think that the path the authors took from getting to one plot point to the other was too weak. I think this was most notable given the strong beginning of the story. At first, Clea was easily a very independent and intelligent young woman. As the story progressed however, readers are literally watching her IQ drop as her involvement with Sage grew. I hated that. There was one particular moment, when she stopped questioning her dreams, where you can actually see intelligent Clea being replaced by irrational love-struck Clea.

Finally, what got me the most out of everything in the novel, is Clea's treatment of Ben at the end of the book. If you've read it, you'll know what I mean, and if you haven't, or haven't predicted it, I won't spoil it for you. I just feel that what happened, and the aftermath thereof, was very out of character for both Clea and Ben. It didn't make sense and appeared to be only a crutch to enable a similarity between Clea and the, uh, thing (there you go, still spoiler free). I'm hoping that there will be this sneaky plot-twist in the next book(s) that will explain the necessity for this behavior. Please.

Although Clea's character development backtracked, and I was downright disgusted with her behaviour at the end of the book, I still enjoyed reading through her. She was still a far better YA heroine than a significant others that are out there. This is most clearly seen in her reaction to Sage after he did the avoiding thing, which I won't got into details about to keep this spoiler free. She was upset, sure, but compared to the usual, well, Bella Swan reaction of pinning-after-him-hopelessly-with-no-mind-of-her-own, she actually respected herself (yes, you  heard that right. She's got self-respect, cue back to the 'better YA heroine than a significant others out there') and downright refused to be treated that way.

I'm serious. Stop gaping. That actually happened.

In conclusion, while the book was not as great as I hoped it would be, it was actually a pretty decent read. I particularly recommend it if you enjoy tragic love stories and don't mind love triangles (I personally don't like them, which probably contributed to my annoyance at the heavy romance story line). The characters are all great, although Clea has her moments of being ridiculous and Sage was too attractive for my liking, and I again have to comment on the excellent portrayal of friendship until the end/aftermath scenes. This book was definitely a credit to YA books, although it had several shortcomings and wasn't very original. I will be reading the sequels, and if you're into books that take place in various countries, heavily feature romance, sort-of involve the elixir of life and are not too serious, I would absolutely suggest you pick this up.

The Program

Hey guys! Halloween is over, and we have now sailed off to the land of NaNoWriMo. Which is probably why you may or may not be surprised that I am presenting you with a new review. I figured that I ought to start the month with one, given that I've been reading so much last month while, well, abandoning you all to the abyss of unknown books.

That sounded a lot more dramatic than it was meant to. See? Novel writing is following me. (I just finished my first dramatic scene. Let's just say it involved blood and demons and secrets.)

I AM SO EAGER TO PRESENT THIS BOOK TO YOU SO LET'S GO:

The Program by Suzanne Young

Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Pages: 405
Favourite Quotes: "After all, suicide is contagious." "Some things are better left in the past, and true things are destined to repeat themselves." "The only real thing is now."

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane's parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they'll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who's been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone - but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He's promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they've made to each other, it's getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in.

And The Program is coming for them.

I am really eager to write about this book, not only because it is such an interesting and mind-blowing novel, but also because I have never heard of it prior to reading it. Ever. I literally stumbled across it on BookDepository and then just yolo'ed it. It wasn't like I was deeply entranced with the book at first, or anything. It wasn't love at first sight. I didn't really have an opinion on it, even. It was more like, meh, let's just shove a bunch of books into my cart and hope for the best.

I don't know what exactly the best was, but this definitely beat it.

I opened the book and BAM. Hooked. Gone. Don't even try to talk to me, I'm out of this world. And if I wasn't reading it, then I was curled up in a corner with some stuffed animals and my blankie, bawling my eyes out.

I feel like I should warn you all now - this book is a hardcore ride. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Anyhow, to the actual book. As the blurb says, it's about a world where suicide is considered an epidemic, and anyone under 18 is closely watched for the 'signs' - if you are considered as infected, you are 'flagged' and sent to the Program. And, that is NOT something you want - because whoever enters the Program isn't the same person that leaves it. Why? They're memories are erased.

Obviously, James and Sloane are trying their hardest to stick it out, hold up a happy front, until they're 18 and the Program loses its jurisdiction over them. The story is narrated in first person, from Sloane's point of view, and I personally believe that this was executed beautifully. Her character changes a lot during the novel - it has to - and you can see the change happen before your eyes, so gradually that sometimes you are taken aback when you finally notice it. I think the best thing about this book is not just how realistic the characters are - all of them are individual fireworks, unique, three dimensional and so, undeniably human - but with how we see those characters evolve throughout the book. It's hard enough to paint a realistic world with realistic characters, but it's another thing entirely to take those characters, unravel them, and put them back together in a way that doesn't destroy them or the story. It's this that I feel in love with in the book. Basically, you get to know these characters, James and Sloane, and their relationship, as they themselves fall apart. You see them while they're healthy and you see them unraveling, being affected, and build up again. You see their memories as they forget them and you see them try to navigate around those lost memories, around the rules and careful eyes that follow them. And you cry. Because, although they can't, you can. It even feels like that - like you have to cry because they can't. As if they shove all their own emotions on to you. And not in a bad way, of course. In a you-give-me-the-feels-I-swear-you-can't-be-fictional.

I mean, just look at the relationship between Sloane and James. That was beautiful. The memories you see, they way they are together, everything. It's just beautiful. It felt like a real relationship. Not a twilight, obsessed, unhealthy, ridiculous relationship, but just complete. They just were. Not rushed or forced or idiotically written. In fact, this was perhaps the best written relationship I ever had the luck to read about. And it was fun. Despite everything, it was genuinely fun to read about them, not only together, but also individually.

It's always difficult to accurately write about themes such as suicide. And usually, the books that do write about them glorify the subjects. They focus on the strength of the people that go through and, basically hero-fy characters with these issues. This book does not do that. In fact, it does not specifically delve into the issue at all. Now this can be a good or bad thing, but in this case, it was a good thing. By not delving into it, Suzanne Young refrained from giving the issue any special meaning. And, sure, it's important to discuss these issues but I felt that with, not quite rendering it unimportant, but, I suppose, removing the hype around suicide, the author was able to just simply tell us a story. And I think that's important, to see people have this disease without focusing solely on it. I suppose, what I am trying to say and what I think the message of this book is, is that suicide does not define a person. The book simply gave the reader insight on it. In a very well written manner, I might add.

I don't have anything negative to say against this book. I think my greatest problem with it is the fact that the sequel doesn't come out in, oh, another six months. (It's called The Treatment, by the way).

Recommendation? READ IT. DEFINITELY READ IT.