Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

The timeless tale of Romeo and Juliet gets a new twist when we discover what happens to their souls after that fateful night in the tomb. Now one is on the quest to insure true love in others while the other is out to destroy it.

Shakespeare's tale supposedly isn't the true telling of the love between Romeo and Juliet. The details are a little sketchy, but it basically ends up that Romeo sells his soul to the "Mercenaries" in order to insure Juliet's happiness, but when she kills herself, her soul joins the "Ambassadors." Now their two souls are on a mission. The Ambassadors fight to bring soul mates together while the Mercenaries are working to tear lovers apart and destroy the Ambassadors. Juliet and Romeo are now on a mission to help/hurt two soul mates. Juliet's soul inhabits the body of Ariel and believes it's her mission to bring Ariel's friend Gemma together with her soul mate Ben. However, Juliet has fallen in love with Ben and he shares her feelings, which isn't right because he belongs with Gemma. In the meantime, Romeo is there getting in Juliet's way. Also, this mission is different than all of their other missions. They are alone, being haunted by specters which can only mean this is their last mission, which doesn't bode well for their souls. Will true love prevail or will their souls be doomed?

This is an interesting book, especially when you see the parallels with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. There's a love element and a creepy element with the specters. Some of the Mercenary and Ambassador elements were a bit confusing, but I listened to this on audio book, so it was difficult to reread. The story pulls you in because you're worried about Juliet and the threat of Romeo and the specters. Then you're wondering how she'll get Ben and Gemma together when Gemma is such an unworthy character, but you're hoping she can find a way to be with Ben because they're such a perfect pair. There's a lot going on, but it all fits together into a intriguing love story that's not overly sappy.

Overall though, it's an interesting book and ends with enough of a cliffhanger to pull readers in for the sequel - Romeo Redeemed.
MMK

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

There's a problem with this book that bothered earlier reviewers so much that they disliked the book. Evie works for the International Paranormal Containment Agreement - IPCA for short. Exactly what this organization is, how it came to be, why paranormals must be contained is never explained. Evie is best at containing vampires as she can easily identify them even when they are disguised. She has been with the organization for many years even though just a teenager. Evie uses a taser with a sparkly pink handle and a silver knife with a similar sparkly pink handle to render vampires helpless then she puts monitoring ankle bracelets on them and sends them to a containment center. There is lots of paranormal stuff going on so one wonders why containment and how it is determined who gets contained. Most teens, I think can set this aside. Evie is dang good at her job, a kick ass heroine. Being a teenager and always home schooled confined deep underground in the center, she is dying for true teenage experiences. She figures the tv program Easton Heights is a good way to learn how to be a real teenage girl. She does a lot of online shopping, most of which gets cancelled by her "foster mom". Everything about Evie being a teen is funny and a bit of a spoof of real teenage life and just delightful to read. Evie visiting a real high school and seeing her first locker and her prep for prom are especially fun. The story reminded me of Michele Jaffe's book BAD KITTY. There are two male love interests in this story, Reth a very persistent and powerful faerie and Lend son of a water elemental and a human. There is a prophetic poem that seems to be about Evie but maybe not. It predicts lots of death. When many paranormals begin dying with fiery golden palm prints over their hearts - clues point to Evie though initially she is clueless about why and who she really is. She never even knew she was a paranormal so is just finding out about her powers. So as not to give everything away, I have to stop here but the problem of who is killing paranormals and why is neatly resolved still leaving room for more books. This is an Illinois High School Media Association Abraham Lincoln Award nominee for 2013. Don't take it too seriously or you'll likely be disappointed, though JDW 3/17

Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

This is quite similar to the TV series titled Ghost Whisperer. Lenzi, as it turns out is a reincarnated 'speaker". Someone chosen by the IC to assist hindered souls in moving on. With the soul of her protector inside guarding her, she talks with these souls and does whatever needs to be done to allow them to rest. At outset she does not know any of this, she fights when her protector approaches her to get things moving. Ordinarily reincarnates remember their pasts but Lenzi does not. Eventually she first trusts then falls in love with her protector, dumping her long time boyfriend in the process. The way that goes down seems mean for a good spirit like herself. Alden, her protector, disobeys rules to save Lenzi from the angry boyfriend. He then must face a disciplinary committee and perhaps be destroyed forever. Lenzi helps the boyfriend move on as a hindered soul. She gets on with assisting souls and even resisting a malevolent spirits that carve words into her skin. There are exorcisms involving holy water and several other protectors. Lenzi has a personal malevolent soul which has yet to be made to cross over permanently. There is one nasty encounter with this soul. This IC board has quite a list of rules and points to be gotten and seems kind of silly to me. Actually if I think too hard about this the entire story is a bit corny. Its all derivative. I can point to the movie the Exorcist for some of the material here for instance as well as Ghost Whisperer mentioned above. Having said that, the paranormal genre is very popular with teens now so perhaps teens not familiar with the tv show and movie and other bits gotten from elsewhere could get into it. Except for Lenzi's personal malevolent soul things are pretty well resolved in the end but I suspect there will be a trilogy here anyway. jdw 1/3/12

Resurreccion By: Lea Tobery

This was a novel in Spanish that actually was very explicit in regards to true love.
The main personality of the novel is Emma , who is seventeen year old, is in a coma and close death as the story begins. Emma has not seen lighted tunnels like other people,who are on their death bed. Emma met Ethan, with whom right away she felt a connection . When Emma regains conscience Ethan has vanished. Was Ethan an angel, illusion, or a dream ? Was it a messenger, who brings a message, that can change our lives for good ? Emma and her friends search for the real Ethan in cemetaries and in records. I personally recommend this novel in Spanish for any reader.



LRD/12/29/11

Beautiful Dead Series by Eden Maguire

This series must be read in order or it does not make good sense, even then there are problems. It is strictly for chic lit or beach read fans, its that light. I have read Phoenix and Jonas. Jonas is the first but not the first I read.
There is an overlord named Hunter who brings souls back to earth from limbo. He brings around 10 at a time for a period of around two years. During that time they are essentially undead but not really zombies. They can be seen by humans, they are quite beautiful in appearance apparently. In one place Hunter says no heart no blood. Hunter is also a beautiful dead having been shot some 100 years previously trying to protect his family. It was on his farm which is now nearly forgotten and rotting away. This is where the beautiful dead live and grow vegetables. I've no idea why Hunter has the power to bring folks back from the dead, how he chooses who to bring back or why they need to grow vegetables. They have that period of time to resolve whatever issues caused them to be caught in limbo. It is hard to resolve issues when you are not free to move around, question people, look for clues. Enter Darina, who just happens to know four of the beautiful dead, all recently killed in apparently tragic accidents, or maybe murder. Darina is sorely grieving her boyfriend of just a few months, Phoenix. She has driven her run down car out into the boonies while mourning and stumbled upon the farm and the beautiful dead. She is warned off, she refuses to stay away obsessed with the boyfriend and getting him back. Finally Hunter just seems to give up on scaring her away and says he will give her very limited time with Phoenix if she works to discover how Jonas was killed. She does everything all wrong but is constantly forgiven. She does endless forbidden things to see Phoenix and gets him punished by Hunter. Anyway, it goes on and on til finally the circumstances of Jonas's death are uncovered, he can move on. Darina still cannot move on, obviously the beautiful dead then ask for her inept help uncovering the truth about Arizona's death, and so it goes. This series is a fast read but not a very good one. JDW4/21/11