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A review by betwixt_the_pages
Wild Souls by Faith Prince
3.0
Rating: 3/5 Penguins
Quick Reasons: interesting paranormal romance; instalove; purple prose that is also slightly juvenile; I'm not sure I fully understand what happened here
HUGE thanks to Faith Prince and Prince Publishing for the title! My review is voluntarily done and in no way impacted by the gesture.
"People work so hard on perfecting their facade, on creating an exterior that they're proud of, an outer coating for the rest of the world to see. But when Ethan Underwood looks at them, he sees right through that. He sees who they really are. That terrifies them."
This was a bittersweet book for me to read and review, Penguins. Let's start with the SWEET bits, shall we? First, Jenna absolutively posolutely reminds me of me when I was in high school. She's creative; she's quirky; she doesn't really care what anyone else thinks of her; she's a badass. I was transported, reading her journey, back to that time for myself...and I found myself wondering just what happened to that girl from before. That girl from years ago. The prose in this is rich and vivid, filled with complex descriptions that play with all the senses. The story is unique; I found myself wanting to know more about Ethan and his "ability"/"disability"-- being able to SEE auras/souls? SO COOL.
BUT....the bitter. This was definitely a HEAVY case of instalove, which we all know is one of my least favorite things. While the world was rich and detailed and captivating, I found the dialogue to be rather juvenile, and yet somehow the characters ALSO had like... all the abilities to go out and do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted? There were times they seemed like they were pre-teen, with their interactions and reactions...but at the same time, they're able to drive by themselves 3 hours to NYC for the day? I was very confused about this to be honest. Ethan's mom also does not seem to play as much a part in this story as Jenna's family, and I found myself wondering why that was. AND, to top it all off...while the "magic" was fresh and the story was intriguing enough for me to keep reading, I found it lacking in real ANSWERS (where did Ethan's ability/disability come from? are there others like him in the world? does he ACTUALLY get "hurt" by the bad creatures? how? why?)
"We both know there's a higher likelihood of satanic koalas taking over the city than me letting you face whatever this is alone."
As excited as I was for this read, I found it just did not end up being the book for me. HOWEVER! That does not mean it's not the read for YOU, dear Penguins. I recommend this to lovers of the fantastical, those who like ideas such as soul-seers/aura readers, and readers who don't mind a little bit of INSTA with their love. How wild is YOUR soul, Penguins?
Quick Reasons: interesting paranormal romance; instalove; purple prose that is also slightly juvenile; I'm not sure I fully understand what happened here
HUGE thanks to Faith Prince and Prince Publishing for the title! My review is voluntarily done and in no way impacted by the gesture.
"People work so hard on perfecting their facade, on creating an exterior that they're proud of, an outer coating for the rest of the world to see. But when Ethan Underwood looks at them, he sees right through that. He sees who they really are. That terrifies them."
This was a bittersweet book for me to read and review, Penguins. Let's start with the SWEET bits, shall we? First, Jenna absolutively posolutely reminds me of me when I was in high school. She's creative; she's quirky; she doesn't really care what anyone else thinks of her; she's a badass. I was transported, reading her journey, back to that time for myself...and I found myself wondering just what happened to that girl from before. That girl from years ago. The prose in this is rich and vivid, filled with complex descriptions that play with all the senses. The story is unique; I found myself wanting to know more about Ethan and his "ability"/"disability"-- being able to SEE auras/souls? SO COOL.
BUT....the bitter. This was definitely a HEAVY case of instalove, which we all know is one of my least favorite things. While the world was rich and detailed and captivating, I found the dialogue to be rather juvenile, and yet somehow the characters ALSO had like... all the abilities to go out and do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted? There were times they seemed like they were pre-teen, with their interactions and reactions...but at the same time, they're able to drive by themselves 3 hours to NYC for the day? I was very confused about this to be honest. Ethan's mom also does not seem to play as much a part in this story as Jenna's family, and I found myself wondering why that was. AND, to top it all off...while the "magic" was fresh and the story was intriguing enough for me to keep reading, I found it lacking in real ANSWERS (where did Ethan's ability/disability come from? are there others like him in the world? does he ACTUALLY get "hurt" by the bad creatures? how? why?)
"We both know there's a higher likelihood of satanic koalas taking over the city than me letting you face whatever this is alone."
As excited as I was for this read, I found it just did not end up being the book for me. HOWEVER! That does not mean it's not the read for YOU, dear Penguins. I recommend this to lovers of the fantastical, those who like ideas such as soul-seers/aura readers, and readers who don't mind a little bit of INSTA with their love. How wild is YOUR soul, Penguins?