Ever Bloom is the sole survivor of a car wreck in which she lost both her parents and her little sister, Riley. Except that she hasn't completely lost her little sister - she still sees and speaks with her. Somehow, Ever has come into some paranormal abilities after surviving this accident that allows her to not only see her dead sister, but to see people's auras and read their thoughts, among other things. Enter Damen, the good looking guy all the girls seem to want...and the only person who seems to silence all Ever's heightened awareness of the thoughts and auras, etc. of other people - when she's in his presence, that is. They meet in school à la Twilight, and though she denies her attraction to him (perhaps because one of her friends called "dibs") she seems to subconsciously pursue him. Then his ex, Audrina, shows up and things just get really messy for Ever. Ever's aunt has taken her in at her lovely home in California and Ever has made a couple of friends at her new school who are both written sort of stereotypically. A lot of interesting and strange paranormal stuff happens and the story is interesting, but it just isn't one of my favorites. This book is the first in a series, but I'm still debating on whether or not I'll continue with it. *Note: I was not a fan of the Twilight series, so maybe the whole paranormal thing isn't my cup of tea. Oh, my gosh, I just said "cup of tea." Shudder. Anyway, if you like paranormal romances, you might enjoy this.

PS: One of my students lent this book to me to read. She really enjoyed it! ( )

Magic

Plagued by memories of a painful past, Ever finds it difficult to forget when she can hear people's thoughts and see her sister--who she shouldn't be able to see. When the new boy at school, Damen, with his expensive car and expensive home, connects with her, Ever learns he's more than special. And so is she. With a lyrical and ethereal but compelling voice, Alyson Noel grips the reader tight with the first in this series. ( )

To be fair I thought this was another teen vampire romance. I have heard about this book for a number of months (since October at least) from other bloggers, though I've avoided reviews so that I didn't have any preconceptions, and I can understand why. Even though this is aimed for a teen market, the author doesn't dumb down the concepts or 'reality' of anyone's situation. Damen is far from perfect (despite how he presents himself) and Ever is clearly damaged more then she wishes to acknowledge.

But then so is everyone else around them. From Ever's best friends Haven (who attends anonymous addict meetings of all sorts to get the attention and love she can't from her self-absorbed family) and Miles (Mr. Gay and Proud of it theater man) to the social bullies (Stacia Miller, the leader, Miss Teen Perfection with more dirty laundry then a laundry mat), no one is perfect. And for Ever that is less of a reassuring concept and more of a distress because she can't even pretend that they might be.

I was relieved to see that Ever wasn't the sort to just be a push over when it came to Damen either. He messes up, a lot, and makes a scramble of things, a lot, and Ever calls him on it. Unfortunately for him he suffers the misconception of thinking that Ever is perfect--he acknowledges the trauma of the past and her inability to move on from it, but he holds this static image of her in his head that doesn't evolve until closer to the end when things become apparent that he overlooked.

The only complaint I have is with Haven. From an outsider's perspective she doesn't seem like a good friend at all. Or rather she's fine as long as Ever remains an anti-social misfit hiding inside an oversized hoodie, but when Ever makes strides towards coming out of the bubble she becomes catty, jealous and angry. As if its a betrayal of some sort. I felt bad for Ever because it was obvious she wanted to make Haven happy, but by being herself it just made Haven angry. ( )

This book was pretty good. The supernatural genre has exploded ever since Twilight became popular, causing many books to stand in line behind the vampire saga. This story was no different. Evermore was also a bit predictable. Overall, it was entertaining, though I'm not sure if I would necessarily recommend it to someone else. ( )