Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her.Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run.
Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about Torin. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only are she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life
The Cover Contessa's Review:
I have to say that I was not exactly sure what to expect when I picked this book up. I had read the blurb a long time ago, so when I went to read it, I didn't remember what it might be about. I'm kind of happy that it wound up that way because I think it made for a more enjoyable read. I did know, however, that I absolutely loved the cover. It certainly had me intrigued! What are those marks on the guy's face? Why are they there? What significance do they hold? Do you want to know the answers? Well, then you just have to dive in.
Raine (Lorraine Cooper) is a great character. She's a typical teen, attracted to hot guys, but in love with her long time best friend, Eirick. And he's definitely swoon worthy in a geeky, athletic type of way. I have to say that at first their relationship was a bit unbelievable. I mean, who waits until they are 17 to try it out with the hot guy who has been in their path forever? I guess the girl who thought that perhaps her best friend didn't think about her in that way? This is the one thing that irritated me about Raine. She was a bit wishy washy when it came to the guys. But what teen might not be like that? Torin St. James is the hot bad boy who slips and glides his way right into Raine's life. She finds herself attracted to him immediately; drawn to him by a force she cannot put her finger on. And he makes no qualms about his feelings for her. The tension between the two is palpable during the entire book. I can say that Walters created the typical YA love triangle. It wasn't anything different than I've seen in other books. As for her best friend Cora, she was just ok. I didn't find anything different about her so she didn't stand out in my mind.
The book is fast paced and flows well. There wasn't a moment I didn't want to turn the page to find out what was next. There was enough action to keep it moving. Enough romance to make your toes curl. And enough mystery to keep you guessing. I really loved the way Walters wove the Norse mythology into the story. Normally such stories take a turn to the Greek, so it was nice to see a different approach to this type of paranormalcy. And Walters give the perfect amount of background so we're not left wondering what is going on or having to find out on our own.
The story marries the paranormal with a bit of "out of this world". Lovers of The Mortal Instruments will be drawn in and intrigued for sure! But Walters takes a different turn with it (which I won't reveal as to not spoil things) making a new and different feel than other books in the urban fantasy genre. I enjoyed how Walters revealed things slowly through the book, just at the right time so that you didn't know more than you needed to and you were surprised at the right moments.
There were some repetitions used in the language of the book. I think this could have been tweaked a bit. But over all it did not take away from me enjoying the book. And what is with books in this genre being set in the Pacific Northwest. This is actually the second YA book in two weeks I've read that has taken place in that part of the USA.
Walters chooses to make the end a sort of cliffhanger that has you wanting the next book now. So I will certainly be jumping into the next one when it's available. I need to know what happens with these characters. It's an ending you will not see coming at all, although I have seen it used in a few books I have read as of late. Overall I really liked the story. It was a fast and fun read!
All about Ednah:
Ednah is the author of The Guardian Legacy series, a YA fantasy series about children of the fallen angels, who fight demons and protect mankind. AWAKENED, the prequel was released in September 2010 with rave reviews. BETRAYED, book one in the series was released by her new publisher Spencer Hill Press in June 2012 and HUNTED, the third installment, will be released April 2013. She’s working on the next book in the series, FORGOTTEN.
Ednah also writes New Adult paranormal romance. RUNES is the first book in her new series. She is presently working on book 2, IMMORTALS.
Under the pseudonym E. B. Walters, Ednah writes contemporary romance. SLOW BURN, the first contemporary romance with suspense, was released in April 2011. It is the first book in the Fitzgerald family series. Since then she has published four more books in this series. She's presently working on book six.
You can visit her online at www.ednahwalters.com or www.ebwalters.com,. She’s also on Facebook,twitter, ya-twitter, Google-plus, and RomanceBlog, YAblog.
I'm happy you enjoyed Runes and thank you for participating in the tour. xoxo
ReplyDeleteOh now you made me want to read it even more!!!
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