Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love.
Real sexual tension apparently requires all the divine forces in the universe be arrayed against you, if this book is any guide.
Demigods and erstwhile lovers Helen and Lucas can never be together, because they're secretly first cousins. Just in case the couple realizes that relationships between cousins aren't considered incest in their home state of Massachusetts (or 24 other states in the union), Lucas's father explains that the future of the demigod species, nay, of the entire planet depends on the couple staying apart. Because! Of history! And magical things! And could Lucas just stop being so selfish? Lucas responds by pretending to hate Helen, following the standard tortured-angsty-boy recipe for staying away from his girlfriend. Poor Helen, meanwhile, is spending all her sleeping hours traveling the Underworld. She hopes to defeat the Furies and end the senseless feuding that has tormented the semi-divine Scions since the Trojan War, but she can't seem to make any headway in the blasted hellscape of the Underworld. Not to mention, her magical journeys are keeping her from REM sleep, thus probably killing her. At least she's met a hot new Scion in the Underworld to fill the vacancy Lucas left by being such a meanie.
Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)Pub Date: May 29, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-201201-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
There’s some originality here, though it’s hard to unearth amid all the melodrama
An illegitimate girl who hopes to find her creative passion may be connected to another kingdom’s magical history.
At 10, white, orphaned Brienna was brought to Magnalia House. For the last seven years she’s studied to become an arden, an apprentice passion, with the goal of finding her patron. The arden-sisters study art, dramatics, music, wit, and knowledge; Brienna, who has no true vocation, has eccentrically studied in all the fields. Though she doesn’t truly belong among the talented (and somewhat racially diverse) noble girls of Magnalia House, they are her beloved friends. Perhaps once she’s passioned, she can even act on her romantic feelings for the white knowledge master. But Brienna’s having strange visions lately; could they be ancestral memories of an unknown forbear from the neighboring country? What with romance, jealousy, family drama, betrayals, ancient magical history, and characters with multiple secret identities, there’s a nigh-constant pitch of throbbing…well, passion. A voice is like “tamed thunder,” and hair is like “a stream of silver.” Malapropisms abound (“punctures of laughter”; “her beauty warbled by the mullioned windows”). Oddly, most of the shocking revelations of back story are openly detailed in the lengthy family trees at the novel’s opening.
There’s some originality here, though it’s hard to unearth amid all the melodrama . (Fantasy. 13-15)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-247134-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
This sequel to The Dark Divine (2009) falls into the classic Twilight patterns: a blank slate of a heroine and a reliance on sexual tension and vague presentiments of danger to drive the narrative. Grace Divine is a werewolf now, bitten by her rogue-werewolf brother Jude before he ran off. Her family is falling apart, with her mother increasingly unstable at the loss of a child and her father traveling around the country seeking his lost son. Grace’s only joy is her relationship with her boyfriend Daniel, himself a former werewolf but now disturbingly standoffish. Now Grace is receiving mysterious phone calls that appear to be from her brother and that may be connected to the town’s unsolved rash of vandalism. Though the plot drags, Despain’s fans will be pleased by the introduction of a flannel-clad hottie who is more than ready to comfort Grace during Daniel’s mysterious absences. For those who find a surfeit of rippling muscles and naked pecs to be sufficient for an enjoyable romance. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)
Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60684-058-0
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Egmont USA
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
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