Title: Ever Near [Secret Affinity 1]
Author: Melissa MacVicar
]Genre: Young Adult. Romance, Paranormal
Length: 209
Rating: 4.5 Star rounded up to 5
Series Review: 1, 2
Description/Synopsis:
Love is ever near. But trouble is never far.
Nantucket Island is haunted, but only sixteen-year-old Jade Irving knows it. Ignoring the disturbing spirits isn’t an option, because one dwells in the enormous historic home she shares with her newly blended family. Jade is finding it more and more difficult to explain away Lacey’s ghostly, anguished tantrums, especially with Charlie, her gorgeous, almost step-brother, living right across the hall.
When a power-hungry ghost hunter tracks down Jade and blackmails her, Jade’s secret teeters on the edge of exposure, and her entire future hangs in the balance. If anyone finds out Jade can talk to ghosts, her life will be forever changed.
Can she save herself, free Lacey, and hang on to her tenuous connection with Charlie? Or will everything she ever wanted slip through her fingers?
Review – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
I received this book from Red Adept Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
I don’t know why as they hold all the things I like in a book, but I do not normally go for a paranormal books. Perhaps its because the person seeing ghosts always have to interact with people who can’t and those interactions never live up to par for me. As a whole though this book didn’t really hold the automatic distaste for me. I found it hard to keep a straight face and to stay quiet while reading this book in public because I was so involved.
I really liked our main character Jade to be really likeable and relatable when you take away the fact that she sees dead people. I don’t even want to think about the drama and emotional stuff if my mother decided to marry the father of the boy I had a crush on all through school and so I am suddenly supposed to call him brother and live across the hall from him. And when you keep having, as Jade puts it, nocturnal dramatics (I love that line) and Charlie (said boy) is the one to always wake you and hold you in his arms, it would be just about enough to drive you crazy. I know I would be going crazy. I mean, how swoon worth is that? Its the stuff of good dreams.
Then he goes an confesses his love for you as well, which only makes things more complicated. One section that sums the whole thing up pretty nicely would be:
“We can’t…” I mumble in a breathy whisper.
“Why not?” His blue eyes are dark with lust, his breath hot on my cheek.
“Because… we’re going to be-“
“Related? I don’t care who gets married. That doesn’t make us related.”
He cradles my face in his hands and stares into my eyes, but I’m too stunned to answer. What he said is how I feel, but the concept also seems oddly offensive.
Charlie is a total babe but I did think that they got over being step siblings pretty quickly. Also felt that way about him believing she can see ghosts.
Structure wise I felt things were a bit rushed. The book is short so the timeline felt a bit off at times. You would randomly meet someone or do something for apparently no reason but then they randomly pop back up for reasons. Like the grandparents. You get a random skype call from them and then the gram turns out to be the solutions to all questions. I don’t think the call needed to happen but meh.
For the ending I was both freaking out and sighing with annoyance at the same time. This will be a spoiler so I would end this review now if you don’t want to know about the ending. For someone who was trying to hard to hide that she can see ghosts she told everyone pretty quickly about them. She should have let them continue to think it was medical before she told and got herself trapped in a loony bin. I know it was a segway to find out about her gram but still. When she was strapped to the bed in the mental hospital I was totally freaking the hell out. One of my nightmares come to life. Also, what the hell happened to Charlie’s brother Brandon? He totally thinks she is insane but he wasn’t there at the end to find out she isn’t and he never pops up again in the story and gets no conclusion! Does he think everyone is insane now? I need answers damn it.
So yes if you are a lover of paranormal fictions I would give this one ago. If you are not normally a lover of paranormal like me I would still give it ago. It might widen your net of reading. Very enjoyable and I shall be picking up the next book for sure.
Till Next Time…
