Since the death of their parents, Triona Pryor and her brother, Ben, have lived with their aunt and uncle in Camden, Maine. Now in her senior year of high school, Triona loves her family and friends, but she has always felt that she didn't quite fit in...in Camden, or anywhere else.
Enter Caleb Wallace, the devilishly handsome man who has recently moved to Triona's small town. While their attraction to each other is instantaneous, it also proves to be dangerous...and deadly.
When tragedy strikes, Triona flees to London for solace and to start her life anew. It's there she discovers from an unlikely source that her family has been keeping secrets from her - secrets about not only her birthright, but her ultimate destiny as well. Armed with this knowledge, Triona finds herself thrown into a whole new world and into a battle to save the lives of everyone she loves.
(Synopsis taken from goodreads.)
Title: Shades of Atlantis
Author: Carol Oates
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Publication Date: November 2010
Format: E-book
Source: Received from author. Many thanks goes to Carol Oates, and Teen Book Scene for sending me a copy of this book for review. I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. This review is part of the Teen Book Scene blog tour. You can follow along with the tour here.
Look for it: Amazon
My rating: 4/5
Triona is biding her time, waiting for school to end so she can move on with her life and leave the small town she lives in with her brother, Ben. They have lived with their aunt and uncle since the untimely demise of their parents. Triona's working an after school job, trying to get enough money together to go on the trip she has been planning for so long. The restaurant is under new management, and she hasn't met all of the new owners yet. When she walks into work, she meets one of her new bosses, Caleb, and she is besieged with feelings previously foreign to her. The attraction is mutual, and they can't help but act on their feelings. However, Caleb has a secret. One that might prove deadly to the both of them. When circumstances spiral out of control, Triona is left to pick up the pieces, not knowing that there are still more secrets being kept from her. She decides to relocate in an attempt to start fresh, but what she doesn't realize is that her past isn't done with her yet.
I'll admit I had a hard time deciding on my feelings for this book. Overall, I found it favourable, and the second half of the book made up for the first half. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the romance between Triona and Caleb, but I was hungering for more and the second half of the book definitely delivered. I did like the characters, but Caleb's penchant for telling Triona that he would answer her questions at a later date, and that she should just trust him for the time being drove me up the wall. Now I'm all for releasing details when needed, but he held back and wouldn't give her any information, and I understood and empathized with her frustration. He played his cards close to the chest. I can understand why he did what he did, but I didn't necessarily appreciate it.
Triona was a strong character as well, and it was amusing to see her clashing with Caleb. They both had dominant and headstrong personalities and I enjoyed seeing them play off of each other. They definitely captured my interest, and I loved the lore that Caleb would dole out to Triona. I kept looking for more tidbits, hungry to know more. I appreciated how it was woven into the story, and I really liked the concept used in regards to celtic lore, and the history behind the lost city of Atlantis. It piqued my interest even more, and the farther I delved into the book, the more I could not put it down. It was an engaging read, and once I hit the halfway mark, the pages seemed to fly by. I became more engrossed in the tale, and found it quite original and refreshing.
The world building in the prologue immediately captured my interest, and though we don't learn too much for a while after that in regards to the mystery surrounding Caleb and Triona, the lore doled out was fascinating.
All in all, an excellent read. The premise of the story was refreshing, and I enjoyed watching Triona finally get some answers. With a solid cast of characters surrounding her, it's hard not to fall in love with them. Both the characters, and the mythology used are sure to capture the interest of those who want to read something a little different from the mainstream paranormal these days.
No comments:
Post a Comment