Becky's View: Endlessly by Kiersten White

Endlessly by Kiersten White
♦publisher: HarperTeen
♦release date: July 24, 2012
♦hardcover, 400 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Paranormalcy, book 3 
  review of Paranormalcy (book 1)
  review of Supernaturally (book 2)

Evie's paranormal past keeps coming back to haunt her. A new director at the International Paranormal Containment Agency wants to drag her back to headquarters. The Dark Faerie Queen is torturing humans in her poisonous realm. And supernatural creatures keep insisting that Evie is the only one who can save them from a mysterious, perilous fate.

The clock is ticking on the entire paranormal world. And its fate rests solely in Evie's hands.

So much for normal.

Review: So, it's farewell to another great YA series.  In this final installment to the Paranormalcy trilogy, Evie faces her biggest challenges, temptations,  and fate-changing decisions yet.  She is the Empty One, made to draw in souls and open the gates between the mortal world and the world where all the paranormal beings came from.  But will she do it? Does she want to? Is she even able to? 

As much as I've always loved Evie and her rambunctious spirit, this was first time where she had her moments of getting on my nerves.  She still has one of the funniest inner dialogues of any YA heroine I've come across, but there were times in this one where she acted like a petulant child---she has the fate of thousands of innocent beings in her hands and she doesn't want to cooperate because she feels like she's being told what to do or because she might lose her boyfriend.  I totally get the whole "making your own decisions" thing, but at times it seemed like she was willing to put everyone in danger just to have it her way.

Evie is just as fierce as always, taking on werewolves, curses, a malicious new head of IPCA,  and the Dark Queen herself {spoiler-highlight to read: OH what she does to the dark queen is priceless. That is one bad-ass way to rescue your boyfriend!}.  On a side note, as much as I've always loved Evie and her rambunctious spirit, this was first time where she had her moments of getting on my nerves.  She still has one of the funniest inner dialogues of any YA heroine I've come across, but there were times in this one where she acted like a petulant child---she has the fate of thousands of innocent beings in her hands and she doesn't want to cooperate because she feels like she's being told what to do or because she might lose her boyfriend.  I totally get the whole "making your own decisions" thing, but at times it seemed like she was willing to put everyone in danger just to have it her way.

The story was fantastic and the plot was wild and twisting and dangerous. Much like a ticking time bomb, you start off thinking time is running out---and then that time bomb is meddled with and suddenly time is running out even faster than you thought!  There are so many great characters in this one, it will be hard to say good-bye to them for good!  Jack is back and once again, the exchanges between him and Evie are hilarious.  Reth is a big part of this one, we really get to see a whole new side of the beautiful mysterious faerie.  Lend is great once again, but because of one important plot twist, he's not in this one as much. Arianna, I think she was one of my favorites this time around.  Still tough and sharp-tongued as ever, but she had a great inner struggle going on that I loved. 

All in all, a great ending to a seriously fun series.  I'm looking forward to the next fantastic series from Kiersten White!

Visit Kiersten White:  Website  •  Facebook   •  Twitter

Purchase Endlessly at:  Amazon  •  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound 

Persnickety Snark's FIVE challenge 2010 - Great Debuts

Adele over at Persnickety Snark is hosting a great challenge over at her blog where participants post their top 5 selections in different aspects of YA (series, cover, debuts, etc.) for 2010 releases. You can find out the details in her post here. I just found out about this today so while I probably won't be able to participate in every single challenge due to the fuss of the holidays, I'm going to give it my best shot to complete as many of them as I can!! :)

Today's top 5 is about GREAT DEBUTS of 2010! And, man, were there a lot of great debuts this year. Paring this list down was hard, but here are my top five:


Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

This one is in my top five books of the year, debut or not. I loved this book with it's hint of mystery, it's unique take on the paranormal and Anastasia's amazing writing style. See my full review here.









Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Even before this one came out, I couldn't wait to read it because a)the cover is to-die-for gorgeous, and b) I'd already gotten hooked on Kiersten White's hilarious blog posts. In my mind, someone who writes such an entertaining blog couldn't possible put out a book that was less than amazing! Which it was! See my review here.

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

This book was such a fun one...it had a little of everything: an intriguing storyline, fun well-written characters, lots of good spooky moments, and the perfect amount of romance. I have the second book sitting here on my shelf and I can't wait to get to it!!
See my full review here.









Jane by April Lindner

Jane was amazing. I went in blind---having never read Jane Eyre before, but this one completely enthralled me. The characters were complex and fascinating. The way Lindner brought the age-old story so seamlessly into the modern age was perfect. If you haven't read this already, do so asap, I tell you! See my full review here.




Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

I just read this one recently so it's still fresh in my mind, but honestly---I think it will stay that way for awhile! Amazing storytelling, a sweet romantic undercurrent, danger, Irish mythology,...but my favorite part of the story was the relationship between the main character, Teagan, and her little brother, Aiden. Brilliant stuff! See my full review here.

Incredible Book News: Paranormalcy!

I had to spread the exciting news on this one! If you haven't been to Kiersten White's blog today, you might not have heard:
It's been one heck of an exciting day for this debut author! Not only did the awesome Paranormalcy officially break out into the wild today (if you missed my gushy review of this one, you can find it HERE) BUT Kiersten announced earlier today that the film option rights have sold!! How exciting is that?? While this doesn't guarantee that we'll see Evie and Tasey and Lent up on the big screen, it certainly brings us all one step closer to that amazing possiblity!!

So, a BIG HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY and GIGANTIC CONGRATS to Kiersten and Paranormalcy!! YAY!!

Review: Paranormalcy

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

publisher: HarperTeen

release date: August 31, 2010

hardcover, 352 pages

intended audience: Young adult

source: received from publisher for honest review

rating:


description from goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Evie's job is bagging and tagging paranormals. Possessing the strange ability to see through their glamours, she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But when someone--or something--starts taking out the vamps, werewolves, and other odd beasties she's worked hard to help become productive members of society, she's got to figure it out before they all disappear and the world becomes utterly normal. Normal is so overrated.

Review: And its official. With this review, I very happily join the ranks of readers who are in love with this book. Let the gushing begin.

Page one,...no, actually it was sentence one: I laughed out loud. Upon getting to page two, I'd giggled at least two more times. Page three and I was completely addicted.

The main character of this book is what really makes it. Evie has a great voice. She is witty and funny, brave and sassy (I hate that word, but seriously, that is the best way to describe this girl!), and throughout the story she is very believable as a real teenager. Despite the fact that she has this incredibly adventurous and abnormal life working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she still yearns to be a normal teenager, to experience high school and have a school locker of her very own. It's an interesting departure from the norm to be introduced to a character who starts out fully confident and sure of the world around her and her place in it, and in the progression of the story, see that confidence disintegrate as her eyes are opened and she begins to question what she's always known as truth.

This was a wild paranormal ride from beginning to end with a little who-done-it mystery thrown in for good measure. You spend a good part of the book wondering who is good and who is just plain evil, how the plot will twist next and what will Evie be wearing when it does! :) Mischievous fairies everywhere, creepy vampires, werewolves, hags, and mermaids,...they are all part of this amazing tale. And did I mention the romance?? Perfect. The character of Lend is wonderfully complex---he is a complete mystery and we get to know him as Evie does, slowly as little bits of information are revealed about what he's really doing at the IPCA. Their relationship grows slowly with a little more trust given every day of her secret visits to him. This is exactly how I like my romance stories to unfold.

In the end, even though it was a satisfying ending, I turned the last page and let out a disappointed "Awww!" because there was no more to read! I didn't want this story to end, and I can only hope its not going to be another whole year before the next one comes out! I don't think I could bear it!

Visit Kiersten White's site here.

Preorder Paranormalcy:
Amazon
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Book depository

Trailer:

Waiting on Wednesday : Paranormalcy

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

release date: September 21st, 2010 (updated, thanks Kiersten!)
by HarperTeen

Description:
Sixteen-year-old Evie's job is bagging and tagging paranormals. Possessing the strange ability to see through their glamours, she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But when someone--or something--starts taking out the vamps, werewolves, and other odd beasties she's worked hard to help become productive members of society, she's got to figure it out before they all disappear and the world becomes utterly normal.

Normal is so overrated.

Really, does this one need much more explanation of why I can't wait to read it!! Drop-dead gorgeous cover ( I would kill to see a gal "bag and tag" a werewolf in that stunning dress!!), a completely amazing-sounding storyline...nuf' said, right? And you really have to check out the author's blog...she is seriously the most adorable thing ever, and her post on the day her proof copy arrived is just hilarious. I'm sure if her fiction writing is half as entertaining as her blogging, it's going to be a fantastic book!! October is such a long way off---I'm hoping for a bump up to an earlier release date!! :)