Eve of Samhain: A Close-Up Review (New Adult)

"As a college senior and server at Hanaford Park's hottest nightclub, twenty-one year old Ryann Pierce's plan was simple: work hard, make lots of money, and avoid the ass-grabbers at all costs. What she never planned for was Quinn Donegan—the living, breathing advertisement for sinful behavior that waltzed into her life.

With an angelic face, a hard body and a butt-load of charm, Quinn had a way with the ladies—a lot of ladies. Cursed with a deadly, addictive touch, his trail of indiscretion blazed across five hundred years. Tired and jaded, Ryann is a shocking revelation Quinn didn't see coming.

Filled with desire, yet unable to touch one another, Ryann and Quinn embark on a daunting journey, battling frustrating physical limitations while exploring their new love. In a race against the clock, Ryann learns she must plead for Quinn's life before…the Eve of Samhain. Determined to end her lover's suffering, not even the danger dogging her every move can keep her from her mission." (from Goodreads)

Eve of Samhain by Lisa Sanchez


*Note: This review contains mild spoilers.

Characters:

Ryann: if there is one thing that Ryann is good at, it is playing the helpless damsel in distress. The girl almost never does anything to help herself. She just reacts like, "Oh no, I'm in danger!" and then lo and behold, Quinn comes and saves her. All right, she has some attitude, and stands up to Quinn occasionally, but as the book progresses she gets sappier and sappier about him. And she can really be emotionally immature and overdramatic.

On the plus side, I thought it was admirable that she'd chosen to save herself for someone she loved.

Quinn: Ryann is always mentioning how hot Quinn is. I'm not sure if this reflects more on him or on her, but in either case: he's a faerie cursed to seduce women, of course he looks amazing. We get it. Ryann doesn't need to tell us for the billionth time how much he makes her loins burn or whatever. That just got kind of ridiculous after a while.

Other than that, I don't actually have much to say about Quinn.

Ryann and Quinn: their relationship was at its cutest when they were arguing/flirting at the beginning. And I have to admit the curse worked to make things frustrating for both Ryann and the reader at drawing out the tension in the first half or so. But the romance really starts to take over the plot partway through, and the romance itself wasn't doing much for me once the two have declared themselves.

Side characters:

The Friends: We don't really get to know Jessica or Martha that well. Basically, they're just there to help out Ryann when needed (especially with fashion choices).

The Villain: The villain didn't scare me — he was just kind of a creep with slightly disturbing eyes. Unfortunately, we're not told much about his motivation, and the plotline involving him seemed very thin (more on that below).

The Faerie Queen: usually faeries are portrayed as emotionless or enigmatic, so in a way, it was refreshing to see a nice faerie queen. Refreshing, but not that believable. I mean, she is nice in an I-want-to-conveniently-solve-a-major-problem-for-you kind of way. (Spoiler, highlight to read: she gives Ryann long life!)

Also, why the faerie queen wouldn't have better things to do than concern herself with whether or not two individuals were going to have sex is beyond me. Seriously...why would she care?? Really, aside from the surface reasons, we're not given much motivation for her character either.

Premise/plot:

The story seems pretty simplistically structured in terms of plot; a lot of it is just about how Ryann has fallen for Quinn. I liked the idea of the myth about this faerie who seduces women, and I wish more of the legend side (involving the faerie world and so on) had been explored, instead of focusing on the romance. I feel like there was a lot here that could have been developed but wasn't.

The threat to Ryann's safety (that got built up in the first half) is vanquished really easily — at this point, I think you can probably guess who saves her. The whole thing wasn't climactic enough for me. I liked the twist of who the villain was (although I totally guessed something was up with him) but I wanted more explanation of why he was after Ryann. The surface motivation we're given isn't very satisfying.

Also, it was a little disappointing that the whole college aspect of the story drops out towards the end (we don't see Ryann attending class anymore, because she's fixated on something else).

Writing style: I found the first half more entertaining and humorous, and then it went downhill from there, with everything becoming quite cliched. There was so much hyperbole and over-the-top drama to be found in Eve of Samhain. The whole trying-to-seduce-Quinn plotline struck me as cheesy, coming across as an excuse for a sex scene more than a storyline in its own right. (And in all honesty, I thought the sex scene itself wasn't very tastefully written.)

Final verdict: 2 shooting stars. I thought the premise had unfulfilled potential, and I enjoyed the first half, but the writing was so poor in the second half it made me want to cringe. Ultimately, it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.

Disclaimer: I received this e-book from the author for review.

Note: This book contains mature (sexual) content and coarse language — definitely not for younger readers!

This book counts towards my goal for the New Adult reading challenge.

Cross My Palm: Paranormal YA

This is a series of posts I'm doing discussing current trends in YA genres and what might be in store for the future. This is just based on my own observations of books and what I've seen publishers/authors/other bloggers talking about.

This week, it's paranormal YA. (For the previous posts on contemporary, sci-fi/dystopian, and historical YA, go here.) I was originally considering combining this with YA fantasy, since there is a lot of overlap and paranormal is arguably a sub-genre of fantasy. But this post would be absolutely mega-huge if that happened, so I'm doing the more paranormal side of things in this post, and the next post will be for other aspects of fantasy.

• Books with a multitude of different kinds of paranormal beings are gaining steam. The Hex Hall and Paranormalcy series, both of which have done very well, are prime examples. There's also the Shadow Falls series by C. C. Hunter and the Winterhaven series by Kristi Cook. (Boarding schools definitely seem to be a fad here too — a convenient way to get a bunch of different paranormal beings all in the same place at the same time!)

• Vampires and werewolves are still holding steady. Unfortunately. The genre is saturated with poor Twilight knock-offs (and Twilight is not exactly the highest quality literature...) This is not to say there aren't some well-written vampire/werewolf stories to be found, but rather, that there are enough, period. But they seem to keep on coming. 2012 releases include The Savage Grace by Bree Despain, Taken by Storm by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa, The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead, Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel, and Rivals and Retribution by Shannon Delany.

• Angels and demons are battling...for the most shelf space. Be it pure angels, "dark" or "fallen" angels, demons, or a mixture, books featuring these messengers of good and evil are obviously being snatched up by readers. Angels are really "hot" right now, more so than vampires or werewolves, I'd say. We've got these 2012 releases to anticipate: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand, Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick, A Want So Wicked by Suzanne Young, Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton, Angel Fever by L. A. Weatherley, The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff, and Last Rite by Lisa Desrochers. Plus, Australian author Jessica Shirvington's Embrace is being released this year in North America.

• Ghosts are kind of like jeans: tried and true. While they're not "trending" most of the time, there always seem to be a few ghostly stories you can pick up if that's what you're looking for. Upcoming releases include Arise by Tara Hudson, Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake, Glimmer by Phoebe Kitanidis, and The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers.

• Mermaids and sirens are doing just swimmingly (sorry, couldn't resist!) I think these have a similar draw for readers that angels do, but instead of floating around in the celestial heavens, they're submerged in deep waters. We're talking books like Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, Just For Fins by Tera Lynn Childs, The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Córdova, Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown, Dark Water by Tricia Rayburn, Waking Storms by Sarah Porter, and Tempest Unleashed by Tracy Deebs. 

• Quoth the raven, "There'll be more." All right, so I'm paraphrasing a little. Nevertheless, Edgar Allen Poe seems to be the next literary great whose poems authors are retelling or incorporating into their YA paranormal stories. The second of Kelly Creagh's Nevermore series, Enshadowed, is releasing this year, as is Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin. Annabel by Mary Lindsey is scheduled to be published in 2013. Obviously we're still just at the beginning of a potential trend, but I think given the penchant for dark, creepy paranormal elements many YA readers currently have, that Poe will fit in very nicely here.

• Series are super popular for this genre at the moment. Just look at all the titles mentioned above. How many of those are second or third books in a series? ...That's right, practically all of them. Is it impossible to write a stand-alone paranormal? I don't know, but I'd like to see a few more authors give it a try.

Just generally, paranormal YA is thriving. I'd say it's probably equal to dystopian YA in popularity, and certainly more so than the other categories — historical and contemporary YA — that I discussed in previous posts. It was difficult to pick out trends in this genre simply because there is so much of everything being offered right now.

What are your thoughts on trends in paranormal YA? Do you think the demise of vampire/werewolf stories will happen anytime soon? Will mermaids take over for angels? Are these Poe books just a fluke, or do you think they are the start of something big?