Thursday, April 12, 2012

The Forever Girl - Book Review and Giveaway!

Title: The Forever Girl - Sophia's Journey (Book 1 of the series)

Author: Rebecca Hamilton

Released: Jan. 26th, 2012

Print Length: 352 pages

File Size: 869 KB

Goodreads info here, visit the book's website

Disclaimer: I did win a free copy of this book from the author during a Twitter event. This however did not influence my review in any way.

Here's the official trailer for the book:

Now for the review:

Most Refreshing Take on Vampires Since Christine Feehan Created the Carpathians! 


In her New Adult paranormal/urban fantasy novel, The Forever Girl: Sophia’s Journey author Rebecca Hamilton brings a fresh and exciting twist to the classic vampire and shape shifter saga. Sophia Parsons discovers a whole world of immortal creatures exist alongside humans when she attempts to rid herself of the constant static that invades her mind. She casts a spell hoping to quiet the noise, but instead the noise changes into murmurs and whispers that she can’t quite understand. Along the way Sophia is thrust into this strange and dangerous cast of characters while trying to rid herself of the family curse causing the noise, including Charles whom she feels an instant connection with. She quickly learns that no one is who she thought they were, and popular myths of witches and vampires have a bit of truth to them.

Hamilton definitely did her research for this novel and accurately depicts the Wiccan rituals and beliefs, right down to the discrimination Wiccans face in towns so small that there’s no escaping the rumor mill. She also does a wonderful job with the dialogue, and I loved some of the off the cuff remarks made between Sophia and Charles, as well as Sophia’s internal thoughts. I quickly began to feel the emotions racing through Sophia, especially when it came to her hesitations in the romance department and the fear of being hurt.

The only reason I did not give the book 5 stars, and I wanted to very much, was there were a few times where I wanted to reach through the pages and strangle Sophia and her insecurities. The back and forth waiting to see if Charles and Sophia were going to finally give in to their feelings drove me crazy. It was just a tad much for me, but for fans of romance novels it may not be. There were a few more elements that were a little hard to believe but I can’t go into too much detail without giving away spoilers, so suffice it to say that I work with law enforcement during my day job and once or twice things didn’t happen as it would in the real world. These are easy to overlook in the scheme of things and didn’t ruin the novel for me at all, but felt I had to note it J. Overall I loved the book and I cannot wait for the next in the series!


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8 comments:

  1. Great review. I'm not a fan of big time romance in books, but for me this one worked. I think it was how well it was written in the sense that I didn't think the outcome of it would be what happened. I know that it's the more expected outcome, but the constant hesitation made me doubt it. I liked seeing someone else's thoughts on this aspect of the book.

    I'm also waiting for the next book. I can't wait :)

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    1. I agree, I also think the outcome was going to end up differently. Was a great way to keep the reader on their toes :) I purposely waited to read other reviews so I wouldn't take a chance of being influenced one way or the other, so looking forward to seeing what others thought as well.

      Thanks for leaving a comment!

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  2. That is a great question...I think I like witches/sorcerers the most, however, it does depend on the story. Ghosts are pretty interesting, but difficult to do (in my opinion). I think the hardest part about Vampires and Shape Shifters is that there are so many books out there that do that. Despite that, this book looks really interesting.

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    1. I'm the same way, the magic gets me every time. I love vamps and shifters too, but agree the market is quite flooded as of late. It's great to find a new take on it such as this one.

      Thanks for leaving a comment!

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  3. Great review! You had a valid reason to not give the book five stars. Sometimes I struggle with characters, too. I let them go for a bit, but then, if they get too annoying, I'm left wondering why do I keep reading?

    Again, great review! Looking forward to more stuff from you, Kayleigh! :)

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping by Jack. In the end the character got back on track and it wasn't enough to make me put the book down. Loved it overall, just a bit of frustration midway.

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  4. Great review. How many stars did you give the book? I was actually surprised when I read the book that I actually enjoyed the female character a lot. I'm also a fan of the will they won't they. I'm a romance writer I can't help it ;) hehe. The whole vampire thing to me I have a hard time with because it seems like every single book now is about vampires, but I did like it a lot.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Angel. I gave it a 4/5. I'm just not a big romance reader I guess though in real life I'm a hopeless romantic, go figure! I loved that it wasn't the normal vampire thing, but still had enough of it left to recognize. Made it very unique!

      Thanks again for the comment :)

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