When I was asked to be a part of this blog tour, I jumped at the chance!!! So, here is the first part, which is the review, and tomorrow I will be doing an interview with the author. Also, we are doing a giveaway of the book! Since I'm doing a giveaway of four books, I'm just going to consolidate them! Four books after 100 followers! It's easier that way!! Not so confusing!!
It is said that the truth will set you free, but for Leah
it kills.
Leah
always knew she was different. From her extreme light sensitivity, to her
ability to read people by their auric scent, she kept these differences secret.
Not
even Mia, Leah's mother, knew the fullness of her daughter's differences, but
she held even greater secrets to Leah's past - the truth about her father and
Leah's conception.
With
the escape of an old foe, Mia is too late to reveal to her daughter
the
truth before Judith can exact her revenge in a wash of blood and death.
Thrown
into a world unheard of, Leah discovers that she is not alone in keeping her
secrets. That there are people from her parent's past who would die to protect
her. If she only knew why.
Raine,
placed as her protector, hides deadly secrets of his own. Drawn to each other,
Leah and Raine must uncover the truth before one of both are killed.
I gave this book four stars because I loved the story.
I did get frustrated with this book, because it took so long for the story to
actually begin. I don’t know if it was
done purposefully, but I was starting to get really frustrated along with Leah,
the main character.
This book is about Leah Phillips, who is special. She has enhanced hearing, can see perfectly
at night, and can heal very quickly.
Also, her eyes are sensitive to light.
She doesn’t know why she’s like this, but it’s how she’s always
been. Another one of her abilities, is
to see people’s moods by a color haze that surrounds them. She realizes while watching her mother with
David, that this is what it is. She also
can smell people, and find out their character.
The color haze goes along with the smell. The nastier the person, the nastier the
smell.
She’s been led to believe by her mother, Mia, that her
father disappeared when she was younger, and is thought to be dead. When she asks about him, her mother always
shuts down, and doesn’t tell her anything.
She works with her mother in a holistic shop.
When she overhears her mother on the phone with
someone named May, that’s when things start happening. She first meets a man named David, who her is
her mother’s accountant. It is just
after the phone call, her mother tells her to not tell anyone who she is. Doesn’t tell her why, but says it’s for her
own protection.
When someone comes
into the store, asking about her, she realizes there is something going
on. When she tells her mother about this
guy, again she is cryptic about what is going on, and who wants her. This is was the starting of my frustration
with all the evasiveness. Every time I
thought I would finally find out about this secret, it would be put off again
and again.
One secret is
realized about David, who is a vampire, and her father. At first she is angry about why he’s not been
around, and is again told to wait about who is after her. When she realized that her mother is late
coming home, she worries something is seriously wrong. She and David go to the store and find her
mother beaten and killed. It is at this
point, she meets two people who become very dear to her.
She tried again to
get some kind of information about the person who killed her mother, but is
again told to wait. At this point, I
felt her anger and frustration. When she
finds the person who killed her mother, dead in his own truck, this is when her
exhaustion from the night catches up with her.
Also, her first run in with Raine, but she doesn’t realize it yet. She’s taken to a house, where she meets May
for the first time. She realizes this is
the woman who her mother was talking to on the phone. The older woman instantly puts her at
ease.
When she wakes up
with Raine in her room with her, she knows he is different. The attraction starts immediately, and I
don’t really blame her. He’s
beautiful!! This is when she asks him to
tell her what is going on, and again she is told to wait. I think I was screaming at this point! How much more does this girl have to go
through to find out the truth?
It is when she’s
contacted with Raine there, by a vampire, who wants her for himself, that
things start happening. She is taken to
Donovan, who is a friend of her fathers, and a very old vampire, who tells her
everything. She finds out there a psycho
vampire who is obsessed with David, and wants her mother dead. That this woman just wants David for herself
and no one else. She finds out that this woman did things against David’s will
that are mindboggling.
She also finds out that Raine and Kale, Raine’s older
brother are werewolves. She is surprised
that she doesn’t mind that they are werewolves.
She’s very understanding about everything she is told… sometimes too
understanding. There were times I just
wanted her to get angry… In her circumstance, I think she was allowed to be
very angry about everything that happened to her. She had just lost her mother, and found out
that the father, who she thought was dead, was very much alive!
When she finds out that Michael has kidnapped her
father and her mother’s body, everyone gets into action. In a way to save Raine and her friends, she
sacrifices herself to the woman who killed her mother, and Dane, who wants
Raine for himself. While she is there,
she is beaten and tortured by Dane and his son Mark. She is forced to watch her mother’s body
burn, and the father who she was just getting to know and care about, die in
front of her.
It is after she is beaten and tortured, she is able to
attempt an escape with Donovan. When
they are caught by Michael, Raine and her friends come to save her. He is finally able to confront Dane for
everything that he has done. Also, he’s
able to come clean about the secret he has held since he was young.
I did like this book, and I loved the characters in
it. My favorite was Drew, just because
she was behind Leah all the way. There
was no wavering in her friendship with her. This book did leave me hanging, which I like. You don't get to find out who is after her, but when a vampire named Rafe, who had been close to Donovan steals her blood, and hints there another vampire after her, I was intrigued. I can't wait for the second book to come now!
Author On Goodreads:
Author on Smashwords:
To enter the giveaway, you must be 13 or older, and it is open to US and International fans! Also, please blog or comment about the tour and giveaway!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Brief bio: Raine Thomas is the author of a popular series of YA fantasy romance novels about the Estilorian plane, including the Daughters of Saraqael trilogy and the Firstborn trilogy. She is a proud member of Romance Writers of America and is a contributing blogger to The Writer's Voice. When she isn’t planning weddings, writing or glued to social networking sites, she can usually be found on one of Florida’s beautiful beaches with her husband and daughter or crossing the border to visit with her Canadian friends and relatives..png)
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Elyse knows what it means to keep a secret. She's been keeping secrets her whole life. Two, actually. First, that she ages five times slower than the average person, so that while she looks eighteen years old, she's closer to eighty. Second, that her blood has a mysterious power to heal. For Elyse, these things don't make her special. They make life dangerous. After the death of her parents, she's been careful to keep her secret as closely guarded as possible. Now, only one other person in the world knows about her age and ability. Or so she thinks. Elyse is not the only one keeping secrets. There are others like her all over the world, descendants of the very people the Greeks considered gods. She is one of them, and they have been waiting for her for a long time. Among so many of her kind, she should not be very remarkable--except for the prophecy. Some believe she will put an end to traditions, safeguarded by violence, which have oppressed her people for centuries. Others are determined to keep her from doing just that. But for Elyse, the game is just beginning--and she's not entirely willing to play by their rules.
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