Kyrie
I was a bit apprehensive about how this would all turn out at the start of the book. With how often it was bludgeoned in early on that the main character's name was Kami, I was worried that the entire book would be more of the same.
She gave Kami a look that said she wished Kami would stop bothering her.
Normally this would not have worried Kami. Angela always looked at people with that expression, and Kami could usually talk her into doing what Kami wanted anyway. But Kami had never wanted something as much as this.
The writing does eventually reach its stride though. Names are still repeated incredibly frequently, but after the first...fourth of the book or so, I'd say, it calms down.
The story itself is a lot of fun. It's a mystery/paranormal romance combo, with a neat twist....I was going to hide the following behind a spoiler tag, but since the information is basically provided in the book's description, I think I'm okay not throwing one in. But, just so you're warned - I considered a spoiler tag for the following information.
I loved the book's take on the mental connection between Kami and her [name redacted because that is not mentioned in the book description] not-so-imaginary friend.
He assumes that they're connected because they're meant to be together, while Kami is uncomfortable with the idea of having an actual, living being able to read pretty much all of her thoughts and emotions. It was one thing when she thought he was an imaginary friend, but giving that much information and power over you to another human being...well, it's terrifying.
And instead of falling into the trope of this connection proving his soul mate theory correct just because they're a girl and a boy in a YA story who have a link with each other, both hold themselves back from falling completely in love with the other. They (or at least Kami) realize there's no real way to tell how much of their affection for each other is because of growing up with a direct mental connection to the other, and how much is just an endless feedback loop of emotion.
I've seen other books that tackle the idea of the “insta-love via connection” thing before - Verity, off the top of my head - and I enjoy it every time. Especially when so much thought is put into the real world consequences of such a link.
Then, on top of the study in soul mates and telepathy, there's still the matter of Sorry-in-the-Vale's mystery. It takes a while to build up to that reveal, which is a bit ridiculous. Pretty much everybody except for the main characters know what's going on, but nobody will say anything for fear of bringing attention to themselves.
So the mystery is less of a mystery, and more of a well-known fact that people just don't talk about.
Still. Me being who I am, I enjoyed it.
I was a bit apprehensive about how this would all turn out at the start of the book. With how often it was bludgeoned in early on that the main character's name was Kami, I was worried that the entire book would be more of the same.
She gave Kami a look that said she wished Kami would stop bothering her.
Normally this would not have worried Kami. Angela always looked at people with that expression, and Kami could usually talk her into doing what Kami wanted anyway. But Kami had never wanted something as much as this.
The writing does eventually reach its stride though. Names are still repeated incredibly frequently, but after the first...fourth of the book or so, I'd say, it calms down.
The story itself is a lot of fun. It's a mystery/paranormal romance combo, with a neat twist....I was going to hide the following behind a spoiler tag, but since the information is basically provided in the book's description, I think I'm okay not throwing one in. But, just so you're warned - I considered a spoiler tag for the following information.
I loved the book's take on the mental connection between Kami and her [name redacted because that is not mentioned in the book description] not-so-imaginary friend.
He assumes that they're connected because they're meant to be together, while Kami is uncomfortable with the idea of having an actual, living being able to read pretty much all of her thoughts and emotions. It was one thing when she thought he was an imaginary friend, but giving that much information and power over you to another human being...well, it's terrifying.
And instead of falling into the trope of this connection proving his soul mate theory correct just because they're a girl and a boy in a YA story who have a link with each other, both hold themselves back from falling completely in love with the other. They (or at least Kami) realize there's no real way to tell how much of their affection for each other is because of growing up with a direct mental connection to the other, and how much is just an endless feedback loop of emotion.
I've seen other books that tackle the idea of the “insta-love via connection” thing before - Verity, off the top of my head - and I enjoy it every time. Especially when so much thought is put into the real world consequences of such a link.
Then, on top of the study in soul mates and telepathy, there's still the matter of Sorry-in-the-Vale's mystery. It takes a while to build up to that reveal, which is a bit ridiculous. Pretty much everybody except for the main characters know what's going on, but nobody will say anything for fear of bringing attention to themselves.
So the mystery is less of a mystery, and more of a well-known fact that people just don't talk about.
Still. Me being who I am, I enjoyed it.