Reviewer: BexRating: 5 out of 5 Fairies
Forsaken is an amazing first installment to a YA fantasy series. From the first chapter, I was hooked. There was not a moment that I wasn't gripped by Kristen Day's highly creative and well-developed paranormal fantasy series. This is a book that I could most definitely gush over.
What is so wonderful about this book? Well, pretty much everything! The characters are engaging. Their emotions pounce off the page, their laugh-out-loud humour contagious and their relationships and interactions are successfully crafted for realism, always a bonus in a fantasy world.
The world that the author creates is imaginative from page one. Kristen Day successfully paints a very vivid picture of her characters, their world and the various settings they find themselves in. The tension between the characters at times is palpable, both between the divine love interests and between the protagonist 'Hannah' and her growing enemies.
'Hannah' in particular is a character worthy of main protagonist status. She's a young woman for teenagers to aspire to. Her strength and determination are admirable: qualities that I love in female leads. I actively cheered for her character throughout her first epic journey.
Forsaken is most definitely a don't-think-just-buy book!
Once you’ve been touched by darkness, it never leaves you…
Abandoned by her parents as an infant; seventeen year old Hannah spent her childhood wading through countless foster families until being adopted by the Whitmans three years ago.
Unfortunately, Atlanta’s high society wasn’t quite ready for Hannah…or the strange events that plague her.
Chilling visions of murder, unexplained hallucinations, and a dark, mysterious guy who haunts her nightmares all culminate to set in motion a journey of self-discovery that will challenge everything she’s ever believed; not to mention her sanity.
Sent to live at The House of Lorelei on Bald Head Island, NC for ‘kids like her’, Hannah quickly realizes things are not what they seem. Her fellow ‘disturbed’ teens are actually the descendants of mythical Sea Gods and Goddesses. And so is she.
But when Finn, the ghost from her dreams, appears in the flesh; her nightmares become reality and her dark visions begin coming true. Inexplicably drawn to him, she can’t deny the dangerous hold he has on her heart. The deadly secrets he harbors will ultimately test her courage and push the boundaries of her love.
She must decide if she is ready to embrace the ancient legend she is prophesized to be a part of. The fate of all the descendants will forever depend upon it.
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I am the author of the DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA trilogy, which includes FORSAKEN, AWAKEN, and CHOSEN. I love all books, but really enjoy writing young adult, paranormal romances. I've loved to write for as long as I can remember. My first published work was my poem RED in second grade (you guessed it - it was a poem about the color red - life altering, I know) that won me 5 gold stars and a spot in my elementary school's poetry book. That's when my addiction to the written word officially began. I was the only kid in fifth grade that actually enjoyed diagramming sentences. Go ahead and laugh – it’s okay.
When I'm not writing I'm making jewelry, painting, drinking sweet tea, watching the discovery channel, or going on random adventures in the mountains of North Carolina with my amazing husband. I graduated from Appalachian State University and dream of becoming a full time novelist.
Excerpt
I registered the icy cold first – a slow, painstaking ache felt all the way down to my soul. The realization that I was swimming at a dangerous depth came next, followed by an absolute and suffocating panic. The pressure around my body had become utterly relentless, and my lungs screamed for oxygen. Suspended in the darkness, I couldn’t see anything except for a thin ribbon of silver appearing in my line of sight. Slithering side to side, twisting and turning, it taunted me. I froze as it slowly wrapped around my neck, leaving a trail of icy pin pricks across my bare skin. It continued down my body – encasing me in fear. All of the sudden, it tightened with such force that the small amount of the air I did have in my lungs was forced out. As I heard the sickening crack of bones and felt a paralyzing pain searing through my body, I knew no amount of struggling would help.
Unable to do anything but watch the last of my oxygen bubble up to the surface above, I tried to come to terms with what was about to happen. I was going to die. Completely alone and scared, I was going to drown in this darkness.
Unbelievably, just as quickly as it had locked around me, I was released. Looking around frantically, I braced myself for another attack, only to find a pair of piercing blue eyes watching me. The same deep blue eyes I’d seen in so many other dreams glared back at me with something resembling rage.
“Why are you here?” I barely heard his next words as my lungs began burning and my vision blurred. “Your soul will never survive.”
He turned abruptly and my vision cleared just enough to catch a glimpse of the horrors lurking behind him. Hundreds of silver ribbons quickly morphed and twisted into shadowy human forms. They turned in my direction in unison and descended upon me.
I bolted upright, my heart relentlessly hammering against my chest. Warm water surrounded me, but it was of the bubbly, lavender scented sort, not the cold, murky darkness I had just come from. I was still in my bathtub. No wonder I had dreamed I was drowning. Shaking my head, I tried to erase the vivid memory of it. Unfortunately those eyes - his eyes - never fade. They’ve haunted my dreams for years.
I rolled my eyes at my own unruly imagination and slid down into the tub, so my head and shoulders were the only things above the thick layer of bubbles. My heart rate eventually slowed and I began to think straight again. I closed my eyes and tried to relax…
“Hannah Elizabeth Whitman!!!” So much for the slow heart rate. I rocketed back into a sitting position, covering myself with my hands.
“You scared the crap out of me, Dee!” Doris Whitman stepped all the way into the steamy bathroom. The smell of baby powder and freesia followed her in. She shook her head at me, “You’ve been in there so long I swear I can hear your fingers and toes wrinklin’ up. Now get washed up and get dressed – we’re gonna be late!”
“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying.” I mumbled as she walked back downstairs, already giving out orders to the rest of the family.
I decided I’d rather hide under the blanket of soapy bubbles and try really hard to disappear into an alternate universe, instead. Submerging my body completely underwater, a smile crept across my face as the sound of the outside world instantly became muted. All I could hear was the faint lapping of the water on the sides of the tub, my own beating heart, and a faint melody tickling at my ear drums. It reminded me of wind chimes blowing in the wind….wait. Wind chimes? I listened harder and heard them again; this time louder and something else… like someone singing…
With ninja-like speed, I jumped out of the claw foot tub in one swift movement and stared down at the water in shock. I tried to convince myself I was just hearing things. There were no wind chimes hiding in my bathtub. I’d just add that to the long list of weird things that had been happening to me over the last couple of years. That list was getting way too long for my taste.
Author Links
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The Author is giving away:
a Finn necklace
an ebook set of the entire trilogy
signed paperback set of the entire trilogy
a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Finn necklace
an ebook set of the entire trilogy
signed paperback set of the entire trilogy
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you thank you thank you for hosting the tour and taking the time to read and review Forsaken! I'm so happy you loved it! xoxo
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