Evermore: The Immortals (The Immortals, 1) (edició 2009)

The beautiful unpopular girl falls in love with the new guy who doesn't seem to be who he says he is...

We all know the story, am I right guys? But is this story any different than all those others? Well, to be straightforward: no, it isn't. But, hold your horses; that doesn't make it a bad book. On the contrary, I think it's a really interesting and enjoyable book if you love the supernatural added with a little bit of romance here and there. It's an easy read and there is enough action to keep the reader on track. Although, I can understand that it may be difficult to read through for people who don't really like fantasy books.

I like the change of creatures that Alyson Noël put in the book. For once, we don't deal with the usual vampires, but get to know a bit more about the stunning immortals that came into Ever's life. Even though the author explains Damen's story, I have the feeling that it isn't enough. We get bits of information, but not enough to fully understand where he comes from. There were some great theories like alchemy, ghosts, spiritual dimensions, but none of these theories got the full explanation they deserved. A bit sad if you think about it. Noël could've done great things with these concepts.

To go deeper into the storyline, Evermore really reminds me of a combination of quite a few books. For starters, the mystical Damen immediately reminded me of the baddie Damon Salvatore of the Vampire Diaries franchise. Of course, when I read further in the book they were nothing alike, but the way Ever meets Damen looks an awful lot like how Elena and Damon met each other. Secondly the book reminded me of a book I read quite a long time ago, Obsidian of the LUX-series, written by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I can't really explain why I have that feeling; maybe it's because of the similar name or the fact that the guy really goes for the girl. Either way it just does.

Of course we haven't yet talked about the connection with the Twilight-series. There are so many similarities that in some ways you can say it's a bit of a rip-off of Twilight. The shy girl in the back of the classroom falls for the sexy, mysterious paranormal guy without actually 'knowing' each other. Then there is the fact that the guy doesn't sleep, doesn't eat, moves super fast and has a lot of secrets. Doesn't ring a bell? Yeah, I thought so.

You know, not trying to make this book sound bad, because it definitely isn't a bad book. I just think there are more interesting books than the umpteenth 'shy girl-mysterious guy' story. I haven't read the rest of the franchise, but I hope they get more into the plot than this book, because although there was a lot of action, there wasn't a real plot. I truly hope the books get better because it has so much potential that I would find it devastating to throw it away. Like I said, it's good, but not great. ( )

Teen fiction; supernatural romance. *SPOILER ALERT* This seems to be a sort of mixture of ideas borrowed from other works (immortal-mortal romance a la Twilight, support-group addicted friends a la Palahniuk's Fight Club) and not really that great once you get the whole story--I'm not sure it was ever explained why Damen appeared to be feeding on Haven's blood (was I distracted during that part of the audiobook?); it's kind of as though the author realized halfway through that the school setting, the whiney girl from a broken home was TOO similar to that other series and decided to concoct a new version of immortals herself. Plus: tulips? Really?

I am glad that this book at least ended on a final note, rather than letting Drina live and having to do battle again in the next book (though Evermore does, unfortunately, appear to be part of a series). Even though Fallen stupidly makes the mistake of drawing out what should be a simple mystery over the course of 3 books, the plot and character development in that one is much better. ( )

Ever Bloom tinha uma vida perfeita: era uma garota popular, acabara de se tornar líder de torcida do principal time da escola e morava numa casa maravilhosa, com o pai, a mãe, uma irmãzinha e a cadela Buttercup. Nada no mundo parecia capaz de interferir em sua felicidade, o céu era o limite! Até que um desastre de automóvel transformou tudo em um pesadelo angustiante.

Ever Bloom tinha uma vida perfeita: era uma garota popular, acabara de se tornar líder de torcida do principal time da escola e morava numa casa maravilhosa, com o pai, a mãe, uma irmãzinha e a cadela Buttercup. Nada no mundo parecia capaz de interferir em sua felicidade, o céu era o limite! Até que um desastre de automóvel transformou tudo em um pesadelo angustiante.

Ever perdeu toda a sua família. Mudou de cidade, de escola, de amigos, e agora, além de todas essas transformações, precisa aprender a conviver com uma realidade insuportável: após o acidente, ela adquiriu dons especiais. Ever enxerga a aura das outras pessoas, pode ouvir seus pensamentos e, com um simples toque, é capaz de conhecer a vida inteira de alguém. É doloroso. Ela foge do contato humano, esconde-se sob um capuz e não tira dos ouvidos os fones do i-pod, cujo som alto encobre o barulho das mentes a seu redor.

Até que surge Damen. Tudo parece cessar quando ele se aproxima. Só ele consegue calar as vozes que a perturbam tão intensamente. Ever não entende o porquê disso, mas é incapaz de resistir à paz que ele lhe proporciona, à sensação de, novamente, ser uma pessoa normal. Ela não faz ideia de quem ou o quê Damen realmente é. Sua única certeza é estar cada vez mais envolvida... e apaixonada.

When I started reading this book, I thought to myself, have I read this book before? Is it similar to something that I read before? It has something similar to "Twilight." I continued reading it, it has it's similarities, but also it's differences.
The imaginary world that the author sets up is quite interesting, as is the otherworld elements as well.
I like the paranormal aspect and the fact that you can't really figure out exactly what's going on until the end. One more thing that I liked about this book is that the story is not only about the love story. Ever, the main character deals with her grief and how she copes with the loss.
Right now, I don't see myself reading the next one. Maybe in the future, as I borrowed the book from the library and carries the second of the series, I can borrow it from there. ( )