4/22/2011

Euphoria

Euphoria Part 1 Book 1 by Jourdan Alexandra 
Age: YA
Genre: Paranormal
Source: Author
Buy this book: Amazon

Disruption. Initiation. The Unknowable. So say the Runes, the ancient Viking Oracle of marked stones ominously laid out before college freshman Riley Dawson a few days before her departure for Lyndon State College. Leaving the sun of her California childhood for the crisp northern air of Lyndonville, Vermont, Riley soon dismisses and forgets the Runes’ prediction of the choices she would make, choices borne of her own unseen nature, a nature invisible even to herself. Dismisses and forgets that is, until she meets Remaunt: enigmatic, sensual, arrogant, and vulnerable. Describing him as the dark shadow of Adonis, his veneer of cool poise captivates Riley from the moment she meets him. Yet, even as Riley tries to deny her growing intrigue and fascination with her magnetically mysterious classmate, she ultimately finds that she cannot evade the truth of what he is. Remaunt is an immortal. Remaunt is a vampire. And immortals have immortal enemies. As Riley soon finds out, Remaunt is not the only vampire residing in Lyndonville—and, after a few near-death encounters, she is forced to conclude that there are other vampires significantly more dangerous than Remaunt, and that they are not to be trifled with. Posing a formidable threat to not only Remaunt, they endanger her friends, the community, and, most importantly, Riley’s life itself. With the crisis of disruption activated, the mystic power of initiation summoned, and the fire and chaos of the unknowable at hand, Riley finds herself as bait between several supernatural beings, locked in a war of wills fueled by revenge and anguish destined to a fate not even the immortals could envision.

Jourdan Alexandra has a way with words, her writing is beautifully constructed. I liked Euphoria and its' new voice to the paranormal genre.

The descriptions in the book are fantastic. But, I did spend some time skipping long detailed paragraphs to get to something new. It seemed to drag on through some parts but then it would pick up again.

Euphoria has a kind of dark side it made the story interesting and kept me reading. Alexandra does a wonderful job, in this part 1, setting up the story in Vermont and creating a full list of characters that will be fun to follow into part 2.

Riley was an identifiable character. She's a college freshman transplanted from California to Vermont who lives with her cousin, Hailey. I really liked the relationship between Hailey and Riley. Very sisterly and sometimes overprotected, but just cute and relateable. Hailey's past makes her a dimensional character who I hope to see grow throughout part 2. I can't say I'm really a fan of Remaunt. He really creeps me out. His dialogue really bothered me, it just felt forced and stiff. I did really like that Remaunt isn't a mushy lovey dovey guy but I felt like maybe he wants to change that about him.


I really enjoyed the addition of the Viking Runes to the story, it made it different than all the other paranormal ya books out there. The addition of the raven and some Edgar Allen Poe references had me thinking back to Nevermore, but it's a very different story.

Not a lot, resolution wise, happens in this book. As it is a part 1, the climax really happens at the end, and has left me needing to read part 2. Alexandra's writing is amazing and she does a great job in this novel.

Thank you to the author for the chance to review this book!

1 comment:

  1. Looks like an interesting book, something a bit different. I love most things that are well written so will have to add this to my list...

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