This title is available from Eternal Press. You can find it here.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not given any monetary incentive towards a positive review.
Type: YA, Paranormal Romance, Aliens (or are they?!), Shapeshifters
About the book (from the site): " How is a 16-year-old girl with an eating disorder to reconcile the ancient wounds between the Annunaki, the Reptilian Watchers, and the human race? After Flannery “Fee” Birch loses her father in Afghanistan, she ends up in the alien land of Alabama, where she learns the art of spelunking (caving) in order to make friends. To make matters worse, Fee is afraid of caves, heights, and just about everything else…until she meets Faron Rothschild, an outcast from either world, though an emissary for both. Faron’s mixed blood kind took up the role of protecting humans, whom the Anunnaki abandoned and later warred with, while also keeping the Anunnaki secret from the world who forgot them. Not an easy task for a shape shifter who can switch between both sets of his DNA, human and Reptilian. This is a secret that must be maintained at all cost, and Fee, who once tried to disappear from life, pound by pound, must not only rectify her own life, but demand truce between light and darkness. "
- YAY - for our heroine, Fee, actually acting like a teenager. She's got moodswings like nobody's business, she has no problem complaining and griping a lot, and she grumbles about her mother's.. existance, really. Oh, and she switches between attraction to two different guys amazingly quickly. Yeah, sounds like a real honest-to-goodness 16 year old to me.
- NAY - for Fee's new "friends." Holy crap, what jerks. I understand Fee is still new to the area, and probably just wants someone to hang with, but why put up with those beaches? Okay, so she's into the guy, Niko, at first.. and yeah, if you like the guy, you're willing to put up with a lot (sometimes), but after her attraction shifts elsewhere, why would she continue to deal with them?
- YAY - for Faron and Fee to be similar in age. I'll admit it, some paranormal romance where the hero is centuries older than our teenaged heroine is creepy. But here, Faron is 18, and Fee is 16. Much less squicky.
- NAY - for trust issues. Fee whines and pleads with Faron to trust her with his secrets, and even says she's eagerly awaiting his decision to tell her everything. But she decides to screw waiting, and ends up going with the jerky "friends" to do some exploring of underground tunnels to what? Find out Faron's secret. Which he's told her is dangerous and she shouldn't do. Trouble ensues. AVOIDABLE TROUBLE.
- YAY - for actually showing some health concerns that come with eating disorders. Because Fee stops eating almost completely after her father's death, she's not getting the nutrition she needs. And the author actually included some consequences of that - Fee temporarily goes blind and has to go to the hospital. Also, big kudos to Faron for taking her to the hospital and making her call her mother, even though she was already feeling better.
- YAY - for a vampire myth cameo. By now, most of you know I love seeing different versions of the vampire myth, and comparing it to others. There is some mention of vampire myths in "Dividing Dark," brief, but there.. and of course I caught on to it. And smiled to myself. Also, despite knowing the YA-ness of the book, after hearing about the "biting" part of the vampire myth, I wanted there to be a steamy scene.
And finally - YAY - for some pretty writing and descriptions. There were a few moments when the descriptions just jumped out at me as being well written. And sometimes the language just sounded... pretty. A good kind of pretty, of course.
Sometimes some books just require a different sort of review style. Or maybe my reviewing muse just needed a different sort of outlet this time around. But I feel like this post adequately summed up my feelings on "Dividing Dark" by Melissa Swaim. I encourage any and all of you interested to pick up the book (again, available here) and tell me your thoughts.
Thanks for tuning in, and until next time.
~!~ Morning Glow
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