Book Blurb:
The prophecy's about you, Red...
Allie Carmichael has been haunted by those words for months. After dropping a huge bombshell and then leaving her in limbo, Greggory McBrien still hasn't given her the answers she craves. The knowledge of her past and the absence of both Gregg and her father have left Allie an angry, twisted mess of emotions. She still feels an immeasurable amount of guilt for her mistakes that left her scarred for life and her friend, Quinn a captive of the Coalition. Allie finds herself constantly dancing on the edge of losing control of her power, too afraid to confide in anyone––even her handsome and broody best friend, Aidan.
A chance encounter at a dangerous nightclub reserved for Unproven Immortals, gives Allie and her friends the missing piece of the puzzle. If they have any hope of bringing Quinn home, they have to act quickly.
As Allie approaches her seventeenth birthday, the nightmares that only Aidan can keep at bay, return with a vengeance and she vows to finally face them on her own. But she struggles to understand what her clairvoyant gift is trying to tell her. When she finally begins to truly understand her gift, she fears it might be too late––and this time the price for her mistakes will be too high.
Last time she was afraid. This time she's angry.
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My Review:
4 Out of 5 Stars
Genre: Heart-Wrenching, Mystery, Romance, Royal-Court, Supernatural, Suspense, Teen--
Allie has had a very hard year with some important bombs dropped completely changing everything she thought she knew about her life. After spending the summer away, she is back home to train and try and get through her senior year of high school. But as most things in Allie's life, nothing goes according to her plan, be it romantically or danger wise. Life keeps throwing every obstacle it can in Allie's way...
Can we just start with mentioning that the covers on all the books are so eye-catching! The bright colors and the interesting character positioning originally drew me in and I knew I wanted to read a book that could so quickly captivate me just by being so interesting- and that is without knowing what the book was even about. I am excited to see what the forthcoming books will look like!
This is not even a little bit a standalone series, the books must be read in order to fully understand the world as well as all the altering relationship dynamics and conflicts between the characters. I found The Judgement to be so twisty I seriously could never have predicted what was going to happen to next, be it a romantic connection or a new villain, I was constantly surprised. Melissa has a way of making her characters multidimensional so they feel real and I could connect with them- their problems became mine. And I think I would classify this as the messiest love square (hexagon maybe??) that I have ever encounter- it was heart-wrenching, complicated, and made me want to shake people yet at the same time I do not know who I was rooting for! (ok, that is a partial lie- I am team Dare even though that is not really a thing!)
As a side note, I think my only problem with the series is that there are SO MANY CHARACTERS and everybody had a nickname! I can't keep them all straight, it was just a hodge-podge of people in my head- I think I would have enjoyed this better if I could have had a character diagram with lines showing how everyone is connected as well as what their special gifts are. It has been over a year since I read the first book so the nuances of the story and people were not super fresh in my mind and this book just drops the reader in with no backstory so it was pretty much sink or swim which I usually like, but I needed a little refresher. I highly recommend reading all the books back to back so nothing is lost or forgotten and the crazy twisty plot can keep going.
The ending was a little bit like having my heart ripped out, it was so sad. Allie's gift of seeing the possible future outcomes is pretty terrible and what she sees makes me want to give her a hug. I have no idea what will happen next for the group, but I know it will be surprising, interesting, dangerous and exciting. And hopefully there will be a happily ever after somewhere along the line because I know I need that, let alone Allie and her group. I look forward to more from this world that Melissa delicately created.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
Allie Carmichael has always believed life is simple.
You're born. You live. You die.
She has no cause to believe those rules don't apply to her.
All her life, Allie has suffered in silence as those around her shrink from her touch, too intimidated to take the time to get to know her. It's left her feeling like a pariah for fifteen years.
When an unexpected move to Kelleys Island brings Aidan McBrien crashing into her life, Allie is thrown by his reaction. He isn't affected by her touch. He doesn't stutter or make a quick exit. He smiles and welcomes her into his circle of friends.
For the first time ever, Allie knows what true friendship means. Finally, she has a real shot at normal--until "normal" crashes and burns when she wakes in agony on her sixteenth birthday. Aidan calls it her Awakening, a rite of passage he and their friends have all faced. Allie struggles in ignorance through the experience, uncertain of what is real and what isn't. When she emerges, she is different. She has always been different, but even among her extraordinary friends, she and Aidan are special.
As Allie struggles to maintain her tenuous grasp on the power that threatens to overwhelm her, she worries she will lose herself in this strange new world of ancient Immortal beings.
A dangerous world where she will have to fight tooth and nail to defend the power and freedom that is her birthright.
Join Allie and Aidan in this coming of age, urban fantasy set within our own world.
Read my review of The Awakening HERE
Book Blurb:
The Edge (Emerge #1.5)
Alienated by everything that sets him apart, Aidan McBrien suffers in silence.
He is the most powerful Immortal of his generation, but he chooses to live behind a mask to protect himself, even from those he loves. They can never know how much he struggles just to get through each day, overwhelmed by the pain and loss of everyone around him. As he fights a constant battle to control the gifts that threaten to push him over the edge, he dreads the day his world will look to him to fulfill a prophecy that he doesn’t even believe in.
As Aidan’s equal, Allie Carmichael endures the same isolation, but in complete ignorance of her true nature. When she meets Gavin, Allie sees a tiny glimmer of the life she wants to live, and the person she wants to be, but her instincts tell her it will never work.
Allie and Aidan have led parallel lives on opposite ends of the earth, but their paths are about to converge. With others making decisions for them, will they ever truly understand the immeasurable power they posses, or the prophecy that might not be about Aidan after all?
Pick up the Emerge Boxset with books 1-3 and 2 novellas from Amazon now at a reduced price
Author Bio:
Melissa A. Craven (the "A" stands for Ann—in case you were wondering) was born near Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to Cleveland, Ohio at the age of seventeen. She still thinks of Cleveland as home, so it was only natural for Emerge to take place there.
Today, she is back in Atlanta—for some reason she can't seem to stay away from the ungodly heat that makes her long for things like "lake effect snow" and wind that will knock you flat.
Melissa decided a long time ago that the “ life checklist” everyone else was clutching so tightly in their fists, just wasn’t for her. She does everything backwards because she is weird like that, but then, she is an artist and artists are notoriously "unique" and "quirky."
She is an avid student of art and design, and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of West Georgia in 2009. She worked as an interior designer for several years, but she's always thought she might like to be a writer when she grows up.
In her spare time, if she has any, she enjoys shopping for derelict furniture she refinishes to exercise the interior design part of her brain.
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