Eternal by Chantelle Nay

Read in: May, 2013

Format: eBook

Source: Author

Star Rating: ★★★

The author provided me with a copy of this novel. This has in no way altered my opinion of the novel, along with the following review. If you have any question or concerns, please message me here. 

Synopsis: 

17 year old Emma has floated through life in a small town as a loner...until she starts hearing a voice in her head. Now, some people might find this a little majorly strange. How does a seventeen year old even begin to describe this? Well, her guardian angel, Micah, sure enough has all of this answers. Emma happily floats through her last few months of senior year talking to Micah in her head, until Destry asks her to Prom. With Micah encouraging her to get out and talk to humans, can Emma shake the feeling of betrayal she feels about her feelings towards Micah or will she give it all up for Micah?

Prosecution:

Ah, love triangles. All of the wonderful things in life have involved a love triangle (or two). Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, JFK and Marilyn, even Princess Di and Prince Charles (actually, all of this things have been tragic, oops). So whats so different about Emma's? Well, its between an angel and a human. Yeah, no biggie. Except, sometimes the entire thing seemed a little too rushed. Emma, a typical loner, has an overly attached personality (which who can blame her, affection starved thing) becomes quite a predicament for solid Micah, who just wants her to form a human bond with Destry. If you read the novel, you'll find out why. 

What I really wish I could tweak is to make the writing not quite so formal. It would be readable for a few chapters, yet then break up and become rocky. It was distracting and I would find myself skimming through paragraphs waiting for something anything to happen. 

Defense:

While love triangles can be messy, I found this one to be pretty clean cut. I mean, hello, MAJOR PLOT TWIST. Seriously, never saw it coming (except for that little hint of foreshadowing, dun dun dun). Emma was likable and I found myself finding more than a few similarities between our personalities (Introverts, unite!). Destry was the perfect gentleman, if a bit short tempered and easily frustrated (no go man, no go). But the ending, like...whoa. It completely MADE the novel. There weren't really any loose ties or a suspenseful cliff hanger. Just the way I like things. 

Verdict: 

Barely squeaking into third. While the plot twist was pretty great, it basically saved the novel. The triangle was to the point and not messy. Emma battles her feelings of guilt while hers and Destrys' relationship is awkwardly sweet in that only adolescent way. Micah, eh. I wasn't really rooting for him as much as I thought I would, but that's okay, it'll work out, eventually.