Evermore by Alyson Noël

A horrible accident that claims the lives of the people closest to Ever, her family, erases any chance she has of being normal again. Because of her near death experience, Ever gains the ability to read people’s minds and see their auras, curses she feels that make her as a freak. And so Ever withdraws within herself, hiding her true feelings and avoiding most other human interaction; she tries to mask her grief and special abilities with hoodies and loud music. But then Damen enters her life, Damen who is possibly eh most gorgeous and perfect person Ever has ever met. Ever is drawn to him and his strange way to calming the storm inside her head caused by her despised psychic abilities. And although Ever knows virtually nothing about Damen, about who or what he is, her self-admonishments that Damen’s mystery can lead to no good go largely unheeded because she’s falling to far in love with him.

A fantastically original paranormal tale, I can honestly say that I’ve never read anything quite like Evermore, and this is definitely a good thing. Noël effectively puts her superb writing to work to create this irresistible glimpse into a psychic world and life after death. I was sucked into this unique and supernatural tale involving immortality and spirits, and I felt that there couldn’t be a better background for this exciting tale. And it’s not just the mystical twist that’s addicting but the powerful love story as well. Even though most of the details remain fuzzy regarding Ever and Damen’s past relationships, I do enjoy the idea of a love that spans all time. Noël overlaps the normal and the paranormal so well, making this story surprisingly realistic. The characters I felt could’ve been developed a little better, because I couldn’t connect as well to Ever as I did with the heroines from Noël’s other novels, but I liked how Damen’s unpredictability increased the suspense and kept me guessing. And although parts of the story are too cutesy or easy to predict for my taste and the story could’ve been better refined, Evermore is still one of my favorites of Noël’s novels.

Fans of Noël’s writing, as I am, will welcome this interesting topic change from her previous writing. Readers who liked Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn, Kissed by an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King, and the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz will also enjoy Evermore. I eagerly await the next in the Immortals series, Blue Moon.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from publisher St. Martin's Griffin