Persnickety Snark: Review - The Everlasting Ones Kirsten Miller

Review - The Everlasting Ones / Kirsten Miller

Haven Moore can't see her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a living in New York that terminated in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother's home in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee.

Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to pull her to fly to New York, to see who she is, and who she was. In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of rebirth that stretches across millennia. Haven must see the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves before all is lost and the wheel begins again. Goodreads.Review - While Miller has the expert writing skills and a brilliant premise for a young adult novel, that's where my appreciation ends. The Eternal Ones was an emotionally devoid creation piggybacking on the the new reading set's appetite for paranormal romances. The assumption of two souls continually being reincarnated over time is splendid and oh so romantic. Haven (horrid name) has gravitated towards New York and 'Ethan' since childhood. This yearning is the solitary way that Miller establishes the bond these two take for one another, that and the demand to now have intercourse. The want of growth between these two is amazing and yet the pull towards this guy (Ethan/Iain) is alleged to be overriding. He had money, prestige and just looks but that's about it. He's not charming or truthful so I don't actually see the attraction. Additionally both characters have an appalling lack of common sense for individuals that have apparently lived many lives. Between them they could perhaps take the equivalent of Paris Hilton's IQ. The emotional force that is supposed to sustain the game and need the characters is non-existent. Chalk is more romantic. Sardines are sexier. And I would rather marry Larry King. As for the scheme of the Ouroboros Society and the use of many characters that flutter about the dull duo it worked. To a minor degree. It was overly reliant on the Haven character being spectacularly stupid and/or forgiving for it to run out as it did. It was clumsy and ricocheted poorly off the love connection. But finally I was more concerned in beholding them off Haven than the dull duo being reunited in the bonds of honest love. What is most concerning is the want of emotional heart in this book. It feels as though the writer has overworked her introduction to the spot that it has become fragmented. So many things slightly miss the notice that the book feels underwhelming. So committed to the scheme and latin is Miller that she forgets to give Haven more teenage introspection. She has a relationship with a prevaricator who seduces her and it is the low show that sticks in her craw. The fact that she missed her virginity to this dubious guy is never really broached. Instead we are constantly hearing the protagonist parroting the role she has most recently spoken to as the truth. The case is without integrity or heart. Or a brain. Underwhelming. Published: August 2010 Format: Hardcover, 416 pages Publisher: Razorbill Source: Penguin UK / Penguin USA Origin: USA ** I would also comparable to head the author's and publishers want to continue this journey with a sequel. Completely and absolutely unnecessary.