Thursday, November 25, 2010

Elixir by Hilary Duff




A Soulmate For Life . . . Or Death

As the daughter of a renowned surgeon and a prominent Washington D.C. politician, Clea Raymond has felt the glare of the spotlight her entire life. And though she dreads the paparazzi who track her every move, she herself is a talented photojournalist who takes refuge in a career that allows her to travel to the most exotic parts of the world.

But after Clea’s father disappears while on a humanitarian mission, eerie, shadowy images of a strange and beautiful young man begin to appear in Clea’s photos—a man she has never seen in her life.

When Clea suddenly encounters this man in person she is stunned—and feels an immediate and powerful connection. As they grow closer, they are drawn deep into the mystery behind her father’s disappearance and discover the centuries-old truth behind their intense bond.

Torn by a dangerous love triangle and haunted by a powerful secret that holds their fate, together they race against time to unravel their past in order to save their future—and their lives.


Stars: 4/5
CoverA

Clea Raymond has famous parents. Her mom's a politician, and her father is a surgeon. Her father disappeared a year ago, with no notice, and no one has any clue where he went. 

On a trip to Europe with her best friend, Rayna, Clea takes a ton of pictures. But when she gets home, and is inspecting them, she notices a man in the background in a majority of her pictures --- even though they were taken over a span of three weeks and on different sides of the country.

Clea then starts having romantic dreams about this man every single time she falls asleep. 

On a trip to Rio, Clea sees the man that's been in her dreams in person. She finds herself falling for him, whose name is Sage, and they have a strong connection.

They (Ben, her semi-body-guard, Cleo, Sage, and sometimes Rayna) embark on a journey, trying to find her father and solve the mystery surrounding his death, while also finding out about Clea's past lives (yes, that's plural) with Sage.

I am actually quite impressed with the book. To be honest, I was bracing myself for a book that would just be blah, and not be that memorable. I was gladly mistaken!

Elixir actually has substance, if that makes sense. It didn't get dull, and I found myself staying up until two in the morning reading it.

I think the characters could have had a little more depth, but that didn't take anything away from the story for me.

But Ben, oh my God, I wanted to shoot him. He just got so irritating, especially in the middle of the book! He kept trying to interfere with Sage and Clea, and I wanted to just, like, cut him out of the pages. But I digress.

Elixir is a good blend of romance and suspense, which is hard to do.

Now, the thing that had me hovering between giving the book three or four stars: the ending. I feel like it just kind of dropped off, and none of the loose ends were tied up. I'm really hoping there's a sequel, because if Hilary just leaves the book where she left it, I will not be a happy camper. :)

The cover, though. Wow. It's gorgeous! I feel like I could stare at it for days. I also loved the way each chapter started, with a beautiful Iris flower in the bottom corner of the page.

This book was, overall, pretty good, and I definitely would recommend this to anyone, no matter what genre of books you like, because it has a lot of different elements in it: suspense, romance, and even a little historical fiction.

FTC: I bought this book.

1 comment:

  1. I felt bad for Ben, and I thought Sage was too weird. But I agree with you that the ending was a major cliffhanger. I would give it only 2 stars, but I'll probably read the next one if it comes out anyway.

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