An Ever Fixéd Mark

by Jessie Olson

Lizzie Watson ran away from a broken heart into a new dress size. Not quite the finish line she imagined for her 15 year high school reunion. Close enough, though, to attract Ben Cottingham away from her perfectly beautiful, married with children, former best friend. Their subsequent tryst fuels her determination to run off those last twenty pounds. To run off the irritation with her fallible heart and its unexpected fixation on Ben’s green eyes. She runs right into his path and finds he isn’t just the boy who pined after her friend in high school. In fact he wasn’t a boy at all, but something entirely different. A different type of human that never ages, never gets ill, and needs the blood of another human to stay that way.

But that… that is almost something she knew all along and was just waiting to hear so they could move on to the next step. It is a relatively easy shift to accept the reality, but a challenge to live the minor details. Ben will never appreciate her culinary talents. She already has gray hairs and has to keep training to make her blood healthy and desirable. Her peers settle down to start families – an option that leaves the table when committing to a vampire.

Or are these just excuses to keep running? Sort of. There is always something, something at the edge of her brain she knows she must understand before she can let herself feel completely. Something in the story of a missing girl from her hometown, something in the silences about his brother, something in the dreams that distort her present with a past before she was born. A past she must understand to stop running and fleeing from the consequences of her own inhumanity.

Genres: Vampires

Nook

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

I’m an author, explorer of local history, culinary inventor, theater junkie, hibernophile, seeker of social justice, plotting to save the world or at least a piece of it.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the perfect remedy for Twilight fever for fans of the Meyer epic... but also the grown up, modern-day "Dracula" the rest of us were hoping to find instead.

Beyond the obvious "it's a vampire book," let's talk about the crazy tangled web Olson skillfully weaves. Her connections are connected so many ways it will make you scratch your head and wonder how she kept them straight. Still, she threads you along the right path, always moving forward. The result is an effortless tale befitting it's cryptic title... one that sucks you in, spins you around in circles, then asks you to walk a straight line.

It's gripping from beginning to end, especially once Lizzie's brain starts getting a little bit cloudy. I won't spoil anything, but you're in for quite a ride if you pick this one up!

Congrats, Jessie, on a fantastic debut novel!

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was very thought out and well written. I was very captivated and found myself unable to put the book down on multiple occasions. Jessie Olsen should be very proud of her novel and I look forward to reading so much more!!

[busyreadingg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was frustrating at times, but, I could not put it down. I needed answers. There were times were the main characters actions got on my nerves but in the end you kind of understand why she acted the way she did. Thumbs up.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book. I adored the characters and the slow methodical way they crept through the story.

[Sabrina]

I really couldn't get into this book . . I don't like the way it's written, and I'm not engaged. Made it about 1/2 through before I gave up.