It Was Just Okay…
I was between giving this duology 2 or 3 stars, I ended up choosing 3 because in the end the characters (although sometimes annoying) were pretty sweet. However there were definitely issues that could’ve made this a 2 star series.
**SPOILERS**
Book one introduced up to newly widowed Rowen and her 5 year old daughter, Violet. There is a lot of back and forth phone calls between Rowan and her best friend Quinn. Rowan has been confused about what to do now that her husband is gone, but Quinn helps to convince her to MOVE BACK HOME, to her hometown of Everton. Apparently everyone in Everton uses magic, and Rowan was living in a “norm city” a.k.a. a city where people don’t have magic, like her deceased husband. Rowan is convinced that moving back to Everton is a good idea, and teaching her daughter in a magic town would be good for her. But she’s anxious about returning home and seeing her “guys” - her best childhood friends, Hudson, Nate, the twins, and eventually Declan who is renting her his huge house since he and his son live with the guys.
I really didn’t like how this book portrayed magic. It was so “slight” and small it was as if it wasn’t there at all. The book reads almost exactly like a contemporary RH WITHOUT the magic elements - the magic “towns” are never explained. The reason why some people gave magic and others dont isn’t explained, it’s just so random!
In Surviving Everton (Everton Ever After Book 2), the book open with Rowan having just discovered that she has a magical brain tumor caused by her norm husband DRUGGING her with potion laced tea for TEN YEARS!!! The continuous potion using caused a build up of too much magic in Rowan, thus giving her a tumor which made her lose her memory AND could prove fatal!! The guys are determined to keep this from happening and they go on a “mission” to figure out WHAT TYPE OF POTION, and WHO MADE IT so that they can create a counter-potion to cure Rowan.
Ugh! Brittney was terrible, she was terrible as Rowan’s arch nemesis (as in, her character was written quite poorly) AND it was beyond OBVIOUS THAT SHE WAS THE BAD PERSON WHO MADE THE POTION THAT ROWAN’S HUSBAND USED TO CONTROL AND MAKE HER LOVE HIM!!! Sadly there was absolutely no “mystery” and it was horribly predictable! Another slightly annoying thing: I liked violet’s character, BUT she literally uses the word mommy EVERY time she speaks. Sorry even my kids didn’t drop in mommy everytime they spoke to me, even at that age.
Overall it’s an okay book. Easy to read, sweet, with some steam, and nicely written (if not a bit bland) characters.