What do you think?
Rate this book
Sojourner #1
Sojourner
Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Moon has been dreaming of her murder her entire life, and in those dreams, a dark presence is there, watching. When she returns home to Hauser’s Landing, the very place her father disappeared, she comes in contact with a gorgeous boy named Lev Walker, and it’s not long before she’s falling in love. But there’s something wrong with Lev. When she realizes he’s the eerie watcher in her dreams, she’ll have to discover the truth. Is he a guardian angel or a sojourner, an angel of death who has come to collect her soul?
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 14, 2009
50 people are currently reading
2997 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
March 31, 2013
This book has such potential, and I was most disappointed that the author never seized the opportunities she created. What results is a rather dull, cliched paranormal romance that struggled to hold my interest.
To the author's credit, she did develop a good voice for the main character and her style is easy to read, but that's not enough to excuse the gaping plot holes, weak characters and rushed storyline.
Characters
1. Lizzie is a bland, stereotypical passive heroine. Her mixed race background is supposed to make her stand out, and yet nothing actually comes of it day to day. She's weak, helpless, doesn't go through any change or development, and is generally annoying. She's even stupid enough to fall into a river twice and to go out alone when she knows someone is after her.
2. Lev had great potential, but again, ended up just a cardboard cut out to give exposition. There's no development of his relationship with Lizzie, it just happens, and his motives are paper-thin. And he sparkles. Yawn.
3. The bad guy- as we see so little of him there's no way the reader can form any opinion towards him so by the time he 'acts' we don't care. Again his motives are pathetic, unsympathetic, and weak.
4. Side cast- again pretty generic and nothing that made me interested in them.
Story
We start off with a really promising start with the sinister dreams...but by a few chapters in they're practically forgotten. There's no build up or intrigue, and the explanation comes far too quickly and without consequence.
More holes form- Lizzie and her guardian hate the town and yet no reason is given why they had to move there or why they can't move out. The residents are supposedly 'anti-native American' and yet no evidence of this is shown. It gets even worse at the end when an angel dies from a gunshot wound and yet can fly endlessly and can survive extreme temperatures. Nothing is consistent in the supernatural element and it broke my suspension of disbelief.
There was a lot to play with in terms of plot and suspense but the author rushed through it to get to the 'romance', and even that wasn't convincing as nothing developed between the characters. There were no decent inter-character conflicts, but then Lizzie is such a pathetic MC she probably couldn't deal with it.
Presentation
The writing is generally good, but there are many typographical errors, omitted words, and spelling and grammar mistakes. The cover is pretty eye-catching as is the title.
Overall- a promising premise weakened by poor characters, their lack of development, and no internal plot consistency. A very disappointing read.
To the author's credit, she did develop a good voice for the main character and her style is easy to read, but that's not enough to excuse the gaping plot holes, weak characters and rushed storyline.
Characters
1. Lizzie is a bland, stereotypical passive heroine. Her mixed race background is supposed to make her stand out, and yet nothing actually comes of it day to day. She's weak, helpless, doesn't go through any change or development, and is generally annoying. She's even stupid enough to fall into a river twice and to go out alone when she knows someone is after her.
2. Lev had great potential, but again, ended up just a cardboard cut out to give exposition. There's no development of his relationship with Lizzie, it just happens, and his motives are paper-thin. And he sparkles. Yawn.
3. The bad guy- as we see so little of him there's no way the reader can form any opinion towards him so by the time he 'acts' we don't care. Again his motives are pathetic, unsympathetic, and weak.
4. Side cast- again pretty generic and nothing that made me interested in them.
Story
We start off with a really promising start with the sinister dreams...but by a few chapters in they're practically forgotten. There's no build up or intrigue, and the explanation comes far too quickly and without consequence.
More holes form- Lizzie and her guardian hate the town and yet no reason is given why they had to move there or why they can't move out. The residents are supposedly 'anti-native American' and yet no evidence of this is shown. It gets even worse at the end when an angel dies from a gunshot wound and yet can fly endlessly and can survive extreme temperatures. Nothing is consistent in the supernatural element and it broke my suspension of disbelief.
There was a lot to play with in terms of plot and suspense but the author rushed through it to get to the 'romance', and even that wasn't convincing as nothing developed between the characters. There were no decent inter-character conflicts, but then Lizzie is such a pathetic MC she probably couldn't deal with it.
Presentation
The writing is generally good, but there are many typographical errors, omitted words, and spelling and grammar mistakes. The cover is pretty eye-catching as is the title.
Overall- a promising premise weakened by poor characters, their lack of development, and no internal plot consistency. A very disappointing read.
July 22, 2010
When seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Moon is forced to move back to her childhood town, she realizes that she’s not just an ordinary teen. She’s a teen with a guardian angel, one that is in love with her and has been by her side for seven life times. Each of those life times has been tragically cut short, when she has died before reaching the age of eighteen. Her angel has taken it upon himself to make sure that this time, she survives to live a longer life. However, her move back to her hometown is fraught with danger, and she narrowly escapes several near-death experiences with the help of her angel. Will her angel succeed in intervening and overcoming her life being cut short? Will he do so at the cost of his own existence? Will the love between them survive?
Maria Rachel Hooley has written an engaging romantic teen fantasy. I enjoyed every moment of reading it. I was immediately drawn in by the intense feelings between Elizabeth and her angel, willing them to overcome their troubles. The book, as part of a series, leaves many questions still to be answered. I look forward to reading the rest of the books and highly recommend them to YA lovers of contemporary fantasy.
Maria Rachel Hooley has written an engaging romantic teen fantasy. I enjoyed every moment of reading it. I was immediately drawn in by the intense feelings between Elizabeth and her angel, willing them to overcome their troubles. The book, as part of a series, leaves many questions still to be answered. I look forward to reading the rest of the books and highly recommend them to YA lovers of contemporary fantasy.
February 23, 2012
I got this book free iBook, and really enjoyed it. It was hard to read and if it hadn't held my interest I would have given up because it was a real pain that the formatting was off. One paragraph is one sized font & a few below is a much smaller, & then back to the original. This continues through the ENTIRE book. The writer should also get someone to proof-read to catch the typos.
Aside from that format, typo problem I did like the story. Lizzy and her guardian Jimmy move back to the town her parents were from. She is 17, half Indian & half white. Her mother who was white died in a car accident & her father disappeared shortly afterwards (after racial graffiti had appeared against him). As soon as Lizzy starts school she is pursued by a rich, overly confident Griffin, yet she is attracted to Lev, a guy she has been having dreams about her whole life. In her dream she is being killed and Lev just stands and watches. She makes efforts to avoid Griffin & get involved with Lev to find out why she dreams about him. I don't want to ruin the whole story & it does have a FEW surprises at the end! As some other people commented, it did seem a bit much for the girl to be soooo very clumsy, but I could get past that I guess. I may or may not read the second book.
Aside from that format, typo problem I did like the story. Lizzy and her guardian Jimmy move back to the town her parents were from. She is 17, half Indian & half white. Her mother who was white died in a car accident & her father disappeared shortly afterwards (after racial graffiti had appeared against him). As soon as Lizzy starts school she is pursued by a rich, overly confident Griffin, yet she is attracted to Lev, a guy she has been having dreams about her whole life. In her dream she is being killed and Lev just stands and watches. She makes efforts to avoid Griffin & get involved with Lev to find out why she dreams about him. I don't want to ruin the whole story & it does have a FEW surprises at the end! As some other people commented, it did seem a bit much for the girl to be soooo very clumsy, but I could get past that I guess. I may or may not read the second book.
May 8, 2010
Wonderful story. Yes It resembles Twilight - but millions of people liked Twilight. :-) I will be buying the next two in the series.
March 13, 2013
Whoaaa! You can't just leave me hanging there like that! You just can't! I need to read more! And the teaser at the end of this forst book was more of a shock and left me open-mouthed.
I liked this book a lot. I loved Lev and Lizzie. And it was so sweet when he embraced her with his wings in her sleep. I was like "Awwwwww! So cute!"
At first I didn't like Griffin, but then when it was clear he wasn't a bad guy I kind of changed my mind a little.
I liked Celia and Jimmie too.
I can't say much about the other guys at school, cause there ws nothing really descriptive about them.
I can say I suspected about Mr Maguire but couldn't be sure. The janitor was kind of creepy and suspicious too.
The story was good, though reminded me of a mix of other stories. But still, I enjoyed it.
I think I'm going to check other book by author Maria Rachel Hooley.
Actually 3.5 stars.
I liked this book a lot. I loved Lev and Lizzie. And it was so sweet when he embraced her with his wings in her sleep. I was like "Awwwwww! So cute!"
At first I didn't like Griffin, but then when it was clear he wasn't a bad guy I kind of changed my mind a little.
I liked Celia and Jimmie too.
I can't say much about the other guys at school, cause there ws nothing really descriptive about them.
I can say I suspected about Mr Maguire but couldn't be sure. The janitor was kind of creepy and suspicious too.
The story was good, though reminded me of a mix of other stories. But still, I enjoyed it.
I think I'm going to check other book by author Maria Rachel Hooley.
Actually 3.5 stars.
April 30, 2012
Omg this book is freaking awesome:]
January 19, 2014
So, for a synopsis (warning: spoilers) : Elizabeth (Lizzie) wakes up from a recurring nightmare about being shot, in the C18th in which she is a Cheyenne native. There is a ~mysterious ~man in her dream that she can’t stop thinking about. Anyway, she ponders over her parents’ deaths before getting dressed and going off to school for her first day in Hauser’s Landing, the small town she has returned to with her kindly, if a little overprotective, parental substitute Jimmie. Lizzie drives an old Jeep which she loves, even with its quirks. She refers to as a “thing”–getting any flashbacks here?
She bitches about the smallness of the school and makes a reference to Stephen King’s novel ‘Salem’s Lot but does so incorrectly as she refers to the town in said novel as “Salem’s Lot” when we all know there should either be an apostrophe there or the actual name Jerusalem’s Lot. Okay, thank you. (It’s one of my favourite books; bet you couldn’t tell.) Then there’s some purple prose; and Elizabeth goes to class where she has to sit beside this guy (who totally isn’t cute and clearly doesn’t shop at Walmart. “Again with the pop references, author?”I muttered.) Anyway, all the Erics and Mikes and Tylers combine in Sojourner to form Griffin Hauser, who was also blessed by the stupid name Gods. (There will be a lot of that in this novel.) As expected, Griffin is a total jerk with a ~thing for the new girl. Apparently Elizabeth is omnipotent however, as she knows Griffin’s name before he even has chance to introduce himself. He’ll get over it though, and pop up continually to invite Lizzie to come to lunch with him. She’ll continue to blow him off because we all know they’re not ment2b. Poor Griffin. He’s one of the most well developed character in this weakly developed cast, and we have to hate him because he’s not the Designated Love Interest.
This whole plot drags for a while until BAM! We’re in the school canteen and hot damn who is that hottie over there? Is it Edward Cullen? No, no it is not. Mysterious!hotboy takes the for of Lev Walker, golden haired strangely shimmery Lev Walker. Elizabeth is immediately taken but informed that said boy hasn’t ever dated. (Strangely familiar, isn’t it?) Not to mention, Lev looks just like the ~mysterious ~man from her dream, and she is determined to get answers. Someone has written a mean comment inside Lizzie’s locker about her heritage, but Lizzie’s not as upset as her guardian Jimmie is. Anyway, turns out Lev lives in the graveyard, so Lizzie goes along after school to ‘see her mother’s grave’. However, she does a good old Bella Swan and finds herself falling into a frozen river, only to be rescued by the very same Lev she came here to stalk! (No waaay!)
Blah blah blah, some other things happen, Lev and Lizzie have the most trite and cliche love story ever in which we discover Lev is actually an angel and he’s spent like six centuries watching Lizzie die before her eighteenth birthday and hey, have I read this book before? Apparently angel literature was big in 2009. So basically someone is out to get Lizzie because of her heritage, and it just might be the same person who murdered her father! Lev is hell bent on saving Lizzie’s life this time around because she changed him and made him a better angel or something and I think you can tell by this point I’d given up. There’s some more hate crime towards Lizzie and apparently this time it’s personal. Lev knows that Lizzie is in danger but instead of doing something like persuading her to move away, he goes out of his way to protect her. His efforts are in vain as Lizzie attempts to prove her strong independent woman-ness by walking home in the dark and shit goes down.
MY THOUGHTS: Okay, so first and foremost, this was far from the worst written book I’ve ever read. Equally far from being the best written book, but it wasn’t terrible, I’ll give it that. The characters were flat. Whilst I’d give props to the writer for not totally whitewashing her entire cast, I can’t like Lizzie simply because she’s half Native American. She’s more or less a Mary Sue, pretty annoying, prone to needing to get herself rescued and being a bitch to people like Jimmie who only have her best interests at heart. She even gets bitchy towards her One and Only, Lev, when I didn’t honestly feel he deserved it.
Lev himself fits the mould for the perfect love interest to a tee. He’s blond, handsome, rugged, strangely old beyond his years (especially obvious after the big angel reveal–which is almost exactly the same as the vampire reveal in Twilight), and what a sweetheart he is too. Why walk when he can carry you places? What a gentleman! Yes, he fits the bill to a tee, but my God, he is so boring and utterly predictable. Not to mention the extremely squwicky scene when he describes watching Lizzie grow up to her. (And you thought Edward was a creeper…)
Their romance is boring, cliche and it’s not so much of a “Will they, won’t they?” or an “Ooh, what will happen next?” as a “Just get the hell on with it, for Pete’s sake!” Lev always has to come to Elizabeth’s rescue, and it’s always extremely implausible. Just saying.
There’s a couple of side characters who exist purely to push Lizzie of a cliff, and a lame attempt at a Griffin/Lizzie/Lev love triangle. I actually sympathised most with Griffin, because a lot of the time people claimed he was creepy or a jerk when he was just a little bit annoying and pushy. His ‘dickish’ side is never really shown, except for when Lizzie flaunts her ‘friendship’ with Lev in front of him to get him off her case.
The novel’s badly paced; some parts go really fast, others creep along at a snail’s pace. Lizzie spends a lot of time fainting, going to hospital and being ill. One of the most dramatic (or supposedly dramatic) moments of the novel is so stupid it seems to me like a total ass pull on the author’s part. The novel’s ending is the most foreseeable thing ever and though I will give her kudos for actually killing her love interest at the end of the book, it’s limited kudos as I can tell damn fine that he’ll be back in the sequels. The ending made me laugh because it was too dramatic, and it had a really bad set up. It just didn’t work.
She bitches about the smallness of the school and makes a reference to Stephen King’s novel ‘Salem’s Lot but does so incorrectly as she refers to the town in said novel as “Salem’s Lot” when we all know there should either be an apostrophe there or the actual name Jerusalem’s Lot. Okay, thank you. (It’s one of my favourite books; bet you couldn’t tell.) Then there’s some purple prose; and Elizabeth goes to class where she has to sit beside this guy (who totally isn’t cute and clearly doesn’t shop at Walmart. “Again with the pop references, author?”I muttered.) Anyway, all the Erics and Mikes and Tylers combine in Sojourner to form Griffin Hauser, who was also blessed by the stupid name Gods. (There will be a lot of that in this novel.) As expected, Griffin is a total jerk with a ~thing for the new girl. Apparently Elizabeth is omnipotent however, as she knows Griffin’s name before he even has chance to introduce himself. He’ll get over it though, and pop up continually to invite Lizzie to come to lunch with him. She’ll continue to blow him off because we all know they’re not ment2b. Poor Griffin. He’s one of the most well developed character in this weakly developed cast, and we have to hate him because he’s not the Designated Love Interest.
This whole plot drags for a while until BAM! We’re in the school canteen and hot damn who is that hottie over there? Is it Edward Cullen? No, no it is not. Mysterious!hotboy takes the for of Lev Walker, golden haired strangely shimmery Lev Walker. Elizabeth is immediately taken but informed that said boy hasn’t ever dated. (Strangely familiar, isn’t it?) Not to mention, Lev looks just like the ~mysterious ~man from her dream, and she is determined to get answers. Someone has written a mean comment inside Lizzie’s locker about her heritage, but Lizzie’s not as upset as her guardian Jimmie is. Anyway, turns out Lev lives in the graveyard, so Lizzie goes along after school to ‘see her mother’s grave’. However, she does a good old Bella Swan and finds herself falling into a frozen river, only to be rescued by the very same Lev she came here to stalk! (No waaay!)
Blah blah blah, some other things happen, Lev and Lizzie have the most trite and cliche love story ever in which we discover Lev is actually an angel and he’s spent like six centuries watching Lizzie die before her eighteenth birthday and hey, have I read this book before? Apparently angel literature was big in 2009. So basically someone is out to get Lizzie because of her heritage, and it just might be the same person who murdered her father! Lev is hell bent on saving Lizzie’s life this time around because she changed him and made him a better angel or something and I think you can tell by this point I’d given up. There’s some more hate crime towards Lizzie and apparently this time it’s personal. Lev knows that Lizzie is in danger but instead of doing something like persuading her to move away, he goes out of his way to protect her. His efforts are in vain as Lizzie attempts to prove her strong independent woman-ness by walking home in the dark and shit goes down.
MY THOUGHTS: Okay, so first and foremost, this was far from the worst written book I’ve ever read. Equally far from being the best written book, but it wasn’t terrible, I’ll give it that. The characters were flat. Whilst I’d give props to the writer for not totally whitewashing her entire cast, I can’t like Lizzie simply because she’s half Native American. She’s more or less a Mary Sue, pretty annoying, prone to needing to get herself rescued and being a bitch to people like Jimmie who only have her best interests at heart. She even gets bitchy towards her One and Only, Lev, when I didn’t honestly feel he deserved it.
Lev himself fits the mould for the perfect love interest to a tee. He’s blond, handsome, rugged, strangely old beyond his years (especially obvious after the big angel reveal–which is almost exactly the same as the vampire reveal in Twilight), and what a sweetheart he is too. Why walk when he can carry you places? What a gentleman! Yes, he fits the bill to a tee, but my God, he is so boring and utterly predictable. Not to mention the extremely squwicky scene when he describes watching Lizzie grow up to her. (And you thought Edward was a creeper…)
Their romance is boring, cliche and it’s not so much of a “Will they, won’t they?” or an “Ooh, what will happen next?” as a “Just get the hell on with it, for Pete’s sake!” Lev always has to come to Elizabeth’s rescue, and it’s always extremely implausible. Just saying.
There’s a couple of side characters who exist purely to push Lizzie of a cliff, and a lame attempt at a Griffin/Lizzie/Lev love triangle. I actually sympathised most with Griffin, because a lot of the time people claimed he was creepy or a jerk when he was just a little bit annoying and pushy. His ‘dickish’ side is never really shown, except for when Lizzie flaunts her ‘friendship’ with Lev in front of him to get him off her case.
The novel’s badly paced; some parts go really fast, others creep along at a snail’s pace. Lizzie spends a lot of time fainting, going to hospital and being ill. One of the most dramatic (or supposedly dramatic) moments of the novel is so stupid it seems to me like a total ass pull on the author’s part. The novel’s ending is the most foreseeable thing ever and though I will give her kudos for actually killing her love interest at the end of the book, it’s limited kudos as I can tell damn fine that he’ll be back in the sequels. The ending made me laugh because it was too dramatic, and it had a really bad set up. It just didn’t work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2017
This book was just ok. Very choppy.
February 14, 2022
Reading Challenge Prompt #46: A book set in winter
February 14, 2014
Elizabeth Moon is a halfie, half white and half Native American. Her parents died when she was really young and she's being raised by their best friend, Jimmy. Due to unknown circumstances, they have now moved back to her parents hometown and she meets a boy. Now a lot of people have made the connection of this book to Twilight and I can see why they think that, but in my point of view, this is a lot better. Yes, it does have a new girl and mysterious guy that meet and fall in love almost instantly, but there's a whole new dilemma than just vampires.
Racism. Yeah, didn't quite see that coming did you? Like I said before, Lizzie is half Native American which puts her in "different" category in a 99% white town. On her first day, her locker was hacked into and the hacker left a message which I don't remember but was somewhere along the lines of: Boo you're native. To put it nicely. What scares her and Jimmy the most is that before her father's disappearance, he also received these messages. Racism has been pretty popular in American culture literally forever and while everyone is all about equality between blacks and whites, sometimes we forget that Native Americans were targeted just as much as the Africans. The way that Maria Rachel Hooley reminds us of that fact is just amazing and completely unexpected.
Now we come to Lev. He's been popping up in Lizzie's dreams for a while and they're not pleasant dreams because she ends up dying every single time so you can imagine the shock when she sees him in her high school. He's pretty freaked as well because he was cursed by the boss of angels to love but never truly love? Let me explain. He's a sojourner, if someone dies, he takes them to heaven, hell, wherever. He is not exactly Mr. Lovable so to teach him the importance of love, he was assigned Lizzie's soul and every time they met, something would happen (in addition to falling in love) and she would die. So that's a little spoiler of why he's Mr. Reclusive, but I had to mention it.
Moving on with the romance, Lev knows that after they meet, it's only a matter of time before Lizzie dies. After experiencing the pain of losing her for a couple generations, he's willing to sacrifice his own life to save hers. Remember the threats I told you about? Those freak the heck out of him because that could contribute to death. The ending, the stalker/killer/bad guy was totally unexpected and out of the blue. I agree with some readers that I wish we could have seen a bit more from his perspective which might be because I read way too many serial killer novels, but other than the threats and little attack, there isn't a lot of character in the killer. When they do come face to face, you do learn of the reason behind everything, but I still think the killer lacked character.
The ending was a bit predictable which is a first considering I'm very naive when it comes to the truth, the ending, etc. But, that didn't mean it was any less heartbreaking and difficult to handle. That might have just given away what happened, but in my defense I didn't out-rightly state it. :)
Read my reviews: https://extreemeobsessed.blogspot.com
Racism. Yeah, didn't quite see that coming did you? Like I said before, Lizzie is half Native American which puts her in "different" category in a 99% white town. On her first day, her locker was hacked into and the hacker left a message which I don't remember but was somewhere along the lines of: Boo you're native. To put it nicely. What scares her and Jimmy the most is that before her father's disappearance, he also received these messages. Racism has been pretty popular in American culture literally forever and while everyone is all about equality between blacks and whites, sometimes we forget that Native Americans were targeted just as much as the Africans. The way that Maria Rachel Hooley reminds us of that fact is just amazing and completely unexpected.
Now we come to Lev. He's been popping up in Lizzie's dreams for a while and they're not pleasant dreams because she ends up dying every single time so you can imagine the shock when she sees him in her high school. He's pretty freaked as well because he was cursed by the boss of angels to love but never truly love? Let me explain. He's a sojourner, if someone dies, he takes them to heaven, hell, wherever. He is not exactly Mr. Lovable so to teach him the importance of love, he was assigned Lizzie's soul and every time they met, something would happen (in addition to falling in love) and she would die. So that's a little spoiler of why he's Mr. Reclusive, but I had to mention it.
Moving on with the romance, Lev knows that after they meet, it's only a matter of time before Lizzie dies. After experiencing the pain of losing her for a couple generations, he's willing to sacrifice his own life to save hers. Remember the threats I told you about? Those freak the heck out of him because that could contribute to death. The ending, the stalker/killer/bad guy was totally unexpected and out of the blue. I agree with some readers that I wish we could have seen a bit more from his perspective which might be because I read way too many serial killer novels, but other than the threats and little attack, there isn't a lot of character in the killer. When they do come face to face, you do learn of the reason behind everything, but I still think the killer lacked character.
The ending was a bit predictable which is a first considering I'm very naive when it comes to the truth, the ending, etc. But, that didn't mean it was any less heartbreaking and difficult to handle. That might have just given away what happened, but in my defense I didn't out-rightly state it. :)
Read my reviews: https://extreemeobsessed.blogspot.com
March 25, 2012
****spoiler alert****
I gave it 3 stars bc the author can portray a sad dramatic moment beautifully but that was ONLY why this book didn't get just 2 stars.
The writing has serious potential but a decent editor would have made the story flow appropriately and smoother. GO TO A LOCAL UNIVERSITY SPEAK TO THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS THEY WILL EDIT FOR FREE BECAUSE THEY NEED THE EXPERIENCE!
I think if the author read through and realized there wasn't a depth to the characters while the romance angle is being poorly executed as well as this ridiculous notion about Indians and half breeds seriously?! As well as a vague reference to cheyenne indians leaving their families and vanishing?! I know Indians were subjected to persecution up until the mid 80s by the government but it really is a crap plot for this book. The ignorance of the white mans view on Indians is insulting and I was disgusted with the asinine prejudice. The ineffective school principal and that she has only ONE teacher that ever speaks to her and apparently everyone knows her mother but no one except uncle Jimmie knew her father in a town of less than 6,000 seriously?
So onto Lev.
He is an angel with an effing soul but not just that all angels have souls. WITH NO EXPLANATION AS TO WHY THE BIBLE AND HISTORIANS ARE WRONG. SERIOUSLY?!
He is put off with her at random points and wallows in self pity but then perks up randomly as well as being "I am an angel I am exceptional at everything if I don't lose at video games 98% of the time people get suspicious of my other worldliness" obviously paraphrased and with my own words thrown in but that somes up much of lev. He has no depth that built up to give an emotional attachment she is there she falls into water he saves her she gets pushed over water falls he saves her. He is shiny and speaks like a normal human being but because he used amenable and anomaly THERE IS JUST SOMETHING SO WISE AND OLD WITHIN HIM.
I felt like I was going to read "the force is strong with in him".
The author has a budding talent but if she fails to get an editor of ANY KIND or take a creative writing class where any person (I am an English major myself.) with any background of basic English and prose would tell her she fell short of the mark 9 out of ten times.
It kept my interest but I literally was bitching out loud through out the entire thing. I will probably read the others but I can only hope someone got this woman an effing editor.
I was and still am enjoying the book but that and the fact that the main character is in school for like no joke 2 days and the popular guy wants her (which is whatever) but his best friend Matt jokes like 1 time and the next day she is all oh that's Matt just being Matt. As if she has ANY basis for comparison
I gave it 3 stars bc the author can portray a sad dramatic moment beautifully but that was ONLY why this book didn't get just 2 stars.
The writing has serious potential but a decent editor would have made the story flow appropriately and smoother. GO TO A LOCAL UNIVERSITY SPEAK TO THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS THEY WILL EDIT FOR FREE BECAUSE THEY NEED THE EXPERIENCE!
I think if the author read through and realized there wasn't a depth to the characters while the romance angle is being poorly executed as well as this ridiculous notion about Indians and half breeds seriously?! As well as a vague reference to cheyenne indians leaving their families and vanishing?! I know Indians were subjected to persecution up until the mid 80s by the government but it really is a crap plot for this book. The ignorance of the white mans view on Indians is insulting and I was disgusted with the asinine prejudice. The ineffective school principal and that she has only ONE teacher that ever speaks to her and apparently everyone knows her mother but no one except uncle Jimmie knew her father in a town of less than 6,000 seriously?
So onto Lev.
He is an angel with an effing soul but not just that all angels have souls. WITH NO EXPLANATION AS TO WHY THE BIBLE AND HISTORIANS ARE WRONG. SERIOUSLY?!
He is put off with her at random points and wallows in self pity but then perks up randomly as well as being "I am an angel I am exceptional at everything if I don't lose at video games 98% of the time people get suspicious of my other worldliness" obviously paraphrased and with my own words thrown in but that somes up much of lev. He has no depth that built up to give an emotional attachment she is there she falls into water he saves her she gets pushed over water falls he saves her. He is shiny and speaks like a normal human being but because he used amenable and anomaly THERE IS JUST SOMETHING SO WISE AND OLD WITHIN HIM.
I felt like I was going to read "the force is strong with in him".
The author has a budding talent but if she fails to get an editor of ANY KIND or take a creative writing class where any person (I am an English major myself.) with any background of basic English and prose would tell her she fell short of the mark 9 out of ten times.
It kept my interest but I literally was bitching out loud through out the entire thing. I will probably read the others but I can only hope someone got this woman an effing editor.
I was and still am enjoying the book but that and the fact that the main character is in school for like no joke 2 days and the popular guy wants her (which is whatever) but his best friend Matt jokes like 1 time and the next day she is all oh that's Matt just being Matt. As if she has ANY basis for comparison
January 25, 2014
Also posted to Jen in Bookland
Sojourner was an interesting read. It was alright, but not amazing. It was like a lot of books I have read recently so...maybe if I had read it first I would have liked it more.
The book starts off with Elizabeth and her uncle moving back to his home town, where her mom and dad grew up. I am not sure why exactly they moved back. The uncle hates hates hates it there, and is super worried something will happen to Elizabeth since she is half Native American. Yes they need to sell the house or something, but you couldn't have done that without moving back? If it is such a horrible place you think they could have figured something else out.
Elizabeth herself is kind of stupid. On her first day at the new school she opens her locker to find someone painted half-breed in it. She just blows it off like it has to be some kind of joke. Um...okay. Then when more things happen she keeps thinking oh it is just someone playing a joke. Sure. Someone vandalized your house with horrible things and it is all some big joke.
Then she meets two new boys on day one, Griffin and Lev. Griffin is the popular guy everyone wants to be with, but Lizzie is just like stay away from me. She doesn't like him, but he doesn't give up easily. Lev, on the other hand, stay away from her, but she wants to get to know him. He is the one who has been in her dreams watching her die. So she starts to get closer to Lev and then freaks out on him like why are you in my dreams?!?! How can you be such a horrible person in my dreams, but super nice in real life?!?! Which one is real?!?! Um...real life Lev? I mean you do find out what the dreams are all about, and when you do Elizabeth freaks out on Lev and makes him feel like crap which is just ridiculous. It is like she has never made a mistake ever in her life. It is like calm it down and listen to what he is saying! Geez. She was kind of annoying. Plus she can't seem to not fall into the river, which is just odd. Somehow she gets knocked from behind and that flings her over the railing? Okay. Just go with everything.
Eventually Lev and Elizabeth work things out, but Lev is super worried someone is going to try and kill her. So what does she do? Go off by herself! Of course, I mean nothing can happen in a parking lot or in a public place! No one ever gets kidnapped or anything from public places. She is a smart one, but really I was wondering why Lev wasn't following her anyways. If I were him and were really that worried about her I would not let her out of my sight, even if she didn't want me there. Or stay in the shadows of something. It was just lame. The whole ending was a let down and when you find out who is doing all of this stuff to Elizabeth and why it was just like really? That was the best you could do? Okay. I shouldn't have expected a good explanation...overall a frustrating book, though it started off interesting.
Sojourner was an interesting read. It was alright, but not amazing. It was like a lot of books I have read recently so...maybe if I had read it first I would have liked it more.
The book starts off with Elizabeth and her uncle moving back to his home town, where her mom and dad grew up. I am not sure why exactly they moved back. The uncle hates hates hates it there, and is super worried something will happen to Elizabeth since she is half Native American. Yes they need to sell the house or something, but you couldn't have done that without moving back? If it is such a horrible place you think they could have figured something else out.
Elizabeth herself is kind of stupid. On her first day at the new school she opens her locker to find someone painted half-breed in it. She just blows it off like it has to be some kind of joke. Um...okay. Then when more things happen she keeps thinking oh it is just someone playing a joke. Sure. Someone vandalized your house with horrible things and it is all some big joke.
Then she meets two new boys on day one, Griffin and Lev. Griffin is the popular guy everyone wants to be with, but Lizzie is just like stay away from me. She doesn't like him, but he doesn't give up easily. Lev, on the other hand, stay away from her, but she wants to get to know him. He is the one who has been in her dreams watching her die. So she starts to get closer to Lev and then freaks out on him like why are you in my dreams?!?! How can you be such a horrible person in my dreams, but super nice in real life?!?! Which one is real?!?! Um...real life Lev? I mean you do find out what the dreams are all about, and when you do Elizabeth freaks out on Lev and makes him feel like crap which is just ridiculous. It is like she has never made a mistake ever in her life. It is like calm it down and listen to what he is saying! Geez. She was kind of annoying. Plus she can't seem to not fall into the river, which is just odd. Somehow she gets knocked from behind and that flings her over the railing? Okay. Just go with everything.
Eventually Lev and Elizabeth work things out, but Lev is super worried someone is going to try and kill her. So what does she do? Go off by herself! Of course, I mean nothing can happen in a parking lot or in a public place! No one ever gets kidnapped or anything from public places. She is a smart one, but really I was wondering why Lev wasn't following her anyways. If I were him and were really that worried about her I would not let her out of my sight, even if she didn't want me there. Or stay in the shadows of something. It was just lame. The whole ending was a let down and when you find out who is doing all of this stuff to Elizabeth and why it was just like really? That was the best you could do? Okay. I shouldn't have expected a good explanation...overall a frustrating book, though it started off interesting.
July 25, 2014
Sojourner by Maria Rachel Hooley is a young adult novel. Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Moon has been dreaming about dying in different times her entire life. In each dream there is always a haunting face watching her death. When she returns home to Hauser’s Landing with her guardian, the very place her father disappeared, she meets Lev Walker, who looks an awful lot like the guy in her dreams. Then there is the most eligible bachelor in school, who will not leave her alone, graffiti, mysterious accidents, and more making the return to a prejudice small town harder than it should be. When Lev finally shares his secrets everything begins to close in on Elizabeth and she is not sure who or what to believe in.
Sojourner had promise. A girl that does not seem to fit in no matter where she goes because of her mixed heritage and desire to simply fly under the radar. Lev is the mysterious boy that seems to care but also seems to invade Elizabeth's dreams and stands by to watch her die time after time. It all takes place in a town that is prejudice against Native Americans, and most likely anyone that they can label as other. So far so good. But then, I started reading the book. There are so many parallels with Twilight that i had trouble getting past it. Super small town, new girl immediately being fought over, supernatural boy that seems to be trouble, good guy that carries his own brand of trouble, girl driving a temperamental pick up truck, ice causing some accident, accident prone girl in need to constant supervision, and so on.
Some of the writing her was better, and Elizabeth seemed to want to be a more independent soul than Bella, but in the end I think the mirroring here was just to much for me, even though I liked Twilight the first go round (I blame pregnancy hormones) the more i think about Bella's dependency and whining the more I wish I never saw the movies, never mind read the final book. therefor I will not be continuing on with this series.
I would recommend Sojourner to readers that did, and still do, love Twilight. The angst and desperation and high school drama are all here along with the idea of a destiny that can not seem to be avoided.If you disliked Twilight, then I would suggest that you skip this read.
Sojourner had promise. A girl that does not seem to fit in no matter where she goes because of her mixed heritage and desire to simply fly under the radar. Lev is the mysterious boy that seems to care but also seems to invade Elizabeth's dreams and stands by to watch her die time after time. It all takes place in a town that is prejudice against Native Americans, and most likely anyone that they can label as other. So far so good. But then, I started reading the book. There are so many parallels with Twilight that i had trouble getting past it. Super small town, new girl immediately being fought over, supernatural boy that seems to be trouble, good guy that carries his own brand of trouble, girl driving a temperamental pick up truck, ice causing some accident, accident prone girl in need to constant supervision, and so on.
Some of the writing her was better, and Elizabeth seemed to want to be a more independent soul than Bella, but in the end I think the mirroring here was just to much for me, even though I liked Twilight the first go round (I blame pregnancy hormones) the more i think about Bella's dependency and whining the more I wish I never saw the movies, never mind read the final book. therefor I will not be continuing on with this series.
I would recommend Sojourner to readers that did, and still do, love Twilight. The angst and desperation and high school drama are all here along with the idea of a destiny that can not seem to be avoided.If you disliked Twilight, then I would suggest that you skip this read.
December 10, 2011
I was kindly given a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a review. So first off i want to say thanks for that.
SPOILERS! DON'T CONTINUE IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS!
*
*
*
*
I really liked this book, it kept me glued to it from the day i started reading, i really liked the romance between Elizabeth and Lev, even though i do wish it was hightened a bit more. The story was really good. It's about a girl named Elizabeth who has lost both her parent's, and is being taken care of by her guardian Jimmie. They move back to her parent's hometown where she is thrust into an unknown danger, because of who her parent's were. She is plagued by nightmares of being killed while a guy just stands in the background and watches but doesn't try and help and these nightmare's feel so real. She see's Lev at school and is stunned to see he is the guy in her nightmare's who just stand's aside as she is killed. When they finally do communicate, after she is in a accident and he saves her, she finds out he is a angel who she has been in love with in her past lives, and that she dies young in all her lives and he plans to intervene in this one and save her, even though it will take him away from her. Elizabeth goes through quite alot in this book, which i cannot even imagine going through, she seem's to be a magnet for accident's, plus she has someone out to kill her. Then she has to live knowing the guy she loves is going to pretty much die to save her and she has to go on living afterward without him.
I would recommend this to not only people who like a good paranormal romance story, but also to people who like realistic stories about loss and fear and danger. This book does a good job of putting together a paranormal romance but with a very realistic story of a girl who has to go through and deal with alot. I will definitely continue this series and would recommend it for sure. Happy reading!
SPOILERS! DON'T CONTINUE IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS!
*
*
*
*
I really liked this book, it kept me glued to it from the day i started reading, i really liked the romance between Elizabeth and Lev, even though i do wish it was hightened a bit more. The story was really good. It's about a girl named Elizabeth who has lost both her parent's, and is being taken care of by her guardian Jimmie. They move back to her parent's hometown where she is thrust into an unknown danger, because of who her parent's were. She is plagued by nightmares of being killed while a guy just stands in the background and watches but doesn't try and help and these nightmare's feel so real. She see's Lev at school and is stunned to see he is the guy in her nightmare's who just stand's aside as she is killed. When they finally do communicate, after she is in a accident and he saves her, she finds out he is a angel who she has been in love with in her past lives, and that she dies young in all her lives and he plans to intervene in this one and save her, even though it will take him away from her. Elizabeth goes through quite alot in this book, which i cannot even imagine going through, she seem's to be a magnet for accident's, plus she has someone out to kill her. Then she has to live knowing the guy she loves is going to pretty much die to save her and she has to go on living afterward without him.
I would recommend this to not only people who like a good paranormal romance story, but also to people who like realistic stories about loss and fear and danger. This book does a good job of putting together a paranormal romance but with a very realistic story of a girl who has to go through and deal with alot. I will definitely continue this series and would recommend it for sure. Happy reading!
January 4, 2012
Also anfangs war ich nicht wirklich begeistert und hatte angst, ich würde ewig an dem Buch lesen.
Zum Schluss war ich bis halb 2 Uhr nächtens wach um die Geschichte fertig zu lesen.
Und, ja, es ist Twilight ziemlich ähnlich.
Aber trotzdem unterschiedlich genug um seine Daseinsberechtigung zu verdienen.
Drei Dinge, die mir besonders gut gefallen haben:
Endlich mal eine Heldin die einen ethnischen Hintergrund hat, ohne das das Buch Zielgruppengerecht in dieser Schublade verschwindet und nur von ebendieser dann auch gelesen wird (s. Hispanics, African-American - haben eigene Verlagsreihen, stehen sicher im Buchladen auch abseits, so dass man sich als weiße Leserin auch ja nicht "vergreift")
Lev ist toll! Und zwar vor allem deshalb, weil er nicht Edward ist!! Es ist schön, dass er so gerne lacht und Freude am Leben hat (was man sich natürlich von seiner Natur auch erwartet) - er verkörpert genau die Sorte Engel, wie ich sie mir in einer Romanze vorstelle.
Unsd die Geschichte ist spannend! Mit dem lauernden Mörder, den rassistischen Andeutungen etc.
Was mir nicht so gannz gefallen hat, waren tw. einige Logikfehler, die sich natürlich nicht auf die Geschichte ausgewirkt haben, aber wenn MIR so etwas auffällt, dann ist das schon sehr bedenklich...
Beispiele gefällig?
Zum Schluss war ich bis halb 2 Uhr nächtens wach um die Geschichte fertig zu lesen.
Und, ja, es ist Twilight ziemlich ähnlich.
Aber trotzdem unterschiedlich genug um seine Daseinsberechtigung zu verdienen.
Drei Dinge, die mir besonders gut gefallen haben:
Endlich mal eine Heldin die einen ethnischen Hintergrund hat, ohne das das Buch Zielgruppengerecht in dieser Schublade verschwindet und nur von ebendieser dann auch gelesen wird (s. Hispanics, African-American - haben eigene Verlagsreihen, stehen sicher im Buchladen auch abseits, so dass man sich als weiße Leserin auch ja nicht "vergreift")
Lev ist toll! Und zwar vor allem deshalb, weil er nicht Edward ist!! Es ist schön, dass er so gerne lacht und Freude am Leben hat (was man sich natürlich von seiner Natur auch erwartet) - er verkörpert genau die Sorte Engel, wie ich sie mir in einer Romanze vorstelle.
Unsd die Geschichte ist spannend! Mit dem lauernden Mörder, den rassistischen Andeutungen etc.
Was mir nicht so gannz gefallen hat, waren tw. einige Logikfehler, die sich natürlich nicht auf die Geschichte ausgewirkt haben, aber wenn MIR so etwas auffällt, dann ist das schon sehr bedenklich...
Beispiele gefällig?
July 27, 2014
This book was great! I really fell in love with the characters and the plots. There were many twists and turns that I did not quite expect, but over all, I enjoyed it tremendously and cannot wait to read more from this author.
--Edit-- This entire series was really enjoyable for me. The characters were intriguing, the plot was consistent through out, and I have moved on to reading other works by Hooley. If this wasn't the book/series for you, be sure to check out her other work. She writes in a variety of styles and I believe there's something for everyone.
I have read other reviews giving it a one star for being too much like Twilight and honestly I just wish people would stop comparing the two stories. Twilight can be compared to many other love stories that took place long before it was written as well.
A love story can be written only so many ways. I think that this author was able to put her own twist on a tale as old as time and I think her twist was wonderfully done. Many of the complaints are coming from readers who didn't even buy the book. I've also seen complaints about writing errors and things of that nature. The book was free...you realize that, right? Seeing that it was free, it's quite hard to validate such a complaint.
Since first reading this book I have gotten to know this author and decided I wanted to interview her. I have put the interview on my blog so please give it a read so you can learn a bit more about the mind behind the Sojourner series.
Visit my blog here: http://kimsbeautifulchaos.blogspot.co...
--Edit-- This entire series was really enjoyable for me. The characters were intriguing, the plot was consistent through out, and I have moved on to reading other works by Hooley. If this wasn't the book/series for you, be sure to check out her other work. She writes in a variety of styles and I believe there's something for everyone.
I have read other reviews giving it a one star for being too much like Twilight and honestly I just wish people would stop comparing the two stories. Twilight can be compared to many other love stories that took place long before it was written as well.
A love story can be written only so many ways. I think that this author was able to put her own twist on a tale as old as time and I think her twist was wonderfully done. Many of the complaints are coming from readers who didn't even buy the book. I've also seen complaints about writing errors and things of that nature. The book was free...you realize that, right? Seeing that it was free, it's quite hard to validate such a complaint.
Since first reading this book I have gotten to know this author and decided I wanted to interview her. I have put the interview on my blog so please give it a read so you can learn a bit more about the mind behind the Sojourner series.
Visit my blog here: http://kimsbeautifulchaos.blogspot.co...
September 25, 2012
Elizabeth Moon has grown up living a life that can be difficult at times, being a "half breed" she cant seem to fit in either world, but luckily she has her guardian Jimmie, who has been like a father to her since her mother died and her father went missing. Though content to have Jimmie, she been losing sleep, seeing the same young, handsome man in her dreams when she sees him at her school she cant believe it and tries everything possible to get close to him. But she doesn’t expect to find out the secret he’s been hiding not only about himself but about what will happen to her....
This book had me interested because of the title, as soon as I started reading I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. The Authors style of writing is captivating as you can see the hardships Lizzie has to go through and the awful things that begin to happen to her at school. I did not expect the book to end in such a way as it did, but it prepares you for the next book that is surely to come in the series. I would highly recommend this book to those that have a love for the paranormal that deals with angels. I give this book 5/5 bats.
~Marie
This book had me interested because of the title, as soon as I started reading I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. The Authors style of writing is captivating as you can see the hardships Lizzie has to go through and the awful things that begin to happen to her at school. I did not expect the book to end in such a way as it did, but it prepares you for the next book that is surely to come in the series. I would highly recommend this book to those that have a love for the paranormal that deals with angels. I give this book 5/5 bats.
~Marie
November 27, 2011
SLIGHT SPOILER! ~
In the beginning, I don't know why, but it kind of reminded me of twilight.
Elizabeth is a good character but sometimes I think that she over reacts a bit, and doesn't really think of the obvious answer. The story line is good, and how Lev came into the book was great. She dreams about him then see's him in school.
I personally think that the love between Lizzie and Lev went by too fast.
Griffin is a funny fellow, I always knew he was good guy. I suspected the Janitor to be the bad guy but in the end it was the teacher.
Who knew that what Lev mean by "when i save you, I'll be gone" or something like that, was that he was going to die....I then said to myself "Angels don't die!"
The cover of the book isn't my favorite. At first glance, I personally didn't feel like reading it at all until I read the synopsis. The cover should be Levs' bare chest and his wings with Lizzie or something.
I personally recommend this book for those who are into deep tragic love stories. Because i enjoyed it very much! <3
In the beginning, I don't know why, but it kind of reminded me of twilight.
Elizabeth is a good character but sometimes I think that she over reacts a bit, and doesn't really think of the obvious answer. The story line is good, and how Lev came into the book was great. She dreams about him then see's him in school.
I personally think that the love between Lizzie and Lev went by too fast.
Griffin is a funny fellow, I always knew he was good guy. I suspected the Janitor to be the bad guy but in the end it was the teacher.
Who knew that what Lev mean by "when i save you, I'll be gone" or something like that, was that he was going to die....I then said to myself "Angels don't die!"
The cover of the book isn't my favorite. At first glance, I personally didn't feel like reading it at all until I read the synopsis. The cover should be Levs' bare chest and his wings with Lizzie or something.
I personally recommend this book for those who are into deep tragic love stories. Because i enjoyed it very much! <3
July 17, 2014
I like a good fantasy type novel as much as anyone else, but I've always been a bit wary towards angels. The cliche-feeling beautiful supernatural creatures left me feeling slightly unsatisfied at first, but I was able to look past it. It was different, and throughout the story, I expected a stereotypical happy ending. Suffice to say, I wasn't really expecting what happened (although I felt like I should have been, for some reason).
The story gave me a Twilight vibe (small town, supernatural hero to the poor damsel, fake family of said supernatural beings, etc.), but I tried to overlook that, and I thought it was well written overall (other than some grammar and whatnot errors).
I wish the characters would have had more depth, and that there would have been more focus on the events that happened in the book. There was a lot happening with not a whole lot of details or explanation.
Definitely had potential, not completely met, but I enjoyed it as a pretty superficial kind of read.
The story gave me a Twilight vibe (small town, supernatural hero to the poor damsel, fake family of said supernatural beings, etc.), but I tried to overlook that, and I thought it was well written overall (other than some grammar and whatnot errors).
I wish the characters would have had more depth, and that there would have been more focus on the events that happened in the book. There was a lot happening with not a whole lot of details or explanation.
Definitely had potential, not completely met, but I enjoyed it as a pretty superficial kind of read.
December 30, 2013
I got this book free from Amazon and I enjoyed it. However, I did start seeing similarities to another bit of YA fiction almost immediately.
If you liked Twilight, you'll probably like this. It has the addition of a bit of extreme racial antagonism to give the main character a reason to require saving but otherwise the story is much of a muchness.
Also, one odd moment; for a character so aware of how awful small-minded people can be when it comes to equality between people with different coloured skin, I found her callous disregard for equality between the genders strange - she seems to think a man who cooks is being unusual and worth mocking. This really bugged me.
This book overwhelmingly reminded me of Twilight in it's structure and story line. The twists were in substituting an angel for a vampire and throwing the heroine into the midst of a racist town instead of her having to face up to a hunter vampire.
If you liked Twilight, you'll probably like this. It has the addition of a bit of extreme racial antagonism to give the main character a reason to require saving but otherwise the story is much of a muchness.
Also, one odd moment; for a character so aware of how awful small-minded people can be when it comes to equality between people with different coloured skin, I found her callous disregard for equality between the genders strange - she seems to think a man who cooks is being unusual and worth mocking. This really bugged me.
This book overwhelmingly reminded me of Twilight in it's structure and story line. The twists were in substituting an angel for a vampire and throwing the heroine into the midst of a racist town instead of her having to face up to a hunter vampire.
August 3, 2010
Sojourner (Book 1) was really not worth the read unless you are a 13 or 14 year old girl. It is very derivative of Twilight. And Lizzie is just as whiney as Bella. A good, solid, tough teenage girl (see The Hunger Games) is far preferable.
So what is good about this book? There is an unconvincing romance (are any of them convincing), there is the joy of discovery of the hidden powers of one of the characters. But that is the nature of so many books or movies in a series. It was free which is good for me (ever the frugal Vermonter). It was the first book that I've read on an iPad using the Kindle reader. That was fun. And the writing itself wasn't bad aside from a very insipid plot. Why would they have to stay in town to sell a house? Duh! There are realtors.
Really, don't bother with this one.
So what is good about this book? There is an unconvincing romance (are any of them convincing), there is the joy of discovery of the hidden powers of one of the characters. But that is the nature of so many books or movies in a series. It was free which is good for me (ever the frugal Vermonter). It was the first book that I've read on an iPad using the Kindle reader. That was fun. And the writing itself wasn't bad aside from a very insipid plot. Why would they have to stay in town to sell a house? Duh! There are realtors.
Really, don't bother with this one.
Read
March 8, 2013Un urban fantasy davvero inquietante...
L'inizio di questo libro non è particolarmente originale perché c'è la solita diciassettenne (in media i protagonisti degli urbvan fantasy sono adolescenti tra i 14 e i 18 anni probabilmente per giusticare le loro insicurezze e il loro percorso di crescita nel corso del libro, ma anche per rispecchiare l'età dei lettori di questo genere di romanzi)... dopo un inizio un po' lento e prevedebile scopriamo però che il misterioso ragazzo di cui si innamora Rachel potrebbe essere il suo sojourner ossia l'angelo che la deve portare via al momento della morte... il che trasforma la storia in un incubo inquietante come quelli che fa la protagonista e che rischia di fare anche il lettore troppo sensibile... per cui non credo che leggerò il seguito di questa saga...
L'inizio di questo libro non è particolarmente originale perché c'è la solita diciassettenne (in media i protagonisti degli urbvan fantasy sono adolescenti tra i 14 e i 18 anni probabilmente per giusticare le loro insicurezze e il loro percorso di crescita nel corso del libro, ma anche per rispecchiare l'età dei lettori di questo genere di romanzi)... dopo un inizio un po' lento e prevedebile scopriamo però che il misterioso ragazzo di cui si innamora Rachel potrebbe essere il suo sojourner ossia l'angelo che la deve portare via al momento della morte... il che trasforma la storia in un incubo inquietante come quelli che fa la protagonista e che rischia di fare anche il lettore troppo sensibile... per cui non credo che leggerò il seguito di questa saga...
April 24, 2012
Sojourner was the first book I've read in a long time that I was unable to put down. I chose this book while exploring books in the Goodreads app. What made the book even better was that is was a free download in iBooks.As I read the book I spent a majority of the time realizing that it bears a STRONG similarity to the Twilight series. Unfortunately this book did not seem as strongly written. Regardless, I still found myself rooting for the match between Elizabeth and Lev, hoping there would be an optimistic third alternative to their fate. I didn't want to put the book down and had to read it to the end. The story itself is just starting to unfold with the first book. I hope the next book in this series holds my fascination as strongly as the first.
September 17, 2013
I really tried to read this book. I couldn't get past the constant references to the main heroines ancestry. I get that the author was trying to show racial prejudice, but it didn't really fly. Firstly, the girl was half Native American/half Caucasian. She is described as beautiful of face. Not sure why teenagers would then write half-breed on a mirror inside a locked locker (like a teenager would know what a half breed is) and slash her tires. Seems too outdated a premise. The other issue i had, aside from grammar mistakes, is the initial descriptions, described her short, spiky dark hair, and then later in the same day she is tucking her long hair into her coat...
I think this story could use a harsher editing eye.
I think this story could use a harsher editing eye.
August 26, 2012
Initially I didn't know if I was going to like this story or not,
but by the time I finished reading it (literally just now) I found I actually did like it even with the "Touched by an angel" feel at places.
I was actually glued to finish reading it and am even tempted to maybe look up the next books at some point down the road.
I did however find it read at times too much like a rough first draft in need a bit of polishing, it came across a bit… not sure of the word I want to use here-choppy(?) in the beginning especially.
(I got this as a free kindle book on Amazon and not sure if it was just the version I read or if that IS how the book reads.)
but by the time I finished reading it (literally just now) I found I actually did like it even with the "Touched by an angel" feel at places.
I was actually glued to finish reading it and am even tempted to maybe look up the next books at some point down the road.
I did however find it read at times too much like a rough first draft in need a bit of polishing, it came across a bit… not sure of the word I want to use here-choppy(?) in the beginning especially.
(I got this as a free kindle book on Amazon and not sure if it was just the version I read or if that IS how the book reads.)
September 3, 2015
Do angel books ever get old?
If you answered yes, move on. If no, here's a light, easy read.
Okay, so this one follows all of the angel book trends, but I tend to like the angel trends. I only have two complaints: 1. that the protagonist didn't take a more aggressive role, and 2. that the book ended on a cliffhanger.
CLIFF-HANGER.
Ugh.
Yes, the trend from all Indie books a few years ago. (End so the reader will HAVE to come back for more!) Can I really fault the author for it? No. I should have known it was coming. Regardless, I'm not a fan of cliffhangers in a first book.
Over all, not a bad read.
Content warning: Clean. Minor violence.
If you answered yes, move on. If no, here's a light, easy read.
Okay, so this one follows all of the angel book trends, but I tend to like the angel trends. I only have two complaints: 1. that the protagonist didn't take a more aggressive role, and 2. that the book ended on a cliffhanger.
CLIFF-HANGER.
Ugh.
Yes, the trend from all Indie books a few years ago. (End so the reader will HAVE to come back for more!) Can I really fault the author for it? No. I should have known it was coming. Regardless, I'm not a fan of cliffhangers in a first book.
Over all, not a bad read.
Content warning: Clean. Minor violence.
January 13, 2016
The whole mystery what is the actual plot was interesting for a little while but the writing was a tad juvenile and kind of ruined it for me. there were references to things that never happened (i.e. "like i said..." but the thing was never actually discussed). Pretty much everything was underdeveloped except for the mystery which felt like it dragged on forever. To top it all off the whole thing was super pre teen angsty. "i know ive only known you for 2 weeks but i love you! and i cant live without you!!!!" Gag. I know this is a young adult book but that doesnt mean it has to be that bad. The ending made me curious but not enough to invest money in it.
September 1, 2011
I can't put this book down because I WANT TO FINISH IT but omg it's so emo. Not so much the characters, and the writing is pretty good but because of the way it's written it seems so depressing! Like I'm getting depressed just reading it.
It's a series but I won't touch the other books. I can't stand this style of writing and only my reading challenge is keeping me motivated enough to finish this. (Think "He arches his eyebrow expectantly" and "He now pushes his plate away", "I cringe and some of the water spills" etc...).
It's a series but I won't touch the other books. I can't stand this style of writing and only my reading challenge is keeping me motivated enough to finish this. (Think "He arches his eyebrow expectantly" and "He now pushes his plate away", "I cringe and some of the water spills" etc...).
March 3, 2012
I can sum up this book using one word--cheesy.
I have to agree that this book had numerous similarities to Twilight. The over protective father figure, the accident-prone girl, the shimmery boyfriend.
oh and in the second book she's trying to do something wreckless to get Lev to make an appearance (New Moon anyone?)
I'm a fan of Twilight. I'll admit that.
But I didn't feel much of a connection to any of the characters and the dialogue between Lev and Lizzie was pretty awful at times. I don't think I will.be continuing this series.
I have to agree that this book had numerous similarities to Twilight. The over protective father figure, the accident-prone girl, the shimmery boyfriend.
oh and in the second book she's trying to do something wreckless to get Lev to make an appearance (New Moon anyone?)
I'm a fan of Twilight. I'll admit that.
But I didn't feel much of a connection to any of the characters and the dialogue between Lev and Lizzie was pretty awful at times. I don't think I will.be continuing this series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews