Review: Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Title: Intertwined

Author: Gena Showalter

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Synopsis: There's something about the the new guy at Crossroads High.... Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him. With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions. Aden and the souls have become friends. But now, they're causing him all kinds of trouble when all he wants is peace...Then he meets a girl, Mary Ann, who quiets the voices. Well, as long as she is near him. They are total opposites and unlikely friends, but Aden can't help it, he's drawn to her. He knows he must stay away, for her own good, but it's too late because they both share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond that is about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who Mary Ann for his own, and a vampire princess Aden can't resist. The four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger-but not everyone will come out alive...

Overall Review: GOOD BAD UGLY

Okay, so I am kind of on the fence about this book. I was teetering between a GOOD rating and a BAD one. I chose GOOD because Showalter is coming out with a sequel in August and I think it could have real potential. I liked the book, it was fairly original and gripped me emotionally in some areas. However, some parts bored me and I would put the book away for a while and return to it later when I was mentally able to push through the boredom. Other parts like the the ten chapters or so made me not want to put it down, whether or not it was because I just wanted to hurry up and finish it or because is was that good, I still am not sure. What I am sure about it that though I probably won't read it again, I would recommend for UF junkies. What I did love about the series was the four main characters, Aden, Mary Ann, Riley and Victoria. They are complicated, and tough and vulnerable and best of all they are extremely protective of each other. The relationship of the four characters is the what keeps the reader interested in the book because these characters are fascinating, especially Riley and Victoria. Mary Ann could be your best friend at school, and Aden...well he could be the boy you have always dreamed about. The relationship of these characters override any qualms I have about the plot. I am looking forward to the next in the series Unraveled due out August 31, 2010, I can't wait to see what is going to happen to my four new fictional friends. Showalter is a great author and I enjoy many of her Adult UF books, and maybe I simply had too high of an expectation for this book. That happens quite often with me when I adore an author. As, I said this isn't a book I would rave about, but I think that lots of people would enjoy despite my opinion. So go ahead and pick it up and make your own judgements.