At last! Something realistic to read in the Teen Fiction Paranormal Romance genre (thanks BN for that embarrassing mouthful. RIP Borders).
Ok, so the basic story of Revenants-zombie/ghost/immortal super sexy teens who repeatedly die to save lives-is far from realistic, but the whole romance aspect is refreshing. Not only does our female protagonist Kate shy away from the mysterious and potentially dangerous bad boy Vincent, when she discovers some of his secrets, she actually breaks off the relationship. For weeks! Sure, she obsesses-I mean that's what crushes are for. It doesn't matter if he's a loser who would break your heart, you're still attaching his last name to yours a million times over in your diary. But Miss Kate plays it cool. She gets the facts and adequately terrified at the supernatural future a relationship with said Revenant might bring, she walks away.
SPOILER ALERT
Kate predictably ends up with the irresistibly hawt Vincent, but not before laying ground rules. And she doesn't fall in love right away, but chooses to protect her heart and make sure the love is real-unlike some fate-tempting character who insists on figuratively and literally holding her juicy neck out to some deranged vampire who admitted to his natural desire to kill her with the simple "love conquers all" idiom (I'm speaking to you, Bella Swan).
Additionally, the Revenant background is refreshingly new. Not the typical vampire, werewolf, immortal, angel, demon, faerie (did I miss anything) scenario. Of course they come with their own set of rules and uniform regulations for survival that are quite convoluted and I feel Amy plum has barely touched the surface of possibilities. Still undecided on how I feel about that. But if there's a sequel, I'll probably read it.
the characters developed, if only somewhat. the story tried to be deep-connecting the trauma of recently orphaned Kate's views on death with a love interest who lives by dying every 3 weeks, but failed to elicit any real emotions. I actually lost a parent less than a year ago and am a prime candidate for character transference, but it was mostly a shallow read. I grazed the surface of a story and penetrated no further. Then there was the requisite fight scene between mortal enemies at the end. Although this was much more intriguing and gory than a comparable ballet studio brawl, it lacked any graphic details. The descriptions of a supremely paranormal sword fight had little conviction of suspense and left me wanting more.
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