Blue Moon by Alyson Noel

Sad to say I was not at all impressed with this book. I didn't hate it but it was a poor sequel to Evermore which I felt was exemplary.

Damen has been searching for Ever for four hundred years. For over four centuries he has sought her out, found her, loved her and lost her in death. When Drina, the force that has always kept them apart is finally eliminated, nothing should stand in the way of a long, immortal life together.

When Roman, the new kid at school seems overly eager to befriend any and everyone, Ever is annoyed that he is taking away time between her and Damen. There's something not quite right about him but he has an aura and she can read his thoughts so he clearly can't be anything more than an arrogant, overly friendly new guy. Can he?

But now Damen, the man who has scoured time for her has suddenly become distant, cruel and...human. In a moment he as gone from loving to loathing and pushes Ever further away than the years of separation ever could.

I am so disappointed in Ever. In Evermore, a truly wonderful character was created. I just loved her. She was uniquely gifted, a strong personality and admirable. In Blue Moon she bordered on whiny, lacking in all judgement and prone to too many bouts of self pity and foolishness. She's the tough heroine on a quest to save her love right? Then how come every thing she's doing is so random and lacking in common sense?

It just seemed like it was a mix of so many elements from other stories that there was never a central story to focus on. It was very disjointed and I never felt that any flow in the story emerged.

Marring Noel's previously flawless writing ability were two carelessly placed Twilight references that I felt was rather undeserving, to both herself as a writer and to the beautiful story she had crafted in Evermore.

     The lions are now lunching with lambs
and later:
     "Chillax." She smiles. "Dad found it and tossed it in the backseat...

Enough with every new YA book release feeling required to make a Twilight reference. We've beaten that horse to death and isn't it time to just let the poor beast die?

Halfway through I was angry, almost to the point of book abandonment and while the ending helped redeem the book, I never connected to the story, sympathized with the characters or developed any feelings other than blah and relief that I could now move on to something better. I miss the first book and remain hopeful that Noel will recapture the emotions it conveyed in the next one. I have no doubt in her ability to do so.