Amber had a rough life, abandoned at 3 years old, passed from one foster home to another…until she found Mrs B and Gabriel. Sure we have all the teenage angst from Amber, but there is something different about her. She is only half human, having power surges that put others in danger. As she discovers who and what she is, meets people that can give her answers, I am drawn deeper into her world, curious to meet the others and see what dangers she will face as she will Become who she is meant to be. I love the characters and the battle she faced near the end of the book.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com ( )

I...there are not words for how boring I found this book. I wanted to like it. The cover is pretty, and the ratings are generally pretty good, and, hey, I'm always up for a good indie book! But dear God, this book reads like a teenager's fanfic.

Nothing happens. Nothing. The people who say otherwise are lying to you. The "bad guys" of this story don't even make a move until page 225. THE BOOK IS 250 PAGES. Everything else prior to that consists of Amber, our protagonist, making gooey eyes at the love of her life, Gabriel. Amber is apparently some kind of half-deity meant to ascend to higher plane or something (I started skimming, so sue me) and naturally, she is an inhumanly gorgeous Super Speshul Snowflake with hair down to her knees, wings, and a giant sword, who also heals people and shoots magic out of her hands. (Somewhat disturbingly, after she "ascends" to the higher plane, there is a brief mention to the fact that her physical body is left behind, and suddenly the book moves on like nothing happened. So her body is actually just left lying somewhere? THIS SEEMS LIKE AN IMPORTANT DETAIL.)

The writing itself isn't bad, except that it's constantly devoted to random shit nobody cares about. The clothes everyone is wearing, the lingerie our protagonist is wearing, whether or not people are wearing shoes and, if they are, what TYPE of shoe they are wearing--this goes on. for. pages. I'm actually being serious, as all of these details were covered extensively during various scenes.

So there you have it. I know some people must like this book, but I was not one of them. I find it alternately hilarious and ridiculous that this series apparently spans THREE NOVELS. I can only assume that the costume changes are plentiful to provide Ms. Thomas with that much writing material.

( )

This review first appeared here on my blog!

Becoming is one of those books that you sit down to read a few pages of and next thing you know, you're looking up at the clock and an hour has somehow passed you by! I honestly adored this book from start to finish and my only regret is that I didn't read it sooner. Becoming first caught my eye a while back because of its lovely cover. Once I read the description, I knew this was a book that I could not miss out on. Power surges? Alternate planes? I just had to know how it was all going to play out.

I loved pretty much everything about this book. From page one, the reader is thrown into an absolutely fascinating story. We get to know the two protagonists, Amber and Gabriel and see the close but complex friendship they have. Amber hasn't had an easy life; all her foster placements didn't end well through no fault of her own, but this doesn't stop Amber from being a kindhearted and selfless character who you can't help but adore.

There is certainly a lot of tension from the very beginning of this book. Amber and Gabriel are constantly living in fear of Amber having one of her ''surges'' and the possible consequences of that. Amber never really gets to relax and just enjoy her life because she never knows what's ahead of her or how dangerous it is! When Amber and Gabriel find out that there are others like her out there, they are quite willing to believe it because they had already seen the impossible happen several times.

My favourite part was when we found out about the Estilorians and their story. It was just so intriguing and I couldn't tear my eyes away from the page. I love how Amber found out so many secrets about her own past and faced it with courage and a level-head! Gabriel and Amber are really forced to grow up pretty fast in this book but their relationship is sweet, even if it all gets a bit cheesy at times!

I also really loved the characters names in this book. They were just fun to look at and added a unique aspect to this book! If you haven't already figured it out, I thoroughly enjoyed Becoming and will be getting to the rest of the series in the coming weeks so look out for those review. I'll also be reviewing Defy next week for the blog tour, which is based on the same world but is a separate series! ( )

Becoming is a wonderful read. I loved Amber and Gabriel (swoon). This is an enchanting first book in an amazing series. I thought this was probably going to be another paranormal romance, which I love, but this book is so much more. Raine Thomas has created a fantasy world that is amazing. Amber finds herself transitioned into this world with the hottie Gabriel, only to find out there is a lot more to Gabriel than she tought. A whole other plane of existence exists, and for Amber, everything changes. The romance is great, there is some kick butt action, and Amber is quite the heroine. This story is beautifully written and is filled with emotion. The imaginary Estilorian world that Raine Thomas has created is nothing short of brillant and I felt like I was in the middle of a fairy tale. Becoming is a great beginning to a great series and I would highly recommend it. ( )

Becoming is the first book in the Daughters Of Saraqael trilogy.
Every three years, Amber Hopkins explodes. Okay, not a blown-to-smithereens explosion, but whatever it is always hurts like hell and leaves her life a shambles. She’s already worked her way through five foster placements, and she’s doing whatever she can to avoid getting blasted into a sixth.
As her eighteenth birthday approaches and she feels the strange and powerful energy building, disaster looms. When the inevitable explosion occurs, her life gets its biggest shakeup yet. She’ll not only learn how her fellow foster and best friend, Gabriel, really feels about her, but she’ll discover that she isn’t really without family.

Raine Thomas kindly gave me her book Becoming to read and review, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it from start to finish! I loved the concept behind Amber's explosions / power surges. At first from the cover and the explosions, I thought that Amber was a shapeshifter or a dragon, but what she actually turns out to be is much better! My favourite characters were Amber and Gabriel, Amber because of her personality, her many ordeals and her strength throughout them, and Gabriel because of his loving nature and protectiveness towards Amber. I love the cover of this book, it portrays the story within perfectly! The half of Amber's face that is shown on the cover, beautifully depicts part of her nature that she discovers in the Becoming. ( )