Amanda Gray

Endless was not at all what I expected. I completely forgot what it was about before I started reading it so that might clue you in on my "sudden" unexpected feeling coming from this book. Endless is about a girl named Jenny who doesn't like to touch people because when she does she sees images of that persons life - more accurately she sees people's past life when she so much as grazes them with her fingertips. Then events occur where she discovers who she was in her own past life and two boys that she should have no connection to, become a close part of figuring out who she is because they were there in her dreams of her past life as a Romanov.

Now what is so awesome about Endless is that it had the paranormal elements with Jenny's powers to see past lives and it had flashbacks of Jenny's life as a Romanov and on top of all that there was this shady secret society that controlled time travel which has something to do with Jenny's late mother. There so much in this story but it all blends together and works remarkably well. I was truly impressed by how absorbed I was in this story.

Time travel is usually a no-no for me because it makes me nervous. I don't like it. I don't trust it. Time travel should stay in books and movies and away from me. So it was a surprise to me that I enjoyed that part of the book. Although, the characters weren't time traveling. It just had to do with time travel like time travel was mostly talked about.

I loved the flashbacks/dreams about Jenny as a Romonov. I don't really know anything about the family apart from the movie Anastasia which isn't saying much although it's a great movie nonetheless. It was so interesting seeing her life at that time. It was mostly about her and a boy named Nikolai as well as the fear her family had for their safety. Jenny herself was a likable character and I enjoyed reading her discovery of who she is and where she fits in the world.

“It's like that sometimes for people who have had traumatic experiences in their past life. It's hard to move on, to belong, in one place when you have unresolved business in another.”

The romance was alright. I liked Nikolai but took me some time to get to know him and see how much he cares about Jenny. I still think that there is so much more I needed to learn about him. His character feels purposely like a fixture. Someone who is too faraway from his time so that he doesn't connect with me in the present time.

“I'd do it a thousand times over for one chance to spend my life with you.”

Ben also took time to warm up to. He was the moody bad boy type when he was first introduced. He became an invaluable secondary character with his own side story that was really appealing and that I was interested in seeing how it concluded.

“It was like his loneliness connected them more intimately and deeply than someone she could have known for years. Like she and Ben skipped over all the stuff people usually do when they first meet. All the fake smiles and putting their best foot forwards. As if they'd jumped right to knowing each other so well they could themselves even when they weren't at their best.”

Everything that made the story what it was kept me occupied in that fictional world. The only thing that was iffy was Nikolai whom was kind of up in the air at the end of the story. Actually everything didn't feel resolved. I felt like Endless needs a sequel but it doesn't look like it is going to happen which is unfortunate because it's a really good story that deserves one.
… (altro)

This book was okay. The worst thing was that I thought things would be as good at the end as they were at the beginning. A case of 'idea sounds better than it was in execution.' A story about a dream-traveling girl with magic hands uncovering a secret cult in her home town, except, there was a romance that got in the way, and the villains were not so good. The bad guys were a poor version of Scientology meets Lemony Snicket's VFD. (Doesn't that sound appealing, though?) After the first chapter I was ready to get sucked in, but then once I'd read the thing, I felt like a great many of us felt after Twilight. In case you didn't read that, basically you've read 500 pages of stuff but feel like not that much happened. I don't mean that in an existential way - you just feel empty inside. Despite all the heart-pounding, all the voracious page-flipping, you wonder what happened aside from Bella staring at and thinking about Edward a lot. Here it is again. However, I can tell you the last chapters, while very Scooby-Doo, were jarring. The team gets together, bags the baddie, but it was such a departure from the thoughtful painting that Jenny does, the whirlwind descent into the Romanov family life of the past, and the creepy monks who seem to follow Jenny. It also reminded me a little of the Beautiful Creatures series, only in that the parents aren't all clueless, but the helpful ones are invariably dead. Jenny may save the gentleman in distress, and the end does tie things up enough while leading on for the next book, but it felt a little silly, is all. For that kind of beginning I was hoping for more than just a mystical romance. It's definitely readable, but I don't think I'll pick up the sequel.

"Tolerable, but not interesting enough to tempt me."
Fitzwilliam Darcy… (altro)