I was given a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review(Lovers of Paranormal). The following review contains spoilers.

Rating 5 of 10

Very good book, a real page-turner. Very unexpacted twists that keep you guessing what's next till the last page.

BUT....

Ella....

That girl was annoying. Don't even know where to start with. She is selfish, spoiled, stuborn(and not in a good way) and very stupid girl. I felt for her at the beginning. She seemed nice and I liked the fact that even after the tragedy she is trying to get a grip of her life and move on. If the book was about her trying to do just that, it would have been great. No such luck. I didn't like how she acted on that party and made out with that Mark guy but I overlooked it. Hey, a girl have the right to be a bit recless after such a tragedy. Accepted it as part of the healing process and moved on. And then Ella went to the university. To get drunk as pig on your first party there is absolutely unacceptable behavior for a girl in my opinion but that's just me. I have seen it happen, so... whatever. Now enter Tristan. She said he annoyed her but I never saw her doing anything really to get rid of him, just a few half-hearted attempts that looked more like a flirting to me than anything else. And don't tell me that she couldn't get rid of him, cause he was persistent. If Ella wanted to do it she could have done it. As it happened - Tristan played her like a cat plays with a mouse... and she played along. He challenged her and Ella never knew when to back down or fight back. If she really liked him from the very beginning and had second thoughts because of Kyle I would have thought it normal. But at this point I would have loved to hear more about Kyle. He sort of have been forgotten somewhere on the way. Okay, lets move on. The date was nice, nothing much to say for it. But after Ella saw Tristan with another girl I thought she will finally get the hint. Nope, she lets herself being smitten with him again. And then Tristan refused to sleep with her because she was drunk(again). This is the point that I actually decided that he is a good guy and is worth the shot. Ella, of course, finally decided to get rid of him. Because she obviously prefers bad guys and the possibility of Tristan actually being a nice one repulses her. So she chooses Jack. The creepy guy. At this point I already had a bad feeling about him. Mostly because of his reaction on her dating Tristan. Looked a bit too possessive to me. And that leads me to another annoying thing about Ella - she never asked herself who the killer is. She was way too self-absorbed to bother with suck a trivial thing like a murder on the campus. A child would have been more curious than her. And I laughed when they found the second body. Ella herself mentions he have been dead there for days. But is worried about the roommate. Like there is a chance he didn't noticed that his roommate is murdered.... Funny girl.

And then the big secrets are revealed. Ella is annoyed about being lied to. I get that but why she had to trow a tantrum? Didn't saw Josie doing that. But Ella obviouly had a problem with autority. I get her prolems with being royalty but not the one with the guardians. Hello, girl, time to get the memo - there is someone out there determned to kill you. But what she does? Sneaks out to go to a party. And not only there, but back to the empty building where they are an easy prey. Do I blame Ella for what happened? I sure do! Josie didn't get the whole danger, but Ella did. She was just too stupid to even think that someone might get hurt. For a stupid party? If you want to go that much why not ask permision first? Go with guardians? Honestly, at the end of the book I wished Ella was dead.

And in the same time I couldn't just put the book down. At some point, I think it was when Ella trew a tantrum and refused to listen to anything her father said, I went back in the beginning to check how old actually Ella is. If I have found out she was 14-15-16 years old I would have given the book a 10 and never given it a second thought. At the age of 18 a girl is (supposedly) out of puberty and that confusing age of the 'misunderstood' girl.

What else I really liked in the book?

The secondary characters were actually very well developed. Josie grew on me from page one, her brother was adorable and Billy and Dixon were just great. Would have been happy to see more of Josie' and Billy's love story. The twists in the plot were actually unexpected.

Time for book 2. Can't wait to see what happens next and I really hope that Ella is going to grow up. ( )

Ella, the main character in the story, is a teenager who has had to deal with way too much grief for someone her age. You can empathize with her from the start but also hope that she is able to get past it. She makes some lousy decisions in the story that will make you angry but thankfully, she always comes through in the end. Tristan is your typical gorgeous college student who is completely incorrigible, to the point where I didn't even like him at some points in the story. He seemed too much of a playboy to be swoon worthy. However, as I began to piece things together toward the end, I realized that what I thought was happening wasn't really the case. Even though all of my questions weren't answered about him, I have some pretty good hunches about why he acted the way he did. By the end, I was also enamored by him and hoping he and Ella would find happiness together. Jack started out as a good friend but I knew something was wrong with him from the start. I just couldn't place my finger on what it was but he was just off in some way that made me suspicious.

What I found quite interesting about the story was that there was really no major paranormal element to it until about halfway through. I wasn't sure if we would be dealing with witches, vampires, werewolves, or what. There were little clues here and there, and Ella's dreams of course, but the big reveal didn't happen for a long time. I kind of liked it this way. Not only did it keep me reading to see if my predictions were correct, but I didn't feel like the romance or plot was rushed in any way. Once everything was finally out in the open however, the action really picked up and the ending was, well... let's just say I need the next book now.

Fans of YA paranormal will like this story. When I mentioned earlier that it could use a little bit of polish, that just means that there were a few editing issues and I still have a lot of burning questions that need to be addressed. I'm hoping that these questions will be answered in the next book. Give this one a chance. I think you will enjoy it. ( )

[I was given a digital edition for free from the author, in exchange for an honest review]

The book focuses on the life of eighteen year old Ella and how she discovers the true origins of her family. First chapter offers a small glimpse at the mystery that will be slowly unraveled through the pages of the novel. Ella lost her boyfriend in a car accident and since then she’s been having nightmares about the strange yellow eyed man who tried to kill her that night and the anonymous person who saved her. After this incident, her parents become overprotective and thus she feels suffocated by all their care and attention. She is looking forward to going to college with her best friend Josie to get away from them and her two older brothers.

While there are some aspects that I did not enjoy and I will elaborate below, the book was a great read, with amusing expressions and moments. The author’s writing feels natural and I found myself enjoying the witty dialogues between the characters. Despite the slow progress of the plot, I got caught up in the pages and did not want to put it down till the last word!

One of the things that I did not enjoy is the difficult way in which the story unfolds. We are overloaded with irrelevant actions or dialogues and because of it the book is longer than needed. Also, there are moments when one may think: “Ok, now she finds out” but nothing happens. It becomes frustrating by the end.

From characters point of view, Ella is close to the typical teenager who wants her independence. What I did like about her was the fact that she was neither too good nor was she too rebellious. She had a little bit of everything. What I did not like was the fact that she never asked questions or she never waited for an explanation. For example, she overhears one of her brothers arguing with their father about the decision of not telling her the truth, but she does not try to find out what was that all about.

Ella’s friend Josie is the party type girl, always wanting to have fun. Her actions have an important role in shaping Ella’s love life. As for Tristan and Jack, the two boys fighting for Ella, I can say they were very nicely presented in the book. Even though Tristan was asking for forgiveness too much, his personality brought so much light and charm to the story.

I believe that the book needs a little bit of editing as well, as there were some grammar mistakes and repeated words. But then again, I probably had a draft version.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and since the ending left me wanting for more, I will for sure read the next books in this series. This was a fun read, with a story that keeps you hanging till the end, I would like to thank Jessica Miller for the opportunity and congratulate her for this great book! ( )

The Wanderers by Jessica Miller

Ella and her best friend Josie are starting college, they are looking forward to the college life, she even meets a few young men. But her nightmares of an evil man who is after her, seems to be coming true. Also a student ends up murdered. Not knowing who to trust, Ella soon learns the deep held family secrets and her life as she knows it will never be the same.

A well written story with likable and not so likable charters. A bit of mystery to keep you wanting to read more, and secrets that surface that add the spark of a fantastic read. I recommend to Y/A and adults as well. I look forward to the next book in the series Reborn. ( )

Here's how I work a lot of the time. An author, publicist or someone asks me to review a book. I read the summary, decide I want to review it and then a few weeks later read the book. I purposely don't re-read the summary because sometimes they tell me too much about the book and I form opinions up front. So when I started The Wanderers, I had no idea what it was about (I can't seem to remember yesterday, but if When Doves Cry by Prince comes on the radio I can sing every word). And I liked not knowing. I went into the book with a clean slate and excited.

The Wanderers did not disappoint. I was hooked from the first page. Ella enticed me. She's a nice girl, she's been through a rough time and she just wants to start over at college. But there is a family secret and that leads to the start of the buildup of tension in the story. Then there is college, Ella's best friend Josie who is interesting and Jack and Tristan. I liked Jack okay, I had a friend like him in college. But I loved Tristan. Loved the love-hate relationship Ella had with him. Even with his faults I knew he had a good heart.

There is a lot of back and forth and Ella could seem wishy-washy at times, but I really didn't feel that she was. She really was trying to work out her feelings for Tristan, a known playboy which she didn't like yet she was attracted to him. And Ella is the girl that can make a bad boy into a great man for one woman. So the love/attraction part of the story is quite intriguing. But that's not all there is to this book. I'm not giving any spoilers, but let's say the book did not lack action. I found it exciting the whole way through. The tension built well and though everything happens fast at the end, I never felt like it was rushed. The pacing of the book was great, it hooked me and kept me enthralled until the very end.

The paranormal element is great and well-done. I'm still not sure whether to classify this as New Adult or not, it's not YA because they are in college, but while there is some grittiness to the book, it's not as gritty as what I consider New Adult, but then again I think the true definition of the genre (kids in their late teens, early twenties trying to find themselves and their way in the world) then this does qualify. Ella, Josie, Jack are all somewhat typical kids in their late teens feeling their way through the college scene, dating and just making up their minds (or not) about life. So it does work.

Overall this book is stellar and I was so glad the author allowed me to read this and had Reborn (The Wanderers #2) also ready for me to review so I could jump right into reading it. So I'm reading it now, look for it's review next week. But if it's anything like The Wanderers, I'm in for another fun ride that will keep me up late at night to see what will happen next! ( )