Friday, September 13, 2013

Review: Nocturnal (Noctalis Chronicles #1) by Chelsea Cameron

 
Title:  Nocturnal (The Noctalis Chronicles #1)
Author: Chelsea M. Cameron
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Age Group:  Young Adult
Publication Date: Feb 11th 2012
 
Synopsis:
 
Seventeen-year-old Ava-Claire Sullivan's mother is dying. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that her greatest solace comes from someone who's already dead.
 
Peter Hart saves her one night in a graveyard from an attacker just as strange as he is, and now Ava can't stop thinking about him. She wants to see him again – even after he warns her he's dangerous, and she begins to realize what he is. Her best friends don't know anything about death, but Peter does, intimately. He's waiting for her the next night she comes to the cemetery, and the next...
 
But their growing bond comes up against a promise Peter made a long time ago, a promise that could destroy them both. Now Ava has to decide just what she's willing to give up to hold onto the one thing that could last forever.
 
 
My Review:
 
**I received a copy of Nocturnal in exchange for an honest review**
 
This book had good and bad points for me, and I'm having a hard time rating it, so I'll go with a solid 3 stars. The story started off pretty strong for me as Ava learned of her mother's disappointing prognosis. I love an emotional read and many aspects of this story really pulled at my heartstrings. I didn't particularly care for how Ava handled her grief at the prospect of losing her mother. Yes, people handle things very differently and I can't exactly fault her for that, but I had hoped she would turn to her friends in her time of need. She had two very best friends, and yet she completely shut them out. Not only that, but she wasn't there for one of them when he needed her as well.
 
Ava's love interest, Peter, was introduced very early on and I was really intrigued as to how their relationship would play out. This author created a very different paranormal world than I was expecting. This definitely isn't your typical vampire/werewolf/fallen angel story. But as much as I could appreciate the fact that Peter was meant to be devoid of emotion- he wasn't human after all- his personality sometimes fell flat for me. I felt as if I started the book off feeling really connected to the characters, and that connection somehow fizzled out as the story progressed. Ava's mother, however, was a character that I absolutely loved. She was a beautiful person, she handled her illness with grace and, despite everything she was going through, was so full of life.
 
Overall, I did enjoy this book. There were many laugh-out-loud moments for me and I really loved the author's sense of humor. There were also a few very sweet moments thrown in there between Ava and Peter. Blink and you might miss them, but they were there and they warmed my heart. Unfortunately, I spent the entire book torn between being extremely intrigued as to how the story would play out, and being frustrated that the story seemed to drag by unbearably slow at certain parts. I feel as though this book was a good start to the series, but perhaps more of an introduction to the characters and the Noctalis Chronicles. I'm not sure that I'll continue on in this series, but I am glad that I was given the opportunity to review. But if you're looking for a fresh take on the paranormal that leans a bit towards the darker side, then you should definitely give Nocturnal a try.
 
All Four Books in The Noctalis Chronicles:
Available NOW!
 
Nocturnal
 
Nightmare
 
Neither
 
Neverend
 
 
 
About the Author: Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA New York Times/USA Today Best Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting (this one time, she was tweeted by Neil Gaiman). She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

Her New Adult Contemporary Romance titles include My Favorite Mistake, which has been bought by Harlequin along with a sequel, Deeper We Fall and Faster We Burn (April 20, 2013)

Her Young Adult books include Nocturnal, Nightmare and Neither, the first three books in The Noctalis Chronicles. The fourth and final book, Neverend will be out in 2013. Whisper, the first in The Whisper Trilogy is also available, with the second book in the series, Silence and the final book, LIsten coming out in 2014.

Connect with Chelsea:
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...