Book Review - Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Friday August 28, 2009

Intertwined
by Gena Showalter
Available September 1, 2009
Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him:
One can time-travel.
One can raise the dead.
One can tell the future.
And one can possess another human.
With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions, Aden and the souls have become friends. But now they're causing him all kinds of trouble. Like, he'll blink and suddenly he's a younger Aden, reliving the past. One wrong move, and he'll change the future. Or he'll walk past a total stranger and know how and when she's going to die.

He's so over it. All he wants is peace.
And then he meets a girl who quiets the voices. Well, as long as he's near her. Why? Mary Ann Gray is his total opposite. He's a loner; she has friends. He doesn't care what anyone thinks; she tries to make everyone happy. And while he attracts the paranormal, she repels it. For her sake, he should stay away. But it's too late....
Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own, and a vampire princess Aden can't resist.

Two romances, both forbidden. Still, the four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger but not everyone will come out alive....

One of things that I most admire about certain authors is their wonderful ability to weave a story so intricately that by the end of the book you (as the reader) discover all the different ways the characters in the story are interconnected and there ends up being some great "a-ha!" moment towards the end of the book.

Intertwined is definitely one of those books! Now, to be honest here... the first chapter or so didn't completely excite me...but sometimes that's just me (who knows, maybe one of my kids had just irritated me or something) but just in case, I want to point this out because this book is totally worth it! Once the story got going I couldn't put the book down.

Aden is a very interesting character and his relationship with Mary Ann is very unique in the world of paranormal romance. It has nothing to do with the fact that he is labeled the bad boy, troubled child living at a youth ranch for teen boys versus Mary Ann who is the popular, good girl with plenty of friends and the cutest boy at school for a boyfriend. The uniqueness here is that all though they feel inexplicably drawn to one another they seem to be lacking any romantic spark.

But the fact that when they first see each other they cause such a power surge that it knocks Mary Ann on her butt shows us there is definitely SOMETHING going on...

Paranormal romance lovers will totally gush over the relationship between Mary Ann and Riley the werewolf shape-shifter, now here we see sparks! The same with Aden and his mysterious vampire princess Victoria.

Wow, there is just so much I could talk about with this book but I'll only mention one more thing :o)...the previously mentioned power surge that occurred between Mary Ann and Aden has drawn mystical creatures from all over the world ...demons, faeries, witches and of course the vampires. The ending of the book leaves tons of possibilities for the next one!

Great writing, a unique and well drawn storyline make this a great read! Appropriate for 7th grade and up!


Win $10,000 or a bunch of other great prizes at the Harlequin Teen Interwined Sweepstakes!

Find out more about Intertwined and the upcoming sequel Unraveled: Genashowalter.com