Review: Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Title: Intertwined

Series: Intertwined #1

Author: Gena Showalter

Genre: YA, paranormal

Publication date: Sept. 2009

Published by: HarlequinTEEN

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis:

There’s something about the new guy at Crossroads High…

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 possess another human.
One can tell the future.

Everyone thinks he’s crazy, which is why he’s spent his entire life shuffled between mental institutions and juvie. All of that is about to change, however. For months Aden has been having visions of a beautiful girl—a girl who carries centuries-old secrets. A girl who will either save him or destroy him.

Together they’ll enter a dark world of intrigue and danger... but not everyone will come out alive.

My rating: ★★★☆☆
I was sooooo excited to read this book. I mean, this kid (Aden) has four souls trapped inside his head. How awesome does that sound? Well, not awesome (for him), but its certainly sounded different than any other book I've come across, which made it awesome. Plus, these four souls each have a special gift: Eve can time travel, Julian can raise the dead, Elijah can see the future, and Caleb can posses another body.

Now tell me that doesn't sound like an amazing book?

I started reading this book and was totally hooked! It starts off with Aden accidentally running into a cemetery. And, of course, the dead began to rise. Then this girl (Mary Ann) walks by, and something strange happens: There's this rush of wind and Aden has to urge to go hug her and run away from her at the same time. I was like: okay this is really getting interesting now. Especially since Mary Ann can quiet the voices in Aden's head. Weird, huh?

I thought the idea of the book was fantastic: Aden is just trying to figure out how to set these four souls free. And he wonders if Mary Ann can somehow help with that, since she can quiet the souls for some strange reason.

And then the vampires and werewolves showed up...

I swear I almost face-palmed. I usually tend to stay away from vampires books. But I was like: okay, I can give this a chance, I guess. However, books like this are the reason why I stay away from vampire books.

[Let me explain: When Aden first saw Mary Ann at the cemetary, it caused that wind and weird feelings and stuff. However, they aren't the only ones who felt this. Their energy was so strong that "mythical" creature all over the world felt it as well. And that energy drew them in. Among those creatures was a vampire princess, Victoria, and her bodyguard/werewolf, Riley. Elijah, the soul inside Aden who can see the future, saw Victoria before in a few visions. By the time Aden saw Victoria in real life, he was already half-way in love with her. That's not the part that bothered me.

The part that bothered me was that Aden was willing to let Victoria drink his blood. My reaction: Are you crazy?! This is a vampire we are talking about! Sure you're in love with her, and that's totally fine, but let her drink your blood?! Are you crazy...wait, I already said that.

In the beginning Victoria declined this...um, offer. But Elijah had already seen it happen, so it would happen. I felt like Aden couldn't wait for her to bite him, which was a bit disturbing for me. However, after that happened, Aden decided that he didn't want Victoria to drink blood from anyone else but him. My reaction: O_O

Even more disturbing: The fact that Aden drank Vicotoria's blood. Sure the intention was to heal him (cuz that's what her blood does), but my reaction was still this: *cringe* *gag* *shudder* *cringe again*

Plus, I thought vampires were supposed to be dead...er, undead (??). And by undead I mean dead, but alive, with no beating heart, of course. And with skin so cold it felt like ice, and in order to become a vampire you need to be bitten by one, AND when they walk into the sunlight they're supposed to burst into ashes. However, Victoria was the opposite of this: She had a beating heart, skin very hot, and she was actually born from her vampire mother, not bitten And the sun doesnt hurt her (this is true for only young vampires). I have to admit, the author gave a great explanation as to why this was the way it was. But still, it seemed off to me. Oh, oh, oh, one more: Aren't vampires and werewolves supposed to be like mortal enemies? And here you have Victoria, a vampire princess whose body gaurd is a werewolf... weird. Come on, even Twilight got this right (well, except for the bursting into ashes part. I do like the sparkles better though, hehe).

Okay, enough of the vampire criteria (and my Twilight rant. The Twilight part of my brain was acting up again :P). The reason why Riley and Victoria came was because Victoria's father (the vampire King whose weird name I cant remember. But he was also known as Dracula, the first vampire ever) sent them to investigate who caused this outburst of energy. The positive thing about this, Victoria and Riley are going to protect Mary Ann and Aden from all the other creatures who want to hurt them...yay!]

Another thing that bothered me about this book was the Aden-Victoria and Mary Ann-Riley relationships. They just didn't feel right. They kind of felt rushed, but that's not why I didn't like them. I usually really like the romantic relationships in whatever book I'm reading, but that wasn't the case for this one. I felt like the book would've been better without those relationships.

Change of subject: Lets now talk about all the twists and unexpected turns that I happen to love in a book.

When Aden first met Mary Ann I thought maybe they would have something going on later. But it talked a lot how they felt like they wanted to hug each other, a sibling type of hug though. So then I started wondering, maybe they are related...twins even! But that wasn't the case. So now I think I'd rather much see Aden with Mary Ann instead of all these other relationships that were going on.

Second, Since the beginning I always felt suspicious of Eve. At first I wondered if she was Aden's mother... I was so sure of it. But again, that wasn't the case. I was close though.

[Turns out Eve was Mary Ann's mom! And, oh boy, does Mary Ann sure have issues involving her mom...er, moms. I didn't see that one coming.]

Oh and Mary Ann's wolf! There were all these hints always pointing at Shannon being the werewolf. I was like: Yeah, its him. Pffft, who wouldn't see that? Boy was I wrong yet again.

Overall, I thought this book was...okay. Sure I thought some things could've been left out and the plot line was totally complicated. But I liked it, not enough to say it is one of my favorites, but its still good.
Now, the only reasons why I am going to read the next book is because I am dying to know what will happen to the rest of the souls inside Aden. And also, I want to know more about his parents. I sure hope they find them.

[Oh, and did I mention that Victoria's father is no longer King of the Vampires but Aden now instead? Well he is. And I'm wondering whats going to happen, since he's human and all.]

I also want to see if the author will just try and focus on the one important thing: Aden and the souls inside of him!!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a comment! :)