Feb 2, 2013

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Indigo Awakening - Jordan Dane

Welcome to my stop on the Indigo Awakening blog tour hosted by YA Bound. Click HERE to see the rest of the blog tour schedule!

Title: Indigo Awakening (The Hunted #1)
Author:
Jordan Dane
Release Date: December 18th 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.
Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy—to touch him—to protect him even though he scares her.
A fanatical church secretly hunts psychic kids—gifted “Indigo” teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind—for reasons only “the Believers” know. Now Rayne’s only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could doom them all.
From the blurb alone, I knew Indigo Awakening would remind me of X-Men, which, like the case in Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me, is never bad because God knows how much I love mutants. Sadly, this book didn't quite... amaze me.

The story introduces us to Rayne, a Harley-driving teenage girl with an iguana for a pet, and her new dilemma: Luke, her younger brother, had escaped from the hospital he was detained in for his "abilities". But Rayne didn't know that Luke's talents and quirks were actually him being a part of the evolution of mankind, along with the other Indigos.

Indigo Awakening was certainly action-packed and suspense-filled, what with the ruthless and, unbeknownst to themselves, jealous Believers going after the gifted but misunderstood children, but what broke it for me were the lengthy and sometimes redundant internal monologues. Although those parts revealed a lot about the characters - because the book was written in multiple perspectives - I couldn't help but wish they would end once the action kicked in, but they irritatingly stayed on till the end and appeared in moments when I was just desperate to know what would happen next. They really downplayed the pace, and I think the author overused them to reveal backstory.

Also, there was quite a case of insta-love here. It didn't bother me when it happened to fellow Indigos because they all had this bond with everyone else in their kind, but I can't find an excuse for Rayne and Gabriel because only one of them was an Indigo. What's worse was how fast their relationship moved, and I found Gabriel's reaction - or lack, thereof - to Rayne's touching and snuggling when they'd just met unrealistic. I mean, I expected him to get uneasy or back away at first because he had been living in seclusion for years, but instead he was uneasy only for the same reason normal teenage boys would be if they were in close proximity with a girl.

After all my ranting above, you might think I didn't enjoy this book, but I did. I think it was because of the overall thrill of the cat-and-mouse game, and even more so when the mice proved powerful enough to defend themselves. Still, stories like this don't end with a happy ever after, but I'm fine with that because - especially with that little bomb right at the last page - I'm really looking forward to Crystal Storm (oh god that freaking title!), the sequel.

MY FAVORITE PART was Rayne and Gabriel's rescue mission at the tunnels.

RATING:
 
About the author:
Bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Jordan Dane’s gritty romantic thrillers are ripped from the headlines with vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense novels to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag, naming her debut novel NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM as Best Books of 2008. She also pens young-adult novels for Harlequin Teen. Formerly an energy sales manager, she now writes full time. Jordan and her husband share their Texas residence with two cats of highborn lineage and two lucky rescue dogs.
Thriller/Crime Fiction Blogs:
YA Blogs:

Check out Indigo Awakening's book trailer!

And time for the giveaway!
HarlequinTEEN prize pack, includes (US only):
·         INDIGO AWAKENING by Jordan Dane
·         ON A DARK WING by Jordan Dane
·         IN THE ARMS OF STONE ANGELS by Jordan Dane
·         THE JULIET SPELL by Douglas Rees
·         BELONGING by Karen Ann Hopkins (ARC)
·         DANCERGIRL by Carol M. Tanzman
·         2 Harlequin notebooks
 
4 Infinity Bracelets: (US only)
For anyone who has read an advance copy of INDIGO AWAKENING, you know that a silver infinity bracelet plays an important part in the story. Special bracelets will be given away on the virtual tour so the lucky winners will be part of Rafael’s street family. Rafe’s bracelet was in black leather, but I’ve added a white leather braid as my personal remembrance to you for being in MY family.
 
-1 audio book of In the Arms of Stone Angels. Digital download only. (International)

No comments:

Post a Comment

I love reading your comments so post away! <3

Also, I appreciate the thought but this is now an award- and tag-free zone :D