Monday, August 25, 2014

Ever Lost (Secret Affinity Book 2) / Melissa MacVicar


Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Young Adult/ Paranormal/ Ghost Story

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Melissa MacVicar lives on Nantucket Island with her husband and two children. She is a full-time teacher who loves classic rock, watching football, and reading anything that is romantic and suspenseful.”

Find out more about her at her website or stalk her on Facebook.

Description:

New town, new school, new ghost.

Jade has a dedicated boyfriend, an overprotective mom, and a full scholarship. Uprooted from Nantucket, Jade is installed off-island at her dad’s new house so she can attend snobby Layton Academy. Leaving Charlie behind is sheer torment, but living with her father has plenty of dangerous distraction—in the form of a terrifying spirit haunting her new school. Hottie classmate Mateo Fernandez can’t see the ghost, but he knows its story. He’d like to know hers, too, but Jade still misses Charlie, even though distance seems to be changing him.

With support from Mateo and the mysterious Noemie, Jade commits to helping the agonized spirit cross over. As she delves into the ghost’s past, the disturbing secrets Jade learns draw her into a deadly confrontation with a desperate man. If she can’t play his demented game, the spirit’s harrowing fate could become her own.”

Appraisal:

This story is told through multiple first person points of view that are clearly marked at the beginning of each chapter. The main characters are well developed and the dialogue between the students sounds believable. Of course the ghost doesn’t waste any time appearing to Jade and she seems a little better equipped to deal with him than she was in the first book. However, she is trying to adapt to a new school environment and make new friends.

The plot moves along at a decent pace as Jade fumbles around looking for a mentor to help her with the ghost since her Grandma Irving is too busy taking care of her sick Papa. Then there is the distraction of Mateo, the hottie who has taken an interest Jade. However she is still hung-up on her new step-brother, Charlie. This is one reason why Jade is now living with her father and enrolled in Layton Academy, a private school in Manchester. Luckily Jade finds a suitable mentor in Noemie before the plot takes a frightening turn.

I did find Jade a little more personable in this story, her narrating was interspersed with more dialogue which made the story easier to relate to. Noemie is an interesting character and she seems to have a lot to teach Jade. I hope she will be around for a while because she added a dimension that had been alluded to by Jade’s Gram in Ever Near and needed to be explored further. This opens up new possibilities for things to get very interesting or troubling for Jade in future stories. 

FYI:

Even though this is the second book in Secret Affinity series, Ever Lost could be read as a stand-alone. Any facts that you may need to know from Ever Near are repeated in this story for the readers’ convenience.

Format/Typo Issues:

I read an Advanced Reader Copy and I found no significant editing or proofing errors.


Rating: **** Four stars
a Rafflecopter giveaway

2 comments:

Melissa MacVicar said...

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

?wazithinkin said...

Thanks for dropping in and commenting Ms. MacVicar.