Genre: Paranormal
Romance/Contemporary/Coming of Age
Description:
“In Into a Million Pieces,
seventeen-year-old Allison solved her sister’s murder, barely escaping an
attempt on her own life. Now, with the past behind her, Allison is finally
getting a taste of teenage normalcy—going to school, hanging out with her best
friend, and sharing it all with her loving boyfriend, Ren. Life is good.
But it doesn’t stay that way. It never does for a succubus.
When Allison's nature draws in a predator, shattering her sense of
trust and safety, she realizes the succubus curse is behind all the darkness
and heartache in her life. Determined to end it, she tracks down a distant
relative with knowledge about the curse. But more questions are raised than
answered when Allison meets the mysterious and wealthy Leona Doriano. Suddenly
thrust into a dangerous world of money, power, and deadly secrets, Allison must
find a way to break the curse—a curse not everyone wants broken—before she’s
drawn in too deep.”
Author:
“Angela V. Cook lives a very unexciting, but never boring, life with
her husband and two children just outside of Detroit. Like most writers, she's
been making up stories for as long as she can remember and can't imagine a life
that doesn't involve creating worlds.
Angela loves to write novels for teens because it's the best outlet
for her sarcastic personality, immature sense of humor, and love of romantic
firsts. Her idea of the perfect day involves a quiet house, a good book, and a
piece of cheesecake. Or two.”
To learn more about Ms. Cook visit her website and follow her onFacebook.
Appraisal:
Those
Which Remain begins a few months after Into a Million Pieces ends. Allison’s life seems to calm down so
she has a short time to enjoy being a somewhat normal teenager. However, during
Christmas break events drive Allison out of the safe haven of her paternal
grandmother’s house. Now she has no choice but to search for relatives from her
mother’s side of the family. She is determined to find a way to break the
succubus curse that has plagued the maternal side of her family who she finds
in a small town in North Carolina.
All Allison wants is to learn about the curse and how to break it.
However, her great-grandmother, Lenora, has other plans for her. Karma,
Lenora’s daughter, befriends Allison, but speaks in riddles and won’t answer
Allison’s questions outright. This is where the story bogged down for me.
Allison seems dimwitted, refusing to understand what Karma was trying to tell
her. I felt like a lot of time was wasted and the story got too wordy until
about two-thirds of the way through, where the story picks up and the plot started
moving forward fast and furious with twists and tension. Backstory is added in
ways I wasn’t expecting, adding more depth and understanding.
There is dramatic, highly emotional, and surprising climax to one of
the story arcs. Then as Allison tries to come to terms with her new life, she
insists on trying to explain her sudden disappearance from her paternal
grandmother’s house. Allison wants a clean slate, and I’ll be damned if her
grandmother doesn’t surprise her with more history Allison wasn’t aware of. This
is a satisfying closing of this duology. If you enjoy contemporary coming of
age stories with paranormal elements you will probably enjoy this duology.
FYI:
Those
Which Remain is book 2 in Angela V. Cook’s PIECES DUOLOGY
series. I do recommend reading book 1, Into
a Million Pieces first.
Format/Typo
Issues:
Nothing significant enough to note.
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 75-80,000 words
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