Publish Date: April 15, 2009
ISBN: 978-1934759257
Pages: 434
Summary by Amazon: While vacationing in the mountains, Eric meets an unusual girl, Susan, who has sparkling, emerald eyes that are unusually captivating. They are a unique, singular shade of green and seem to be imbued with an ancient fire that even a spoiled, youthfully unperceptive Eric could easily feel. He senses a strange maturity about this mysterious girl and is drawn to her like a magnet."When I said we would never be married, I meant in your way," Susan said. "Will you marry me in my way? Right now?"Even though numerous questions clamored in his head, Eric easily replied, "Of course."Eric's answer was far too easy in Susan's opinion. As she mused over his quick reply, she speculated on how to best explain their strange situation in terms that he could understand, an impossibility to do beforehand. He would have to commit himself, then learn the truth. It was unfair to the extreme, yet unavoidable under these very peculiar circumstances, and thus Eric is drawn into a mysterious world.
What Jess has to say: Let me preface this review by saying that I don't recommend this book for the younger end of YA. Not only is there quite a bit of sex and sexuality in this book, Rickey Bray's vocabulary is more suited to literary fiction than young adult paranormal.
Be that as it may, this was by far my favorite of the three books I was given to review. I was surprised, considering that Bray's debut novel is about witches. I have yet to find a book about witches that I'm thrilled about (excluding Harry Potter, but that's a different type of witch), but this one pleasantly surprised me. Not only was the plot engaging and kept me turning pages well into the night, but the structure of the Three Circles, the major religion in the book, was incredible.
I feel like Bray may have crammed too large a timeline into the book (it spans ten years), but the story was so well-paced that it often didn't matter. I enjoyed watching Susan's journey from teenage girl to mother, and Eric underwent major transformations as well. One of my favorite parts of reading novels is definitely watching the characters grow into new people, and Bray's characters did so with grace.
I'm interested to see if this is the first of a series. If so, I'll be looking for the next installment on the shelves!
Be that as it may, this was by far my favorite of the three books I was given to review. I was surprised, considering that Bray's debut novel is about witches. I have yet to find a book about witches that I'm thrilled about (excluding Harry Potter, but that's a different type of witch), but this one pleasantly surprised me. Not only was the plot engaging and kept me turning pages well into the night, but the structure of the Three Circles, the major religion in the book, was incredible.
I feel like Bray may have crammed too large a timeline into the book (it spans ten years), but the story was so well-paced that it often didn't matter. I enjoyed watching Susan's journey from teenage girl to mother, and Eric underwent major transformations as well. One of my favorite parts of reading novels is definitely watching the characters grow into new people, and Bray's characters did so with grace.
I'm interested to see if this is the first of a series. If so, I'll be looking for the next installment on the shelves!
Jess,
ReplyDeleteLet first thank you for reviewing my book. Often times authors tend to forget how much time and effort a reviewer puts into reading a book and then crafting a review. Let me also mention that I did not specifically write Rendezvous Rock as a YA book, but somehow people seem to think it is a YA romance (and perhaps the summary leads people to think this). Thanks for the review, and hopefully I will get a sequel or prequel out soon.
Best Regards,
Rickey Bray
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my review, Mr. Bray! That's the first time that's happened, and it's pretty exciting. I think people are assuming this book is YA simply because of the ages of Eric and Susan in the beginning. As a twenty-something adult, I couldn't get enough! Best of luck in your future writing endeavors! :)
ReplyDelete