Book Review: Unresisting

Unresisting by Shane Morgan
November 21, 2012
274 pages
Source: copy from author

Goodreads Summary:

Seventeen year old Natasha Johnson is having a rough year. Her twin brother, Sean, died last summer after a car crash, and her parents decided to pack up and leave the only home she’d known all her life. It's a lot to take in, and Nat has decidedly given up on the world, until moving to Stetson Valley and meeting high school ‘outcast’, Chace Owens.

Chace's dark and mysterious aura is not exactly seen as 'normal', but Nat already knows that not a lot of things are of the norm when it comes to her life. She soon finds herself unable to resist Chace's strange pull on her heart, unleashing a sudden attraction to the unnatural forces that have always been burning within her. But with uncovering her true self brings forth great danger, as Nat learns that her brother's death had a lot more to do with the side she's unable to resist.

Can Natasha calm the blazing flames and withstand the threat of danger, or will this new found power destroy her?

My Review:

This review is based off a copy sent to me from the author for a blog tour of which I posted an excerpt. I decided I wanted to continue reading the story because I was intrigued by the excerpt. I want to preface my review by stating the author may or may not have revised the book since then, but I can only review what I received.

Pros:

I actually enjoyed this story and found that the storyline captivated me right away. I was confused at times with certain plot elements, but found all the twists and turns of the plot still engaging. The whole fire-starter and soul-mate elements were interesting, plus the fact that there was another connecting world was also intriguing. I liked the little ways we started to get to know the characters.

Cons:

It felt like a first draft, which I know it wasn't. I felt like there was so much more potential in the story if it would have been developed further, scenes flushed out with more detail, and characters developed to a deeper level. Although I liked the story, I wanted more, and felt like there was something missing. It could also use a good editing job to clean up the grammar and sentence structure.

Overall:

It is an enjoyable, engaging story, but with room for improvement. I am interested in where the sequel will go, as we were left on a cliff-hanger. Hopefully the author's story development and writing will improve with the sequel, because she has a lot of potential and I'd like to see where this story goes. I know, I used the dredded "p" word, but it feels appropriate.

December Update: The author sent me an updated, more edited version. I just haven't had the time to re-read it yet.

3 STARS