Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Review - Anew (Archers of Avalon 01) by Chelsea Fine

Title and Author: Anew (Archers of Avalon 01) by Chelsea Fine
Publisher: Acacia Publishing
Publication Date: December 7th, 2011
Paperback/Hardcover: 385
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Summary:
Two years ago, Scarlet awoke in the forest alone, afraid, and unable to remember anything. Lost and confused, her life was a mystery...until she met a boy with a familiar voice.
Gabriel Archer has a voice from her past, and Scarlet's determined to remember why. She immerses herself in his life only to discover he has a brother he's kept hidden from her: Tristan Archer.
Upon meeting Tristan, Scarlet's world becomes even more muddled. While she's instinctively drawn to Gabriel, she's impossibly drawn to Tristan--and confused out of her mind. As she tries to piece together her history Scarlet realizes her past...might just be the death of her.

Review:
First of all I really like the cover of this book and even though, at first, it might seem like your typical paranormal story with a love triangle I was immediately draw into the world Chelsea Fine created and was intrigued by the characters and their stories. I thought the book was actually very interesting and different.
Anew revolves around Scarlet who, one day, wakes up in a forest with no memories and is forced to start all over again. Two years later she meets Gabriel Archer who calls to her somehow. Gabriel is sweet and charming and Scarlet can’t help but falling in love with him.
Rumors about Gabriel soon start floating around, though.  People see him in places and doing things he says he didn’t do so, one day, when Scarlet sees him on the street she decides to follow him home only to find out the person she followed was not Gabriel at all.
Scarlet was a very interesting main character. Having amnesia all she wanted was to be able to understand her life and what had happened to her. She’s strong and brave and, even though she’s understandably confused I think it was quite easy to relate to her and like her.
Now, the boys were great characters as well. Gabriel is very sweet, happy and laid back and it’s definitely easy to like him. He can be a little bit clueless sometimes, though.
It might be a little harder to like Tristan at first but he definitely won me over completely. He’s swoon worthy. He’s dark and broody and mysterious but as the story goes on you find out there’s a very good reason why he’s like that and I just couldn’t help but want things to work out for him.
The relationship between the brothers is definitely complicated but it was fun reading about their bickering.
There’s a love triangle here and I know that irritates a lot of people but I think it was very well done and since both guys are so great it was easy to understand why Scarlet was so divided. I mean, it’s clear both brothers love her and are willing to do sacrifices for her.
I was really engrossed in this story and enjoyed the fact it is written on third person narrative of all the three main characters, allowing us to get to know them a little bit better.
All in all I really enjoyed this book and loved the whole concept. It’s well-written, different and very imaginative. The plot twists were sometimes unexpected, which I love, and the mystery kept me very entertained.  
Anew ends with a cliffhanger and I can’t wait to find out what will happen next! I think any Young Adult and Paranormal fan will definitely be able to enjoy this book.

Rating: Somewhere Between Worth Your Time and Must Read (4 ½ Stars)

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