Elixir (#1 in the Elixir series) by Hilary Duff

Rating: 5/10

Summary:  Clea Raymond, famous due to her parents is an avid photographer. After her fathers mysterious disappearance she begins to notice an eerie figure of a young man in every single one of her pictures. A man she has never met before.  Fate soon entwines their lives together and an intense bond is immediately felt between them. Together and with the help of her trusted friend, Ben, they try to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance and understand the bond between each other.

My thoughts: Although many have strong negative feelings about this book, it roughly seems to revolve around 2 main ideas. One; they don’t like it because Hilary Duff is the author, Two; they believe it to be too similar to the Evermore series by Allison Noel.  I am neither a fan nor a hater of Hilary Duff and have yet to read the Evermore series (I do plan to someday).  But think of it, aren’t most paranormal YA books following the same structure; A love triangle, an immortal, and soul mates? This combo tends to make for good reading; therefore many, many, many authors will continue to write books around those themes. This book is not horrible! Let me repeat this, Not Horrible! So stop people can stop their whining. The beginning of the book was a little choppy and definitely had the feel of an author’s first book, with the progression of the book, the writing improved and the story became more realistic and easier to follow. The plot was interesting enough to keep me reading and considering I finished her book within two days, it kept me captivated.

One thing that could have used improvement was the characters description. I feel like I know more about the secondary characters than the main character.  All in all, for an author’s first book, it’s a good start.

Quote p.228: “Fine, I know, you don’t like that word. But you can’t possibly deny that you have a deep, powerful soul connection. By definition you have that. You said yourself, he found you in four different countries and four different times. Out of all the people in the world at any given time, he found you. The only possible way he could have done that is if your souls were connected. He’s a soul-seeking missile.”

Elixir Series:

1. Elixir

2. Devoted