Painfully Ordinary
The Lumina Saga
By Stephanie Amox
Buy Links: Amazon (Paperback)| Amazon (Kindle)
Blurb:
Two girls suddenly find themselves not so ordinary...
Caitlin and Leah are content with the slow and steady pace in their small Texan town. They have the typical challenges of any American High School- evil girl cliques and oppressive ex-boyfriends. They see themselves as painfully ordinary...but that soon changes.
The arrival of two newcomers at school sets Caitlin and Leah on an explosive path of magic, betrayal, secrets and forbidden love. The discovery of Caitlin's true identity causes tremendous upheaval in her painfully ordinary life. Caitlin must learn to embrace her birthright and trust in her friends or she risks endangering them all.
So good, I couldn't put it down!
This is the first time I've read a book where there were two heroines. It was mostly Caitlin, but the fact that Leah was also in as much danger as she was, made the book unique in my opinion.
The book started out with Leah texting Caitlin about something in school that she was really excited about. Turned out, there were two new students and they were both rumored to be extremely attractive. Caitlin was lucky to meet the first one in her Geometry class. Later on, both Caitlin and Leah met both guys, and what do you know, the guys only gave attention to them. Not even the popular girl had a chance.
In the book, Caitlin and Leah's world immediately became out of control. They learned of their true nature and suddenly, people were telling them they were in danger and needed to be protected. By this time, they were already attached to their protectors and found out later that at that point in time, their protectors were not just doing their duties, but also protecting them because they really did care.
Talon: "When you laugh, there is a rainbow of light which surrounds you, and I am in ecstasy. The red-gold of your hair, the way your eyes sparkle when you are happy, or the way they darken when you are passionate-they make my heart pound and I get lightheaded. These are feelings I never expected to experience for myself. I had given up on finding my mate. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? This has nothing to do with duty and everything to do with protecting my sole reason for living another day."
This book was so romantic in many aspects. I truly enjoyed how light it was. Even though it is about magical creatures, I didn't see a whole lot of magic, which I actually appreciated. I've been reading so many paranormal books lately that magic was starting to get old. This book had just the right amount. I was able to sympathize with Caitlin more because despite the magic, she still seemed normal.
I also loved that Caitlin and Talon were practically inseparable. Every scene with them, they were kissing. For some readers, this might get irritating, but to me, I just enjoyed it. As for the pace of the book, I think it was fast-paced in general. Caitlin and Leah found out who they were, bad guys came after them, Caitlin learned more of her powers by accident, and by the end of the book, fast got even faster. I won't spoil it, though.
I can't wait for the second book! I felt like there were SO many unanswered questions in this first book. I did enjoy that I got to know Caitlin and Talon. I hope I would get to know Leah and Jace in the next book more. Jace was definitely a breath of fresh air! A perfect match for Leah's easygoing personality.
One technical concern I had was that the guys' dialogues were awkward in the beginning. I felt the dialogues were unnatural/unrealistic. They also sounded girly. The author definitely had talent writing in a teenage girl's perspective, but need a little work on men that were centuries old.
I would recommend this book for sure! Check out quotes/scenes I enjoyed!
Talon: "You look positively edible."
Talon and Caitlin:
"I'm looking forward to treating you like the princess you are. Anything you want. First thing you are going to need is a swimsuit."
"And a bat."
"A bat?"
"I'm going to need it if you're going to take your shirt off on the beach."
"Hey, Talon?"Tell me in the comments if this is something you would like to read!
"Yes, love?"
"Can I have two swimsuits tomorrow?"
"And so it begins." he chuckled. "As I said, you may have anything you want. Let me try to put your mind at ease. Over the centuries, I've amassed great wealth. I don't think you could put a dent in it if you tried."