Silver by Talia Vance
ARC received from Flux Books via Netgalley
Release Date:
9-8-2012
Reviewed by: Middle
Sis Jenn
The Sisters Say:
Sizzling, Surreptitious, and Spellbinding
Brianna has always felt invisible. People stare right past her, including the one boy she can't resist, Blake Williams. But everything changes at a house party where Brianna's charm bracelet slips off and time stands still. In that one frozen, silver moment, Blake not only sees her, he recognizes something deep inside her she's been hiding even from herself.
Discovering she is descended from Danu, the legendary Bandia of Celtic myth, Brianna finds herself questioning the truth of who she is. And when she accidentally binds her soul to Blake, their mutual attraction becomes undeniable.
But Blake has his own secret, one that could prove deadly for them both.
Bound together by forbidden magic, Brianna and Blake find themselves at the heart of an ancient feud that threatens to destroy their lives and their love.
“My life is a series of cruel ironies. The pretty girl no one sees. The horse I have to sell. The kiss I can’t keep.” -ARC, Location 205-206
From the moment I read the blurb of Silver, I had been
waiting (impatiently) to read it! Then
Talia told me it was on Netgalley and I have to admit…I did my happy dance—the
dance that makes my toddler laugh, that makes my dogs start jumping up and
down, and that makes my husband roll his eyes and mumble something about books
being more important than oxygen for me.
And in that moment—I might have given up a few breaths to be one of the
first to read this book!
The idea of Brianna binding her soul to her mortal enemy
just mesmerized me, and I will say that Talia did not let me down! One of the best things about this book is
there isn’t chapter after chapter of set-up that you have to wade through to
understand the world. The action starts
in Chapter 1, and I have to say one of the best scenes of the book occurs in
this chapter—the scene where Blake discovers who Brianna truly is. It’s sinister, but in a sexy way, and you can
just feel the magic in the way Talia describes the scene. I felt like time froze and I was swept into
their world to watch as both of their destinies crossed. AND I love the duplicitous dialogue
here. My fave you ask? Said by Blake: “’Where have you been hiding?’ His smile is lethal.” Ohhhh…goose bumps!
I always enjoy seeing different mythology in a book,
too. I absolutely love when mythology
interwoven into the plot, but usually, all we see is Greek mythology. Every once in a while you see Norse mythology,
but I have never read a YA book that has Celtic mythology in it; and it was
intriguing to see something new and different.
You don’t need to know much about the culture either because what you
need to know is explained briefly without dragging down the action or dialogue.
One of the great things about this book is it keeps you
guessing—which is something I really like.
It may drive some people crazy that they are never able to tell who they
can trust, but I think it adds to the suspense.
I will say that I am still a little on edge because I don’t know who to
trust!!! I mean, they’re mortal enemies;
so who you can trust and who is good and who is bad is always going to be
muddled in the shadows! I bet Talia is
smiling mischievously knowing the torment she is putting us through…shame on
you Talia! Keep it up!
The best character in this book is Jonah—a Son of Killian
who has his death grip aiming for Brianna.
He was such a jerk that I wanted to find someone that looks like him and
give them a good old-fashioned you’re-an-a** rant. I have a feelings we’ll be seeing more of
his jerkiness in the next book. Yay!
Brianna is your typical heroine who is struggling with the
realization that she is something more than human. I liked her, although I will admit that I was
not blown away by her. I wanted her to
have more of a memorable personality—an aura that would strike you as someone
with a great destiny awaiting. But,
really, she just felt like a normal girl—which many people will like because
they can relate to her. I, on the other
hand, tend to like my heroines with a little more flare and a little more
self-esteem (even if it only comes after gaining their powers). I’m hoping we will see her character develop
into a don’t-mess-with-me-unless-you-want- to-be-called-“Eyepatch”-for-the-rest-of-your-life
type of heroine. But, that’s just me—I
tend to like the overbearing, kick your butt gals.
Now for Blake—the eye candy (or is it mind candy since it’s
a book?). He’s the mortal enemy of
Brianna, a Son of Killian who has pledged to do away with any daughter of Danu;
yet, when their souls are bound together, it awakens something within him that
makes him see Brianna as something other than a threat. I really liked Blake’s passion, but at times
it felt unrealistic. I mean, he’s been
trained his entire life to hate anyone like Brianna, yet his feelings for her
change so quickly. I totally believe
this is possible, but I wish we would have seen more scenes with him so we
could see him struggle with his decision and then eventually fold. Plus—we would have gotten more scenes with
him which I’m sure all the girls would love!
Blake is mysterious and stealthy and protective of Brianna. He is definitely swoon-worthy. I’m hoping we will see A LOT more of him in Gold
(the sequel)—and hopefully we can see a deeper, more personal side to him.
I enjoyed the romance in the novel, but I wish there was
more! I definitely still wanted to trade
places with Brianna at times, but I’d categorize the romance as a spark. I want to see a full out blaze! And the scene where their souls are bound—I
wanted more! There was already one
mature conversation in the book, so it would have been great for her to keep
with the mature theme and given us a few more details!
What a debut for Talia Vance! Full of mystery and intrigue, betrayal and
romance; Silver is a definite Must Read for lovers of paranormal romance!
Content Warning: I
would rate this Mature YA for one scene near the beginning. I was kind of surprised by this scene because
to me, the only reason it was there was to show how much of a jerk Jonah is,
but I would have rather seen another way to show that he’s jerk and kept that
scene out so more teenagers could read it.
I’ll leave you with one more of my favorite quotes from the
book!
“The truth has never seemed clearer to me than it does right
now. We cannot change the past. We cannot change our future. The ending was written the moment Blake
kissed me on the beach.” ARC, location 2652-2653
**I had the pleasure of beta-reading Gold, the sequel to Silver--and let me tell you, WOW!
