Evermore by Alyson Noel

Summary:
Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever can see auras, hear people’s thoughts, and know a person’s life story by touch. Going out of her way to shield herself from human contact to suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school—but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste ...

Ever sees Damen and feels an instant recognition. He is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy, and he holds many secrets. Damen is able to make things appear and disappear, he always seems to know what she’s thinking—and he’s the only one who can silence the noise and the random energy in her head. She doesn’t know who he really is—or what he is. Damen is equal parts light and darkness, and he belongs to an enchanted new world where no one ever dies. (From GoodReads)

Review:
I've had Evermore on my shelf for years and I've just finally gotten around to reading it. I was really hoping that it would be some good paranormal romance but unfortunately it was very formulaic and not that great of a novel.

We shall start with what I liked since there's not a lot. I liked Ever and her character. I felt the loss of her family as strongly as she did and I liked that she at least tried to stay away from Damen when he was acting creepy and weird. I thought her abilities were really awesome, but that being said, she had way too many! She was clairvoyant, could hear people's thoughts, know their history if she touched them and saw their aura which told her what kind of mood they were in. Oh wait, she could also see/talk to ghosts!! It was overwhelming and I think the author should have just picked one or two abilities and fully developed them. No wonder Ever was constantly suffering from sensory overload.

I didn't like that Evermore was very formulaic and predictable: girl with strange abilities, new boy comes in, he's super hot and mysterious and shows instant attraction to protagonist. Then they fall in love with few interactions and without knowing what makes the main guy tick. The only thing we ever learn about Damen is that he is hot. And surfs. And cooks. And does everything perfectly. Damen wasn't fleshed out that much and it caused his and Ever's relationship to suffer.

The plot was okay but looking back, nothing really happened. There is the typical antagonist, who wasn't that evil and a subplot with Ever's younger sister who appears as a ghost.

I wouldn't say that Evermore was terrible but it wasn't that great either. It's a typical light paranormal romance so if you like that type of thing, I would say go for it. Evermore was similar to a lot of other books that I've read which is probably why I didn't enjoy it as much.

Rating: 5 out of 10.
FTC: won in a contest.

2009/St. Martin's Griffin/306 pages.