Evermore

Ya know....when I was younger, this book coulda been a guilty pleasure read. But it's just so littered with plotholes and mess that I couldn't get into it. Evermore makes me roll my eyes with almost everything she does, and that paired with the plotholes made this an unfortunate dnf. Maybe it's just me...but my goodness, this book wasn't it.

3.5 ... something
I don't know
the book's idea is sooooo amazing but the problem is that there are some cheesy ideas about how love fixes everything and forgiveness is the path to healing and that hate is the tool with which someone destroys himself... bla bla bla..
I really hate that.
But I am going to read book 2 because 1) I am interested in knowing that, since Drina is gone, what would happen in book two? the end for this book seems to be the perfect happy ending, so what can really happen? and because 2) generally, writers' writing becomes better and more engaging in sequels. So if this book was engaging enough and working on my theory (which is very possible but can be wrong), it should be more interesting.
But I do NOT regret reading this book. In fact it was a pleasure despite the few times I rolled my eyes here and there for the obvious use of clichés!

Short and Sweet: [b:Evermore 3975774 Evermore (The Immortals, #1) Alyson Noel https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362336360s/3975774.jpg 4021549], despite boasting a compelling idea, suffers from textbook tropes and choppy, emotionless storytelling that breaks up any investment in characters and their experiences. Characters turn into caricatures, and any questions the story may legitimately create are quashed, unexplained, or answered lamely.I... Don't really know what to say, so I'll just type out the notes I wrote as I read.1. Casual storytelling.2. Tropes. Tropes everywhere. 3. Sooooo.... what is WITH the random tulips?4. Touchy touchy ***** 5. “Its not what you think”6. Haaaaay backpack full of tulips NBD7. STOP. WITH THE TULIPS.8. When did he transition to BF status?9. You're just now discovering the power of alcohol?10. What the fuck 1: You can see here I initially tried to be serious. The storytelling method is very casual, as if the protagonist (Ever. Ever) is speaking with you directly. It was interesting, but a method that may not be for everyone.2: Here's an idea. Take a shot every time you stumble across a cheap trope. Haha just kidding no seriously don't.You imagine it, its in this book - anguished protagonist/mysterious love interest/airheaded BFF/gay BFF/mean girls/”I'm a freak!“/tragic backstory/overwhelming guilt/insta-love.3: The tulip thing got weird.4: The main love interest kept touching Ever from the very beginning, when it was not appropriate. Strange, intimate touching that aggravated me by-proxy. They'd barely spoken five words together when he was already whispering in Ever's ear, brushing his fingers along her jawline, pulling her close, etc. I tried to keep track with every scene this happened in with asterisks, but I lost count.5: Always the cry of a long misunderstood hero, masquerading under mystery, caught red-handed under sketchy circumstances. Please. Please.6: Yes, this happened. I kinda hoped she would start eating them, but no dice.7: Fun fact - it took her until the last few pages to google the historical meaning of tulips and their “flower language”. 8: He appears. He disappears. He's cryptic. He's manipulative. He disappears. Through several kisses and date-esque truancy, Ever suddenly labels him a boyfriend. Oh, don't mind his flakiness, he's handsome and his touch is silencing9: Ever suddenly realizes that alcohol dulls her senses and becomes a raging alcoholic (sniff sniff... can you smell the tropes in the air?) You cannot tell me this is the first time she's discovered that alcohol has this power. 10: I kept reading for the wrap-up. I got fuckery instead.I wanted to like this story. Damen's ~mystery~ was compelling (in which he-is-but-not-really-a-vampire, is no trope sacred?!) but I desperately wanted to reach through the pages, grab Ever's backbone, shake it upright and make her figure it out. I literally have a list of questions even after I turned the final page. Summerland? Transcendental Meditation? Chakras? The conclusion was, if possible, as muddied and confusing as the story itself, and closed on a minor note. Overall - I should have listened, I should have heeded other reader's reviews. But I was foolish. Optimistic. Naive. Yea, I have walked in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and in it I found... tulips.