Review: Immortal by Gillian Shields

Title: Immortal

Author: Gillian Shields

Rating: 1/2

Who Should Read It? This is a great book for people who really appreciate paranormal YA. While it's lacking in anything spectacular, it's still a fun read, and I think un-biased, non-critical lovers of the genre could love it.

What I Have to Say:
For all practical purposes, this SHOULD have been a book I loved. It involved boarding school and magic, a combination which can almost never go wrong with me. And so it's not surprising that I really did enjoy reading this book.
What is surprising, though, is that, despite having enjoyed reading it, I have nothing really GOOD to say about it. All in all, this book left me utterly unimpressed.
To the point in which I had actually forgotten that I read it (less than a month after reading it) and started reading it again only to realize that yes, I had already read it.

Interesting circumstances land Evie in Wildclyffe Academy for girls, and we know immediately upon her arrival, via the boy on horseback she meets in the rain, that things are going to remain interesting. For Evie. Because, for the reader, they've probably figured out all of the important elements of the plot by the end of the second chapter and will be less than interested. And the writing, as well as the characters were, unfortunately unable to redeem. The romance also seemed unreal and even slightly ridiculous to me, which is never a good sign.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't BAD. . . and some of the descriptions were even downright creepy. It was just lacking in that enticing, suspenseful plotline without which books of this genre absolutely cannot survive.

My favorite thing about the book happened towards the end, when we started getting to read every other chapter diary entries from an old, dead relative of Evie. I really enjoyed the way the diary was written and the way it paralleled what was going on in the other story, and I think the author did a great job of simultaneously writing from the two perspectives.

So, what it comes down to is that this is a book that you might enjoy reading but that is seriously lacking in intrigue and will leave you completely unmarked and unimpressed. If you've got some free time and nothing else to read, this book could be good filler.

Summary: Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies, housed in a Gothic mansion on the bleak northern moors, is elite, expensive, and unwelcoming. When Evie Johnson is torn away from her home by the sea to become the newest scholarship student, she is more isolated than she could have dreamed. Strict teachers, snobbish students, and the oppressive atmosphere of Wyldcliffe leave Evie drowning in loneliness.

Evie's only lifeline is Sebastian, a rebellious, mocking, dangerously attractive young man she meets by chance. As Evie's feelings for Sebastian grow with each secret meeting, she starts to fear that he is hiding something about his past. And she is haunted by glimpses of a strange, ghostly girl—a girl who is so eerily like Evie, she could be a sister. Evie is slowly drawn into a tangled web of past and present that she cannot control. And as the extraordinary, elemental forces of Wyldcliffe rise up like the mighty sea, Evie is faced with an astounding truth about Sebastian, and her own incredible fate.

Gillian Shields's electrifying tale will dazzle readers with suspense, mysticism, and romance.

Cover Story: I actually really love this cover. I think it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The water and the pendant and that beautiful blue color. . .