Romance novel with Norse myths scattered in. ( )

Nope. Not for me. The plot ran too slow, the characters seemed very unrealistic and it has way too much of a Twilight vibe. Not my thing. ( )

Not quite the deep novel I was hoping for

I’ll give a book 5 stars if I can’t think a thing I’d change.
I rate in a few different categories. (Idea stolen from another reviewer.) Among the four below, I rate according to the general overview for sections of the book. I found myself constantly staring at the percentage read. Not a good thing. Pacing was excruciating slow. A novel with slow pacing could be engaging, if done right. Pacing for the first 50 % of the novel. 1 STAR.

Diving into the novel, we are greeted with Kristia having a discussion in a café with her best friend about what she wants to do in life. Uh, not the best entrance. No excitement. No conflict. No reason to read on. Ever heard of GMC? You won’t get that in the first chapter. Oh, except Kristia has visions. So? What of it? That’s all you learn from the first chapter, and I knew that much already from the blurb. Honestly, I would have started the novel from Kristia meeting a stranger in London.

Characters 2 STARS
Kristia is a static protagonist. Nothing changes for her. She drools over Ull for half the novel, moping about how she wants him to kiss her. That’s pretty much all she’s about. Pretty whiny. I don’t really know what she wants in life. She doesn’t know. And how much she is annoyed and irritated with Ull before she really gets to know him…I thought I was in the mind of a twelve year old.
Ull is rather flat too.
I couldn’t bond with either of the main characters.
The only fascinating guy was the one in Kristia’s dreams, and the novel really didn’t even get into that. Nothing happened with that storyline. It was just a lingering threat. And quite frankly, I wasn’t threatened by him, because we never really learn what he’s all about.

Voice 2 STARS
No connection with me as a reader. I wasn’t compelled to “listen” to the tale. I pretty much read this novel as a learning experience. The author tries to convey personality in the metaphors she uses about every ten pages, but they were just so corny it was like a slap to the face, pulling me right out of the story. Comparisons to things like a fish in bear’s claws, hog in the mud, few pies short of a picnic. In fact, the opening line of the novel is, “I moved faster than a salmon down a chute in bear season.” That truly set the tone for the entire novel. I should have set it down immediately. But see, learning experience. And truly, after reading a three star novel, when I come across a five star one, it’s like heaven!

Mechanics 3 STARS
A bit overuse of adverbs. Basic writing. No glaring grammar issues. An easy, clean read.

Imagery 3 STARS
I wasn’t grabbed by the descriptive scenes. Excessive scenes about picking out outfits because one of her flat mates is a fashion expert. Nothing that made me say, wow, “The author really gets me. It’s as if she’s seeing into my soul.”

So there was this absence of a strong plot until about 70% of the way through. I had no idea of the motivations or goals of the characters. Boy likes girl, and we don’t really know what the stakes are except that Ull wants to protect Kristia. Sigh. This felt a lot like Twilight. Immortal. Awkward human. Immortal protecting girl from her own stubbornness. Actually, this mirrors that exactly.

A subtle story with very little action. The elements didn’t fall into place to pull this one off.

A decent chicklet for others, just not me. ( )

This is one book in a compendium of 14 fantasy books. It appears to be aimed at the Young Adult market. Our heroine, Kristia Tostenson, lives in a small town in Oregon, and has visions. They are not welcome visions, and many are too fantastic to be true. She is shy and looking to try something new when she decided to go to Wales for a year of college. She has cool roommates, and becomes interested in a Norwegian student, Ull, who is in here Northern Mythology class.

The story concentrates on her budding romance with Ull, set against a background of college and Norse myth. It was well-written, and we care for our heroine. A fun, quick read. ( )

This book is about a mortal or human that has a challenging problem with her so called visions and dreams she sees things that may be from the past, present or future and she can generally tell which area but they are so mundane that it really should not matter. Until she starts having the reoccurring nightmares from her childhood that have haunted her since she was eight and her grandmother or Mormor told her stories of the gods of old. Kristia Tostenson is but an eighteen year old that is satisfied in her life until her best friend challenges her take risk which will turn her life around and spin it out of control. Very good read cant wait to go forward with this read. ( )