Krista Reviews: Angela Corbett's - "Eternal Starling"
About the book: A love so strong, even eternity can’t separate them.
Evie Starling has lived a relatively uneventful life hanging out with friends, gossiping about boys, and driving her 1966 Mustang. All of that changes when she moves to Gunnison, Colorado, to start college and meets two mysterious men.
For centuries, Alex Night and Emil Stone have yearned for Evie—but they each have their own reasons for wanting to be with her. When both men claim to be her soul mate and tell her about an unbelievable past, Evie learns that she’s not the person she thought she was. Soon, Evie finds herself in the middle of an age-old battle between the Amaranthine Society—the soul protectors, and the Daevos Resistance—the soul destroyers. With a past she doesn’t understand, and a future rife with danger, Evie has to decide who she can trust. But Alex and Emil aren’t the only ones who want Evie, and her soul is about to become the rope in an eternal tug-of-war
The thing that stood out most for me was Evie’s voice. She is a very opinionated and strongly spoken main character. She stands by the decisions that she makes and even when she is confused about what is going on, she never falters with her direct and to the point questions. Both Alex and Emil are not very straight forward with her, and she’s not stupid. Evie notices straight away when they are not telling the truth or even parts of the truth and she will point that out immediately. Both boys appear in her life very suddenly, although months apart. Her situation is both confusing, scary and intimidating.
Evie has a different kind of relationship with both Alex and Emil as well. When she meets Alex she is embarrased and makes jokes and has very fast come-back responses to his statements. He is very protective of her instantly and because of that he comes off as a little controlling and bossy in my opinion. He slyly takes away from Evie some of what makes her so strong. He doesn’t want her to drive her Mustang unless he is with her because it attracts other boys. He always wants to be the one paying and opening the doors as well. Although this seems gentlemanly, the way it is brought up in the story makes Alex seem a little to overprotective and secretive.
With Emil, he seems at first more laid back, he kisses her the first time he sees her. A love at first sight kind of attraction. He never comes off as hiding anything from her until the interactions with both he and Alex begin to show that they know each other. Although Emil never comes straight out in telling Evie he is intimidated by her car, they still have a relationship in which I feel she loses a part of herself to be with the boy.
When Evie finally sees that she needs time away from them both, I felt pride in her decision. If she cannot be sure of what she wants, how can she be sure of which relationship is right for her. This part of the story is also where it becomes more of a page-turner and the answers and confusion really start to open up and we can see a direction for the story and their relationships with each other.
I have never been a fan of romances, love triangles or girls that never stick by their decisions. With this being the first book in a trilogy it really focuses more on the characters. We get to meet them, figure out their personalities and most of all see where the story may be going with their interactions with each other. There are a lot of emotions and drama happening, most of all a lot of questions and some and story-telling. As the story progresses and the questions are beginning to find answers, I had a desire to find out what happens next.
It took a good half of the book for me to really get into this story. The introductions of the characters, and their relationships between each other, although very necessary in the end, took awhile to get into. As we get to know the characters’ past in the 2nd half of the book and the neccessity of them finding each other, it really took on new interest. There is always an air of mystery surrounding both Alex and Emil. There are some scary moments that help build an ominous feeling. And as the story really takes off we get some great supernatural elements as well as a feeling of war ahead. A battle between the Amaranthine Society and the Daevos Resistance that none of them saw coming.
Now that the characters and their past lives and stories have been introduced to us, I am anticipating very exciting things for the sequel. It is a great read for those who like romance, a touch of history and the supernatural.
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Hardcover, 320 pages
Expected publication: December 6th 2011 by Pendrell Publishing
ISBN 982729793 (ISBN13: 0980982729763)
