There’s something about the new guy at Crossroads High . . .

Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him:

One can time-travel.
One can raise the dead.
One can tell the future.
And one can possess another human.

With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions, Aden and the souls have become friends. But now, they’re causing him all kinds of trouble.

Like, he’ll blink and suddenly he’s a younger Aden, reliving the past. One wrong move, and he’ll change the future. Or, he’ll walk past a total stranger and know how and when she’s going to die.

He’s so over it. All he wants is peace.

And then he meets a girl who quiets the voices. Well, for as long as he’s with her. Why? Mary Ann Gray is his total opposite. He’s a loner; she has friends. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks; she tries to make everyone happy. And while he attracts the paranormal, she repels it. For her sake, he should stay away. But it’s too late. . .

Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own and a vampire princess Aden can’t resist. Two romances, both forbidden. . . doomed. Still, the four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger. . . but not everyone will come out alive. . .

Intertwined was a fun read but it got kind of tangled(if that make any sense), let me explain,i LOVED Gena's writing style but the storyline had too much going on. I got a little confused here and there. I think this is one of those books that would probably get untangled in the next book.What kept me reading was the World that Gena put me in. Fairies,flesh eating goblins, throw in a couple hot guys. This book was good but it had it's flaws.

I liked all the characters, even the souls in Aden's head. Aden kept the story interesting. Although the focus shifted off him to Mary Ann. I found the characters well developed in the world of crazyiness.

As for the two romances,it was kind of rushed, O.k So it goes like this: the first people we meet in this book are Aden and Mary Ann. They meet the other two main characters and BAM crushes have been formed.I understand the soulmate thing but, there has to be a development in the relationships. Call me old fashion but i like the I getting to know you to happen first. So the romances didn't do it for me, but there was a couple of cute moments.I can totally see all of them being together. Just take it a little slower.

There was alot of action in the book, from the first page.There was alot of biting, stabbing, time traveling, and well kicking some evil butt! lol It was fast paced but at the last 2 chapters the book sort of fast forwarded to a quick ending that left me still looking for the last page. It wasn't a cliffhanger, but it felt well....rushed again. Like o.k BYE! you know?


A biggest problem I had with the book was that there was a lot of ideas being thrown at the reader,it kind of worked for the story because it keep you on your toes. But at some parts it was a little too much.I would have liked that the author concentrate on Aden and his story.Intertwined is promising, i'll be reading the next book in the series.I know the next book would be better. Plus, i hope it would be, because I LOVE paranormal books. ( )

16 year old Aden Stone has four souls living inside his head; Eve who can whisk his body back to a previous time, Elijah who can predict the future, Julian who can raise the dead, and Caleb who can allow Aden to step into the body of another person and influence their actions. Unfortunately, Aden has little control over these souls so they act independent of his wishes. He is convinced they are souls that have lost their bodies, but are not yet ready to move on to the next level of existence. Usually these souls make him almost crazy since he can't quiet the voices at will, or, as I mentioned, control them, but then he meets Mary Ann Gray, a girl who unknowingly silences the souls with her presence. Aden is intrigued by her ability, and wants to know more about why she is able to affect the souls in this way. Almost at the same time that he meets Mary Ann, Aden also meets a stunningly beautiful girl named Victoria, who, it turns out, is a vampire princess, destined to marry Prince Dmitri. Elijah has seen this girl in his future and told him of her. Mary Ann meets Victoria's protector, Riley, who can take on the form of either a big black wolf, or a stunningly handsome human. The vampires from Victoria's group are very interested in Aden, and his talents as are some other creatures. He has been summoned to meet Victoria's father Vlad, at the big ball that is coming up soon. When he gets there, however, there has been a slight, but significant, change of plans which threaten his life. Can't tell you more without spoiling things, but this is a great story for those who like vampires, romance, and slightly darker fantasy. ( )

Read my review on my blog:http://bookreviewsbyjess.blogspot.com... 4Setting: 4Writing: 5Originality: 5Characters: 5Passion: 4Overall: 27/30 = 90% - ACover/Title Bonus: 4I picked up a signed ARC of Intertwined while at BEA in May. I read it within a few days of returning home and devoured it very quickly.Summary (Gena’s website) There’s something about the new guy at Crossroads High… Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him: One can time-travel. One can raise the dead. One can tell the future. And one can possess another human. With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions, Aden and the souls have become friends. But now, they’re causing him all kinds of trouble. Like, he’ll blink and suddenly he’s a younger Aden, reliving the past. One wrong move, and he’ll change the future. Or, he’ll walk past a total stranger and know how and when she’s going to die. He’s so over it. All he wants is peace. And then he meets a girl who quiets the voices. Well, for as long as he’s with her. Why? Mary Ann Gray is his total opposite. He’s a loner; she has friends. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks; she tries to make everyone happy. And while he attracts the paranormal, she repels it. For her sake, he should stay away. But it’s too late. . . Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own and a vampire princess Aden can’t resist. Two romances, both forbidden. . . doomed. Still, the four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger. . . but not everyone will come out alive. . .Read an excerpt!Plot:Aden has 4 spirits in his head. One of them can raise the dead so he must steer clear of graveyards and such. One can time travel. One can tell the future. And one can possess another human. They prove to be cumbersome yet useful. One day he travels just a few steps too close to a graveyard in his new town, raises some dead people all because he was trying to get closer to a girl. That’s where we meet Mary Ann. They feel something when ever they are in close proximity. Their attraction isn’t sexual attraction but rather brother sisterly attraction, which I was a little upset about but got over that quickly.Aden lives on a ranch for troubled teens and bunks with a few other boys who are not too friendly.Mary Ann is being followed by a wolf. She quiets the voices in Aden’s head.Aden glimpses a hot girl in a line of trees near the ranch. He begins dreaming about her.Much, much, much more happens to make this story twisted between all characters involved. It unfolds very well but it keeps you on your toes.Setting:Crossroads, Oklahoma is the town and Aden lives on the D and M Ranch. Most of Aden’s scenes revolve around the ranch and the surrounding woods. Some takes place in their high school. Mary Ann’s home and bedroom are visited frequently. Nothing extraordinary, except the graveyard and a few time travel expeditions, prove to be anything but a normal town.Writing:I love reading Gena’s books. She’s what I call a safe read for me. I know that when I open one of her books I’m going to be thoroughly entertained and finish it smiling. Intertwined did that and more. I loved that there was an abundance of characters. Aden and Mary Ann being the main characters but they each find a love interest. The book is written in third person which allows the reader to grasp a ton of information without losing the connection with each character.The voices in Aden’s head do tend to get overbearing but they proved to be entertaining.Originality:I found this book to be very original. With Aden having all those spirits in his head each with their special power proved to show how creative Gena can be. Mix in a wolf shape shifter and some vampires and we’ve got a wonderful concoction of supernatural awesomeness. I love that this was a YA. It was the first YA book of Gena’s that I’ve read and it has proven to me that she’s very capable to writing both adult and YA. I will be reading her other YA books in the future.Characters:I’ve already mentioned a ton about Aden. He has spirits in his head that proved him with some pretty wicked super powers. He uses each of them a few times during the story and they were pretty cool. He matures over the course of the book and that’s always fun to see.Mary Ann was also very cool. I actually liked her story a bit more than Aden’s and can’t wait to read the next book in the story, which Gena is working on now and the title is Unraveled, to see how the ending of this book is handled. Unraveled will release September 2010.The two love interests are Victoria the Vampire and Riley the shape shifting wolf protector of Victoria. Victoria is a nice vampire who really shouldn’t be falling for a human. Riley is freaking awesome! He’s the dangerous bad boy some of us just drool over. Some of his lines, which are usually short and to the point, are to die for!Passion:This is a YA book so the passion isn’t hot and heavy but true to a teen romance. There’s some minor skinny dipping with Aden and Victoria and Mary Ann and Riley have some pretty deep conversations about their attraction to each other. Each relationship is handled very nicely. Each seems to happen naturally, not pushed what so ever. And I’m actually looking forward to seeing Mary Ann and Riley together more than Aden and Victoria.Overall:I loved this book. I was just sitting here flipping through the pages and now I want to reread it! I loved this book for the very reasons why other reviews hated it. I loved the chaos of all the characters. I didn’t find it hard to follow but I can understand how others might find it confusing or overbearing. I loved all the supernatural elements. It was a true paranormal fantasy. And lastly, I loved it because it seemed real, even though it was absolutely crazy it flowed like it really happened.Cover/Title:I like this cover. The text font is super cool and the coloring is nice. I don’t like that Aden’s head is cut in half. I just had a conversation with another author about this very thing. Why do that? It works on his cover because I can still see the emotion being played out on Aden’s face but I would have loved to see his ENTIRE face. His clothes depict him as a true teenager: fitted yet comfortable. And I must comment on the size of the book. It’s shorter and just slightly wider than a normal book. I find that very cool and it felt very comfortable.And Intertwined as the title? It’s perfect. The characters are nothing if not Intertwined.Other reviews:Steph Su Reads – 2 out of 5Babbling About Books, and More – DNFThe Book Smugglers – 8 – ExcellentRavenous Reader – 3 and 3/4 Y’sSciFiGuy ( )

This was not what I had expected after attempting to read several of Gena Showalters adult books; I was entranced after the first couple chapters. The build up of this story has you guessing everytime you turn around about what the outcome of the book will be; only to be wrong when you read on. Especially, once introduce to Elijah's and his visions the reader is giving glimpses of the future to insure assumptions for the future. Victoria and Aden were a prime example of this for their relationship. We are told about Victoria from the beginning and then were lead along with Mary Ann only to find that she was not the girl in Elijah's visions at all. Ultimately, I was impressed with Showalters writing ability where many books the relationship is immediate and unwarranted; Intertwined did not leave me with this feeling. The relationship was immediate, but Aden visions of her prior to their meeting lead the reader through a build up of emotions so it appears to Aden was in love with a dream that becomes his reality. As if that was not enough, I have never read a story that contained two couples both of which gave me the warm and tingly feeling that accompanies a wonderfully created romance. I was shocked to find this with both couples in this book. Showalter did not follow the typical steortypes of characters in this book, making Intertwined unique and captivating. Intertwined was a diamond in the ruff that I had not anticipated. ( )

This review was originally posted on my review blog : Falling Off The Shelf.

All through out Aden Stone's life, he has been labeled as cracy, schizophrenic, and violent. It's taken him 16 years to finally be released into a more 'normal' environment. It's almost unreal that he has the freedom to walk around a town on his own, and interact with people. Aden isn't crazy though, he's just forced to live with the souls of four others inside of his head. They constantly battle for his attention, and what makes things worse, they have abilities that Aden can't control.

Each soul has a gift for the supernatural. One can time travel, while another can raise the dead. This can get quite annoying for Aden when he is trying to live a peaceful life. It gets worse though, as the remaining two souls each have an ability as well, one being able to tell the future, more namely what will cause the death of those Aden passes in life. The last, can possess the body of another human, taking Aden and the other souls along for the ride.

Aden has made it his goal to release the souls in side of his head, so for once in his life he can have some peace. When he meets a girl that can quite the souls just by being in his presence, he is certain she will be able to help him figure out the mystery. Aden and Mary Ann have a bond that can't be broken. While they are drawn together, they are both repelled as well, knowing that something is weird about the way they feel about each other. They feel as though they are two magnets, both drawn to each other, but repelled in another.

Things only get more weird for Aden and Mary Anne as their friendship progresses. They meet a werewolf that is hell bent on having Mary Anne for his own, and a vampire princess that Aden can't help but be drawn to. While their love for one another is forbidden, they work together to enter a world full of creatures that both Aden and Mary Anne never knew existed. It will be a bumpy ride, full of surprises and danger, but they are determined to come out on the other side.

I was extremely excited to read this story, and waited eagerly for it to arrive in my mailbox after having ordered it online. It had to sit for a little bit, unfortunetly, due to catching up on a few other reviews that I had promised to have finished beforehand. When I finally was able to dig in, I couldn't stop. Within the first two hours, I was already half way through the story, and itching to find out what would happen next.

This is the first novel I have ever read by Gena Showalter, and I can honestly say I'm more excited to read more of her work than ever. While there was so much going on in this story, it all meshed together very nicely. I thought that by focusing on four characters in this book, plus the souls of four others, it was going to be a jumbled mess. Interwined, was in fact, an action packed rollar coaster with lots of dips and turns.

The story was addicting, and when I finally hit that last page I was eager to know what would happen next with Aden and his friends. Luckily, Showalter has a sequel in the works called, Unraveled, and all I can say is that I absolutly can't wait to get my hands on it, it scheduled for release in September of 2010. In this first installment, Showalter's characters are so well-rounded, and intriguing. I can only imagine how they will progress over time, and itch for the chance at another adventure. ( )