Eternal (edition 2009)

Second in a series. I found parts of it interesting and parts much less so, though I did like it considerably more than the first book. [Aug. 2011] ( )

I can't say the story ever felt like it came together for me. The characters felt flat and the plot and romance never felt realistic (as much as a romance between an angel and vampire can be realistic). The writing dragged and I really had to push myself to finish the novel. I expected more because, though Tantalize isn't a huge favorite of mine, it was a good title. Eternal fell short. ( )

My first time through Eternal I was really disappointed, since I'd really enjoyed Tantalize. Now, though, coming in with somewhat lowered expectations I was, largely, pleasantly surprised. This is not to say that I now think this is the best book ever, but I did think it was an interesting read.

Actually, there definitely was quite a lot frustrating about this book and pretty much all of it can be summed up in one word: Miranda. I hate just about everything about her. After she's turned into a vampire princess against her will, she just rolls with it. She happily eats people and calls the creepy, power-mad vampire who turned her Father, because that helps him fulfill his delusion. Miranda is entirely vapid, conceited and selfish.

Smith tries to set her up as an object of pity by showing her friend Lucy's devotion to her, by showing Zachary's love for her, and by suggesting she had a rough home life. The only one of these that's working for me is Lucy. Miranda's fate doesn't sadden me, but her best friend's does, desperately hoping that her friend has not died because of her desire to flirt. Zachary I actually find to be a somewhat interesting character, but his love for her is both creepy (what with the whole guardian angel, watching her grow from a child to a teen, watching her sleep thing) and ridiculous (she sucks [punned!], so why love her?). And, as for her rough home life, her parents got a divorce. Not to say that that is not painful, but her mother still loves her, and her dad, though distant, buys her awesome presents (now who's selfish? haha).

If you like Maggie Stiefvater's books, you may want to give Cynthia Leitich Smith a try. They have a lot of commonalities, I feel. Both have really clever ideas for paranormal YA romances and both write incredibly obnoxious female main characters. With both books I've read so far, I feel like the stories would have been so much more interesting had they focused on the male characters more.
( )

Miranda gets abducted by the reigning King of the Vampires and is turned into an “Eternal” and becomes his “Princess”. Miranda’s Guardian Angel, Zachary, is kind of the reason Miranda gets abducted. And for his error…Zachary is earth-bound. With the help of another Guardian Angel, Zachary finds Miranda and becomes her Personal Assistant. Together Zachary and Miranda discover that they are not beyond redemption.

I have to say going in that this book confused me because it had NOTHING to do with the previous book and there were NO references to the previous book either. I thought that was kind of strange for a series. By the time I finished Eternal, I could see where the author was probably going to go with the third book.

I was surprised by how easily Miranda gave up on her human connections for her new vampire life. Her human life was “normal” but she felt it was boring. She seemed rather shallow and obnoxious for most of the book and only seemed to think about her humanity once Zachary was on the scene and pretty much forced her to.

Zachary was lacking depth as well. I get it that a guardian angel’s charge is their whole reason for being…but I guess I expected more from him.

These are not “kinder, gentler” vampires of “twilight”…these vampires are bloody and will suck you dry, with a definite good versus evil theme. If those are the kind of vampires you prefer than this is the series for you. Personally, I liked the first book much more than this one and have started the third and thankfully we are back with Quincie and Sanguini’s. The series, thus far, is becoming predictable, but it’s still enjoyable. ( )

I've been advised that criticizing other authors on this blog could hurt my chances of getting agented. Unfortunately, I also have an obligation to my readers to be honest. And I'm terribly sorry, but there's just no easy way to say this: Cynthia Leitich Smith can't write. She got her start in children's literature, and maybe she's good at that, but YA is a different beast. While Eternal is generally an improvement on its predecessor, Tantalize, it's still light-years away from where it needs to be to stand out in the crowded YA Paranormal field.

Read the full review at Lupines and Lunatics!