The Eternal Ones

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: This was a good read filled with epic romance, a good mystery, and fun characters. It was a little slow at first, but it picked up nicely towards the middle.

Opening Sentence: Haven was back.

The Review:

Haven Moore lives in a small town called Snope City, Tennessee. She has lived there her whole life, but she has always felt that she lived another life. She has had visions ever since she was a little girl of a woman named Constance. Constance was madly in love with a man named Ethan, but they both tragically died in a fire over ninety years ago. Haven believes that she was Constance in this other life and she needs to find Ethan in this life. While watching TV one day she sees the party boy Iain Morrow and she soon recognizes him as her modern day Ethan. She knows that she needs to go to New York to find him, but that’s easier said than done.

Haven has grown up in a very strict Christian home. Her father died in a car accident when she was younger and her mother went a little crazy after that. So Haven grew up with her grandmother. Her grandmother thought that Haven was possessed by a demon and that was what was causing her visions. So she made Haven attend counseling until the visions went away. She was able to stop the visions, but she was already ostracized by all the other children in the town until Beau Dickerson moved to town. Beau was totally gorgeous, athletic, charming, and also gay. People in the town had a hard time accepting anyone that was different so he and Haven soon became best friends.

Haven is now 17 and the visions have returned. She knows that New York will give her answers. When she finally makes it there she finds herself right in the middle of a mystery that involves murder. She finds Ethan, but she’s not sure if she can trust him or anyone else for that matter. She needs to figure out what’s going on before history repeats itself again.

Haven is a pretty strong female character. She is independent and smart. There are times I felt she was a little naive, but I felt she tried to always be a good person. She was always treated different throughout her whole life, but it made her a stronger better person. She didn’t have the best upbringing, but she still loved her family even with all their faults. There were times where I felt she should have been a little more trusting, but she was lied to so much it was somewhat understanding why she had trust issues. Overall, I thought that Haven was a good strong character and I really liked her.

Iain Morrow is a very mysterious character. He is a totally rich party boy that has never wanted for anything in his life. He is beautiful, but he has quite the reputation of being a womanizer. As soon as he meets Haven he knows who she is. He immediately whisks her away on a romantic trip to Rome, but their perfect romance is short lived. They soon have to return to New York where Iain is the main suspect in a murder. He keeps lying to Haven, and soon Haven doesn’t know what to believe. She starts to wonder if Iain really cares about her or if he is trying to get rid of her. I love the mystery surrounding Iain and I thought that he and Haven were cute together. The romance was a little bit too fast for me, but at the same time they have been in love for many lifetimes so it was understandable.

This was a pretty good read for me. I have read my fair share of reincarnation books, but I felt that this one had a good take that was different than most of the others I have read. I am going to be honest, the first half of it dragged quite a bit for me, but once Haven met Iain it got a lot better. I enjoyed the mystery and was pleasantly surprised by some of the plot twists. I enjoyed the characters and felt that they were developed really well. Overall, I enjoyed the story and I am excited to read the next book. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reincarnation love stories.

Notable Scene:

For a few seconds, Haven didn’t bother breathing. The world had gone quiet and still around her. Though he looked nothing like Ethan, Iain Morrow was more beautiful in person that Haven had imagined. Tall and lean, with a body that could make any outfit look fashionable. Dark brown hair worn delightfully unkempt and the sort of tan one only acquires while lying on hidden beaches in the south of France. Arched brows that hovered mischievously over bright green eyes. As he moved closer, Haven instinctively tried to take a step back, wishing she could vanish into the crowd. But she found herself pinned against the rope, unable even to turn away. Just as the trio passed by, one of the models caught her heel in the carpet and stumbled toward Haven, all whirling arms and smudged mascara. Haven reached out to the girl’s rescue. A jolt shook Haven, and she felt herself totter just as the model regained her balance. Haven looked up to see Iain Morrow peering down at her, a lopsided grin on his lovely face. He turned to one of his bodyguards and pointed to Haven. His lips moved, but she couldn’t hear his words.

“Her?” The bodyguard mouthed. Iain gave the man a sharp nod and continued down the red carpet with his two tipsy strumpets in tow.

Still trapped at the front of the mob of spectators, Haven could only watch them leave. She didn’t notice the bodyguard ducking under the velvet rope. He lifted Haven by the waist and carried her through the crowd.

“Hey! What are you doing? Let me down!” she cried, thought only a few people seemed to hear her and no one seemed to care.

The man lugged her through a service entrance at the side of the building and down a long, dark corridor. Weak Fluorescent lights flickered from the ceiling and exposed pipes gurgles along the walls. Haven had given up demanding an explanation. The bodyguard remained mute no matter what threats she hurled at him. Finally, they came to a plain metal door. The man opened it, turned on a light, and set Haven down inside the empty room.

“Wait here. He’ll be down soon,” the man informed her brusquely before leaving.

“Who will?” Haven shouted at the closed door.

She paced the room, searching for a means of escape. The air was dank and musty, and she was starting to shiver when the door opened. Iain Morrow stood in the hall, looking unusually disheveled and slightly out of breath. For a moment, he didn’t move. He just stared at her with wide eyes.

“There you are,” was all he said before he took her in his arms, bent down, and kissed her. Once she’d managed to convince herself he was real, Haven began to kiss him back.

FTC Advisory: Razorbill/Penguin provided me with a copy of The Eternal Ones. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

Ahhhh, 'The Eternal Ones'... I enjoyed reading this book. The reincarnation storyline interested me right off the bat. 'The Eternal Ones' definitely concentrated more on romance than what I typical read. There is a bit of a mystery involving Constance, Ethan, and the Ouroboros Society (a society for those who remember their past lives) to add to the romance, but it is heavily a story about two people finding each other. Still speaking on the story, it could have easily become corny, but thankfully strays away from that. Overall, 'The Eternal Ones' flowed well.

More at Brooke's Box of Books:
http://brookesboxofbooks.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-eternal-ones-by-kirsten-miller.html ( )

Haven Moore is an outcast in her small hometown in the Bible belt Tennessee. Everyone, including her grandmother, believes her to be possessed by a demon, because of her visions of her past life. Her mother has been distant and a bit crazy, since Haven’s father died in an accident with his mistress. Haven has only one person she can truly depend on: her best friend, and designing partner, Beau. For a long time, Haven questions whether her visions are truly real or whether she is just crazy. She discovers notes of her father’s and learns that she has had the same visions since she was a child. Not only that, but she accurately knows buildings in New York, a city she has never visited. When she has another vision after seeing a scandal-ridden playboy, she becomes convinced that he is her lover from her past life. She runs away to New York to investigate her past life, the mysterious Ouroboros Society and perhaps find her true love. I have a bit of trouble trying to determine exactly how I feel about this book. Perhaps the best way to describe my reaction is this: the idea is an exceedingly interesting one, but the execution could have been better. The characters never truly sprang alive for me. The bad guys were even more weakly drawn, never making me feel truly worried for the protagonists. The love story never sold me either; Haven and Iain, the playboy, never really seem to have any real chemistry and their relationship lacks any foundation or trust. The ending was predictable, poorly explained and rather cheesy. What worries me perhaps the most are the strange religious themes, which point to Pentecostal Christianity. Not the staid version either, but the rattlesnake in a box ones. I really cannot figure out what that whole element was doing in there or what the reader was supposed to make of it. Nonetheless, the book progressed at a decent pace and is perhaps worth a read, if only for its relatively unique ideas. This is not a great book, but if it intrigues you despite the review, check it out. ( )

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked up the eternal ones. I just knew that I had grown tired of paranormal romance by that point, but I wasn't ready for a contemporary novel. The Eternal Ones deals with reincarnation, but in a different way than what I've seen before. Each Eternal One -- those reincarnated and taken in by the secret Ouroboros Society -- had a sort of 'power' or gift. Our main character Haven had visions. Iain, the love interest had the gift of retaining all his memories from his past lives (which begs some questions involving birth and breastfeeding, but I digress.) I thought it was interesting that all those people in the secret society were aware of who they are. That doesn't really happen in reincarnation stories -- characters usually have to discover the truths for themselves.

I was a little torn about what to think of The Eternal Ones. It contained that insta-love that we all hate, but it wasn't exactly the same. Haven was pretty suspicious of Iain for a while, and I liked that she didn't believe all the things that he was feeding her. There was a love triangle, but it spanned centuries and made the grudges all the more interesting. The book was long, over 500 pages I think, but it was rich and textured.

I loved Haven's family. Her grandmother was basically pure evil in her Sunday's best. Having family from the Smoky Mountains area, where this was set for some time, made the crazy religiosity of her town all the more real.

There is a sequel to The Eternal Ones, but I probably won't be reading it. The book ended well enough that I'm not dying to know what happens next. If I were to recommend this book it would only be to reincarnation fans because it deals with it in a wholly different way than I've seen before. ( )

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked up the eternal ones. I just knew that I had grown tired of paranormal romance by that point, but I wasn't ready for a contemporary novel. The Eternal Ones deals with reincarnation, but in a different way than what I've seen before. Each Eternal One -- those reincarnated and taken in by the secret Ouroboros Society -- had a sort of 'power' or gift. Our main character Haven had visions. Iain, the love interest had the gift of retaining all his memories from his past lives (which begs some questions involving birth and breastfeeding, but I digress.) I thought it was interesting that all those people in the secret society were aware of who they are. That doesn't really happen in reincarnation stories -- characters usually have to discover the truths for themselves.

I was a little torn about what to think of The Eternal Ones. It contained that insta-love that we all hate, but it wasn't exactly the same. Haven was pretty suspicious of Iain for a while, and I liked that she didn't believe all the things that he was feeding her. There was a love triangle, but it spanned centuries and made the grudges all the more interesting. The book was long, over 500 pages I think, but it was rich and textured.

I loved Haven's family. Her grandmother was basically pure evil in her Sunday's best. Having family from the Smoky Mountains area, where this was set for some time, made the crazy religiosity of her town all the more real.

There is a sequel to The Eternal Ones, but I probably won't be reading it. The book ended well enough that I'm not dying to know what happens next. If I were to recommend this book it would only be to reincarnation fans because it deals with it in a wholly different way than I've seen before. ( )