Jen Nadol

‘The Mark’ was truly an invigorating novel about making choices when faced with a seemingly impossible situation. Cassie Renfield already lost both her parents long ago and was living with her grandmother. She was born with a terrifying gift of seeing a glow (‘The Mark’) around people before they die. She was faced with the choice many times on whether to tell them or not. Would you?

I was absorbed in this book from the first page. This idea of seeing The Mark was so interesting and I show more could not wait to see where it lead our protagonist. All she wanted to do was have a normal teenage existence that would never be a choice for her because of this curse. She was burdened by her gift and the only person who believed her was about to become exposed to her terrifying world as well. Without giving too many spoilers, Cassie spent the summer away from her home and tried to start anew when she found a young man that understood her grown-up intellect. But when he was exposed to her secret the views of both of them related to each other changed drastically.

This novel took me to places I never expected and I was glad for it. Since I read so much I can usually tell the ending before halfway through but not in this case. There were many new directions the book pulled me in from chapter to chapter, I just went along for the ride and stopped trying to guess. By the end of the book I felt like Cassie aged about ten years with all the growing up she did over one summer. She was thrust into adult life by making very hard decisions and accepting those decisions that were made for her. This was a great character-development story that will stick in my mind for a long time.

I really enjoyed the characters in this story and how real they were. With Luke and Cassie it was a perfect relationship until her gift was exposed and she had to deal with her philosophical-obsessed boyfriend. Although he may have treated her different, he forced her to explore her gift and it took her places she might not have had the courage to explore before.

I was interested in the reaction of those that Cassie told about seeing The Mark and how they did or did not change their fate based on the knowledge. This was one of the toughest things to think about when the book was finished. There are two choices to make, to tell, or not to tell, but each yields many consequences. Then there is one theory that if you save someone’s life, does another person take their place in death? Cassie had to battle her conscious every time she saw The Mark, but neither choice she made could ever be the right one.

I higly recommend this thought-provoking novel and I guarantee that the story will linger in your mind long after the last word is read. show less

Quick & Dirty: A well-written and thought-provoking tale that will have you intrigued.

Opening Sentence: There is nothing like the gut-hollowing experience of watching someone die, especially when you know it’s coming.

The Review:

Cassie Renfield has the freakish ability to see The Mark, an aura surrounding someone indicating that they will soon die. To make matters worse, Cassie sees The Mark around her grandmother and is haunted by the fact that she wasn’t able to save her. When show more Cassie’s grandmother dies, she is forced to relocate and live with her estranged aunt, who only cares about her own life and career. Cassie begins to search for answers and her inner struggles drive the plot forward.

Cassie is immediately likable, and her situation is compelling. It’s interesting seeing Cassie grapple with trying to understand her ability and its ramifications. She struggles with the burden of choosing between trying to help people or letting fate run its course. There’s also an intriguing mystery surrounding the death of her parents. Less intriguing though is Cassie’s relationship with her romantic interest, Lucas. Although their relationship is characterized by manipulation and deception, it falls a little flat and I for one simply couldn’t get into that part of the story.

Some other parts of the otherwise compelling story fall a little flat. The ending in particular is a little anti-climatic. In fact, the story generally could use more action. If you’re hoping for a book driven by a solid romantic plotline, this isn’t it. While Cassie does have a relationship with Lucas, this story is more about Cassie’s self discovery. In addition, I felt that the secondary characters were a little lacking.

Overall, I did enjoy reading The Mark. While neither an action packed story nor an angst laden romantic melodrama, Ms. Nadol nonetheless pens a thought-provoking novel filled with grief, heartache, and isolation. It’s certainly unique and does an excellent job of showcasing the ambiguity surrounding fate. The psychological and philosophical themes of the novel were compelling and will certainly keep readers guessing.

Notable Scene:

As I walked home I kept replaying it. Blood and broken glass on the pavement. The wide, unseeing eyes of the man who had hit him and the cell phone spinning brokenly on the shiny asphalt. I didn’t know what was worse: what I had seen or what it meant.

FTC Advisory: Bloomsbury provided me with a copy of The Mark. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. In addition, I don’t receive affiliate fees for anything purchased via links from my site. show less

After the death of her grandmother, Cassie is shipped to an unfamiliar city with an aunt who is a stranger. She’s not only having to deal with the fact that she has this strange ability, but she’s also picking up the pieces of her life with no help from anyone around her. I think it’s because of this that I didn’t feel like her ability was up in my face the whole time I was reading. Cassie herself – the way she grapples with doing the right thing, her initiative to find a job and show more enroll in classes at the local university instead of gloomily counting down the days before she could return from her imposed exile – is the nucleus of the story rather than the fact that she’s “special,” and for me, that is this story’s strongest point.
Oftentimes, books that deal with paranormal elements are powered by the excitement that comes with the novelty of those elements, relying on action-filled scenes for entertainment. The Mark, though, is filled with thought-provoking questions. Philosophical conversations are peppered throughout the story as Cassie tries to understand not only how it is that she has her ability, but why, and what she’s supposed to do with it. Please don’t read that sentence and think that the book is weighed down by philosophy and, therefore, must be boring, because I don’t think that’s the case at all. It brings up important questions, like how do you do the right thing when you don’t have a clue what the right thing is?
Cassie’s philosophy class provides the perfect background in which she can struggle to figure out the best way to handle seeing the mark. After she connects with Lucas and they become deeply involved with each other, she confides her secret in him. Nadol’s characterization of Lucas was exceptional. When I finished the book, I thought he was an enormous jerk, but after some reflection I don’t think that’s the case. On the surface he seemed extremely simple, drawing a line and refusing to budge, but I actually think that he’s more complex than that. While I don’t think he sufficiently took Cassie’s feelings into account, I believe that he prodded her the way he did because he really felt that it was the only reasonable response to the situation and he wanted Cassie to see that. However, he was way too pushy about it, and in inappropriate ways. But the fact that I can see any positive in his behavior at all is a testament to Nadol’s writing.
When Cassie discovers that what she always held onto as her family’s history is, in fact, a complete lie, the story gets really interesting. Nadol’s use of foreshadowing is spectacular, so some of the things that Cassie discovers aren’t incredibly shocking because everything seemed to be moving in that direction. Other revelations, though, left me astounded because, even though the clues were there, I didn’t think twice about comments here and there being important. I love the fact that I didn’t see it coming, but at the reveal I immediately remembered all the hints I’d read.
There will be a sequel to this book, and my reaction to that is a little bit mixed. On the one hand, I want to see how Cassie reacts to seeing the mark after the discoveries she made in this book. But on the other hand, I like the openness of the ending as it is written here. I guess my fear is that the next part of the story will rely more on Cassie’s ability than Cassie herself. However I will read the next book because I have faith that, based on the way she told this part of the story, Jen Nadol will be able to keep the same balance in the next installment. show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: This novel was intriguing with a bit of a slow pace.

Opening Sentence: Trip was late.

The Review:

Riley and his friends are playing truth or dare by a cave when he is dared to go into it. He finds a pair of binoculars, but they seem to be more than that. In them, his friends see bizarre visions, and Riley’s sees him in a dorm room naked next to his best friend’s girlfriend whom, consequently, he’s been crushing on forever. They are thrown show more off as hallucinations until Natalie’s vision comes true and a gruesome murder of her father happens in her own home. What are these binoculars and who is the killer? It’s not so straightforward, and Riley is determined to figure it out.

There were two interconnecting main plotlines in this novel. Both were something of a mystery. The first was the binoculars. What did they do? Do they really tell the future or do they cause hallucinations? Do they make the future? For a while I believed that they were never going to go into what they were in detail. I thought it would be a whole bunch of guessing with a hypothesis at the end, but no real answers. I was actually excited when there was a backstory to the origin of the binoculars at the very end. It could have been executed better, and it was a little far-fetched, but in the main scheme of things it did make sense. I liked the sense of finality that it gave the story of the binoculars.

The other mystery in this novel was the killer of Nat’s father. Being a drug dealer and generally not very nice, his only friends were the ones he partied with, though he made plenty of enemies. When he ended up dead, there were quite a few suspects considered. I had thought it would end up being a super surprising plot twist, but it was just a character that we didn’t really consider much. Sure, we knew of him, and he had the right motives and made sense. It was set up in a way. There was a trail of bread crumbs. But in the end I expected more of a plot twist out of the killer. I felt that there were some other subplots that generated interest, so it wasn’t a turning point for how much I enjoyed this novel.

As far as characters go, they were well done. I liked the complexity of each one. The main character, Riley, is something of a geek. But he’s very in love with his best friend’s girlfriend. It was upsetting to me when they cheated, because he did kiss her a few times when she was still with Trip, although he was plagued by guilt and regret afterwards. Sarah was more to blame for the times they kissed, really. Riley was the one who broke them apart each time. As far as the other characters, a ton of them were in hard family situations. Riley’s dad was dead. Trip’s father was cheating on his mother. Sarah’s mom walked out on them, as did Nat’s. Maybe if one normal character had been thrown into the mix, it could have added more of a degree of realism.

When I began This Is How It Ends, I didn’t know what to expect. I hadn’t heard much about it and the synopsis was vague. Altogether, I found it to be pretty good. It was a mix of thriller and mystery, with some romance mixed in. I’ll be honest, there were times when it was hard for me to read because it got slow. Some of those lagging points were boring. But when you hit the 75% mark, things blow up and hit the ground running. Suddenly, revelation over revelation hit you and everything begins to piece together. That last fourth of the novel raised my opinion of it. The romance was cutesy and I liked the realism of it, besides the whole cheating element. I’d recommend this to someone looking for a mystery novel with some science fiction twists thrown into it!

Notable Scene:

“How about you?” Trip asked. “What are you thinking?”

I’m thinking how much I wish we hadn’t started this conversation. And that I’d had the guts to ask her out last week or the week before or two years ago when I realized how into her I was. I’m thinking how irritating it is that you always one-up me like this, even though you’re not trying and probably don’t mean it.

“I’m thinking I’m going to skip it,” I told him. “It’ll probably be lame anyhow.”

FTC Advisory: Simon Pulse provided me with a copy of This Is How It Ends. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less