Nina Perez

I'm quite glad this was available as a collected edition, I would never have picked it up otherwise. I kind of like the idea of serials, but don't have the patience to follow them as they are being published.

As a whole, I found the story to be believable even though I found the ending a little rushed and too neat. I enjoyed the protags taking their time developing a relationship and I especially liked how it started with friendship. The author didn't gloss over the difficulties a mixed couple would face but didn't get teach-y either. I'm glad that both characters had real friendships and decent family relationships, and that neither character was stereotyped and that the language didn't get too street. In much of the contemporary POC fiction I've picked up, I find the language to be a barrier. I'm a brown person, living in a major city and I don't speak that way and I find it frustrating when all of the characters do (this is not a fault only in POC fiction, look at how The Black Dagger Brotherhood series appropriates urban language). All of the characters here sounded authentic to their histories without turning into caricatures. The writing itself was competent if a bit straightforward.

I do want to point out though, for you non-New Yorkers, that 33rd Street and 7th Ave in Manhattan is not a residential street. It's right by Macy's, Penn Station, and Madison Square Garden. It's side street for a major shopping and business district. There are no lovely little brownstones and people playing with their kids and dogs. The author is from Brooklyn, so I don't know why she would put that in there.… (more)

Twin Prophecies follows high school sophomores Violet Ross and Jack Morrow who are strangers until secrets begin to unfold that bring them together. They both struggle with abilities they have kept hidden from everyone around them. Violet is an empath, Jack can see the future when he touches people. As circumstances throw them together, they learn to trust one another and find they aren't as alone as each of them had thought.
"Guided by prophecies predicting the end of the world, the mysterious Dr. Tesla - who leads an alliance of supernatural beings - helps Jack and Violet come to terms with this secret world, control the growing powers within them, and face an unspeakable evil determined to possess their very souls."
When I first picked the book up and started reading I had my doubts. As I read the first page I thought to myself, 'oh no, she's going to describe the town and every little secret ever kept.' Then I turned the page and nearly laughed out loud. I was hooked from that point on!
This book is well written and flows easily from one scene to the next. Nina Perez did an outstanding job developing the story and has left me sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for more!… (more)