Omens

I've previously read Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series, which I found thoroughly entertaining and impressive. I don't think this particular series is for me, however. There's a touch of paranormal, but it pretty much boils down to a whodunit. Much of the plot moves forward via events that are beyond normal realms, and there are clues as to what it could be, but ultimately no reveal is offered. I had the feeling of having left something unresolved, when I finished reading Omens .

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Olivia is very happy. She's wealthy, engaged to a wonderful man who she loves and who loves her, she works at a fulfilling job, and she's decided to return to college for a higher degree. And then one night the news breaks: she's adopted, and her biological parents are notorious serial killers. This sends Olivia reeling, her identity in question. Who is she really? What might she have inherited from her biological parents?

Desperate to get away from the media, Olivia runs and finds herself in Cainsville, a very mysterious town that is much more than it seems. She also finds out that she, herself, is more than she seems, because she can see and read signs.

When Olivia's biological mother asks for Olivia to visit in prison, Olivia says no, but then reconsiders hoping to get some questions answered. What she finds is a mystery that could lead to proving her biological parents innocence of two of the eight murders laid at their feet.

Despite the presence of the supernatural in Cainsville, this book is far more a mystery than anything else. Because I enjoy supernatural mysteries this worked for me. I'll read the next book in this series. ( )

I read the novella Lost Souls a while back and loved it. Since I never read any of the Cainsville books before I Lost Souls was I eager to get my hands on the first book in the series (and the second and third).

As a big fan of urban fantasy was I curious to see how this series would turn out. Luckily the first book is really good and it was great to get the backstory for the characters in Lost Souls.

Olivia has it all, that's until it's revealed that she was adopted as a child and that her real parents are serial killers. Now, her mother can't stand her, her fiance is (or mostly his mother) hesitant about marrying her and the press is after her. She needs a job and somewhere safe to go. And, through weird events does she learn of a town called Cainsville...

Omens is a great book. I love the mix of paranormal and crime and Olvia is a very likable character. Cainsville intrigues me, you can really feel that the town is hiding things. That it looks normal on the surface, but underneath ... well, there is definitely something weird about the town and the ones living there. Then, there is Gabriel. Olivia doesn't know what she will make of him, he used to be her real mother's lawyer, but now there is bad blood between them. Now he wants to help her, well for a price of course.

Omens is just the kind of book I love to read. I love weird little towns in the middle of nowhere and Cainsville is just the kind of town that I just know have a lot of secrets. The first book managed very well to introduce the characters. I'm curious to learn more about Olivia, her parents, Gabriel etc. If you like urban fantasy will you love this book! ( )

This was a really absorbing read. Yes, the girl with extra abilities meets and works with the attractive emotionally unavailable man and an attractive rogue, so many of the elements are so so familiar, and yet they work almost as if this is a first pass through them as our woman in distress has a rather unusual set of parental problems that trigger the plot. I wasn't totally charmed by Cainsville, perhaps because the architectural details didn't speak to me and the gargoyles were just too cute (I like gargoyles to eat pigeons I guess, not show up and vanish coyly. Also, I'd like to see Italian or Croatian fae, the Celtic crud is way way overdone in urban fantasy. ( )

Great new series by one of my favourite authors. Guilty pleasure reading at it's paranormal best! ( )