Author: Kresley Cole
Series: The Arcana Chronicles #1
Genre: YA fantasy/post-apocalyptic
Published: October 2nd, 2012
Source: Traded for on Books For Trade
I had been interested in this book since the 2nd or 3rd one came out. But I never got around to them. Then this past summer, I got an email from a publicist for the next book in the series, Arcana Rising. She offered me an e-copy of the book, but I had just traded for a copy, so just promised to get it read by August 15th. The reason I had traded in the first place, is because I am going to get to meet the author when I go to NOLA Story Con. I hadn't read the author before, and decided to start with this one. And now, wow, as I read this one I fell in love with the book. And I'm guessing now I'll be in love with this author as well! When I picked it up for the first time, I sat for an hour without even looking up reading, not even paying any attention to how late it was getting as I was in bed. It sucked me in, and was so hard to put down whenever I had to do those silly things like go to sleep or go to work. Another thing that is really cool about it, is that it is set down in Louisiana, and there are characters with Cajun accents, and since that is where I am going to meet the author, New Orleans, it was just the perfect time! I actually kind of wonder if I'd enjoy listening to the audiobook just to hear the accent aloud.
Our main character is Evie, and she is about to start her junior year in high school. She comes from a good family, or at least a well-to-do one. They live on a plantation. The school she's always gone to is made up of kids from families and situations like her own. And while Evie is pretty popular, she also is very nice, to everyone in school and everyone she meets. But she has a secret. This past summer while her friends and boyfriend were all on their normal extravagant vacations, she was in a sort of mental hospital because of visions and nightmares she was having. Something that her grandmother seemed to have passed down to her. Her grandmother that her mother had sent away to keep her from influencing Evie. To Evie's mother, appearances are very important. So she can't tell anyone where she actually was. Of course by keeping it a secret, Evie also helps to keep her very popular boyfriend, and her friends.
On the way to the first day of school, as Evie is being very flirty with her boyfriend in his car, a group of motorcycles drives by, the lead motorcycle rider checking out Evie's butt as she's kissing her boyfriend. When they get to school, it's not long after that the motorcycles pull in, and it seems they are a group of kids from a poor area that will now attend their school thanks to a bridge that has been built. At first, Evie thinks that she will continue to be the friendly person, even to these people that no one else seems to want to give a fair chance. That is until they walk up and start being rude to the other people, as well as saying things in Cajun French, that Evie is able to understand. Crude things the guys say, and just plain rude. And of course you can kind of guess how all of the school business will go. The kids from the Basin will treat all the kids who normally go to the school as snobs, and Evie and the guy that was checking her out on the bike, Jackson, will have a little bit of a attraction between them, even if neither of them wants it.
Now, we do start the book out with a glimpse of what is to come. We won't be continuing with a normal year of school where Evie discovers all the weird stuff going on with her visions, no, there will be a huge natural disaster, called "the Flash". The visions that Evie had been having will start to be more often, and more real. She will figure out that she needs to get to her grandmother for help, that maybe her grandmother really knows what the visions mean. Because there are people in her visions that she communicates with, or that she sees in the visions, that she will run into out in the real world. She will learn that she is one of the Arcana, or the characters in a deck of Tarot cards, and that there are others out there, including Death, that all have a part to play in the end of the world environment. When she loses her friends and family, she will gain help from an unexpected person, Jackson. Together they will have to find a way to coexist, to help each other stay alive. And Evie needs Jackson to help her get to her grandmother, even if he doesn't want to. They will have to fight the feelings that they kind of saw before the Flash, and neither will know the right way to do it. The other people they meet will either be danger, or else possibly those they will need to join with to move on in this prophecy.
As I said, I fell in love with the story. Especially Jackson, although I did get really mad at him at one part towards the end. When I finished this, I was prepared to just buy the next book so I could go right on. I was so upset when I realized the bookstore where I work didn't have it! I ordered it, but then I saw that to get the cover that matched the cover of the first one, I would have to order it from somewhere else, and I did from The Book Depository.
I cannot wait to meet the author now. So excited to tell her how much I love the book and Jackson. Not to mention so excited to move on in the series once the second book arrives! I've found a new favorite series with just one book. Later today I'm going to post a special promo post for the new book in the series, so check back to learn more!
