Mini Reviews: Intangible + Preloved

INTANGIBLE (Intangible #1)

J. Meyers
Paranormal Young Adult
264 pages
Self-published
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

Twins Sera and Luke Raine have a well-kept secret—she heals with a touch of her hand, he sees the future. All their lives they’ve helped those in need on the sly. They’ve always thought of their abilities as being a gift.

Then Luke has a vision that Sera is killed. That gift they’ve always cherished begins to feel an awful lot like a curse. Because the thing about Luke’s ability? He’s always right. And he can’t do anything about it.

MY THOUGHTS

Intangible is one of those stories that pleasantly surprises, our expectations upon cracking the spine not necessarily high nor low, but from the first page we find ourselves easily lost in Luke and Sera’s contemporary paranormal world. While we logically understand that vampires don’t exist (right?) and gifts like precognition and the ability to heal by touch are purely fictional, Luke and Sera still feel incredibly real, directly contrasting the title of their story with their distinct tangibility, and making it easy for us to forget that the defining characteristics of their world don’t extend into our reality.

One of the highlights of this story is Luke and Sera’s extremely close sibling relationship, the two of them family, best friends, and loners, burdened by the weight of the gifts they keep secret but able share the baggage between them. Though there is a great deal of darkness to be found in between these pages, there’s also an abundance of humor, Luke’s playful banter with both his sister and their friend Fey causing many an unexpected smile and snort to escape even as our stress level increases with every page as a juggernaut in the form of Luke’s unchangeable and unstoppable visions barrel ever closer. All in all, Intangible is entertaining on a variety of levels, and I’m certainly hoping a sequel is already in the works.

Rating: 4/5

PRELOVED

Shirley Marr
Paranormal Young Adult
272 pages
Black Dog Books/Walker Books
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

If you had a second chance at love, would you do it all over again?

Amy has enough to deal with for one lifetime. A superstitious Chinese mother. A best friend whose mood changes as dramatically as her hair colour. A reputation for being strange. The last thing she needs is to be haunted by someone only she can see.

Logan is a ghost from the Eighties. He could be dangerous. He's certainly annoying.

He might also be Amy's dream boy.

MY THOUGHTS

Preloved is a quick, sweet read that doesn’t delve deep into emotional complexities, but rather has us navigating the layers that exist just beneath the surface, down far enough to keep our interest yet not so deep as to yank us into the story heart-first or brand itself in our memories. Ms. Marr touches briefly on the fascinating concept of reincarnation, and the idea that though pieces of us may be tied to lives before, we always have the choices in our current life, and possess the ability to be a different person than we were previously.

Amy is a cute protagonist, often exhibiting a quick wit or tossing out a snappy one-liner to bring a smile to our faces, and her mother is absolutely hilarious, drawing on their Chinese heritage on a daily basis with Amy by imparting highly amusing tidbits of wisdom regarding ghosts in particular. Amy’s interactions with ghost Logan are at times both humorous and poignant, but though we enjoy their time together, a little more of Logan’s backstory and the reason for his attachment to Amy would have been ideal, ensuring our connection to Logan would feel as real to us as it does to Amy. The eighties slang can also be a bit much at times, but overall Preloved entertains enough to have us wanting to pick up Ms. Marr’s other books.

Rating: 3.5/5