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Part One: First Sight
Clara Kensie
Paranormal Young Adult
Ebook, serial novel
HarlequinTEEN
Available Now
Source: e-ARC from publisher for review
THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Part One in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger…
Sarah Spencer has a secret: her real name is Tessa Carson, and to stay alive, she can tell no one the truth about her psychically gifted family and the danger they are running from. As the new girl in the latest of countless schools, she also runs from her attraction to Tristan Walker—after all, she can’t even tell him her real name. But Tristan won’t be put off by a few secrets. Not even dangerous ones that might rip Tessa from his arms before they even kiss…
MY THOUGHTS
Run to You is a serial novel consisting of three parts released a week apart, each one delving us deeper into the life of Tessa and her family as they try to stay one step ahead of a hired assassin. A serial novel is somewhat of a unique and different reading experience, forcing us to examine the story in sections rather than as a whole, something that can be a bit tricky given an element or two that may bother us in the first installment could very well be remedied in the second–therefore becoming an irrelevant complaint overall–but because we approach each piece of this puzzle individually we’re left with our emotions a bit more in flux.
That being said, Run to You has us quite literally hitting the ground running, immediately caught up in Tessa’s terror over being discovered yet again. We as readers are the eye of a turbulent storm as it roars around us, Tessa and her family a whirl of movement of emotion as we sit quietly and try to make sense of the various pieces as they blow by us. Ms. Kensie teases us with fleeting glimpses of how Tessa and her family came to be in their current situation, showing us just enough to ensure our she has our attention and then quickly redirecting us before we can ask more questions than she’s prepared to answer in this first part.
Though we more than sympathize with Tessa and can’t fathom the fear she and her family live with day in and day out, as of this first installment the story seems to be more heavily plot-driven than character-driven, our emotional ties to them overshadowed by our immense curiosity as to what exactly happened that day eight years ago that started it all. There’s a romance between Tessa and a young man from her new school, and while a declaration of love seems to come far too early in their relationship, the fact that Tessa is keeping so much from him holds us captivated, wondering when the impressive dam holding her secrets back is going to crack and allow a few to slip through.
All in all, Run to You gets off to an intriguing start, light just barely beginning to shine on the complexities–personal and familial as well as normal and paranormal–to make a sometimes painful tangle of Tessa’s life, but there is clearly many a shadowed corner that remains as of yet untouched in this first installment, and I for one can’t wait to see how things develop.
Rating: 3.5/5
*Note: It was really difficult to rate this first installment individually since it's intentionally incomplete and leaves off mid-story, but I thoroughly enjoyed this serial it in its entirety (reviews of parts 2 and 3 posting tomorrow), and would give it a 4/5 when all three parts are read together!
Find Run To You:
Find Clara:
I am going with a meh today
ReplyDeleteI really liked this one overall, it was just hard to rate this first part because I had no idea how everything was going to tie together and if my questions would get answered:)
DeleteI have seen your post about this series but I somehow missed that assassin part. I like the way this story is written, like separate parts. I think I'd enjoy that one. I like Tessas character and the whole action part of the story. Romance part seems really good, only I don't like when they start with "I love you" after a week of knowing each other. Still it seems like a great read. Glad you enjoyed it overall. Great review, Jenny :)
ReplyDeleteThe "I love you" came far too fast for me, but I could understand given Tessa's emotional isolation, even from her family, how that attachment would form quickly. I liked their relationship other than that though!
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ReplyDeleteSorry, that was me above--I didn't realize I was logged in under my husband's acct! :)
I have never read a serial novel--I honestly think it might annoy me (Um, I'm not always the most patient of readers) because I tend to get easily frustrated when some of the series I read--especially drawn out series like Clare's and Mead's--feel very episodic and serial in nature. But, then again, the upside of this particular series you are reviewing is that you really DON'T have to wait that long--just a week between releases--so that does make me feel little better about things.
This book kind of reminds me of one I read last year, about a girl whose family was in the Witness Protection Agency, and just how miserable her life was by constantly being uprooted. And there was a mystery/ suspense theme to it as well. Glad you put this on my radar though Jenny. It does make me curious about trying to pick up a serial book sometime in the future :)
I did like how these were only a week apart, it made the not knowing way less frustrating! I thought the mystery angle was really well done, and there were some twists and turns I did NOT see coming, so as a whole I was a fan!
DeleteSerials can be so hard to review because quite simply, you just don't have all the info yet!
ReplyDeleteI actually think this sounds pretty interesting and can't wait to read you other reviews once you have read it as a whole.
Exactly! The first one was the hardest to rate, but overall this one definitely gets a 4 from me:)
DeleteI've never read a serial novel before, but it definitely sounds unique. I'm glad the story is so exciting and gripping! I think I'm definitely going to have to give these books a try. Great review, Jenny :)
ReplyDeleteThis was my first too Montana! I did enjoy it even if I'm not the most patient reader and like having the whole story at my fingertips:)
DeleteI'm torn about a serialized novella, because I'm not sure I wouldn't lose interest and then fail to finish it. I kind of like getting the whole story all at once. I'm not even picking up trilogies anymore until the whole series is out. I can't tell you how many I haven't finished even though the last books have been released. With that said, this does sound like something I'd enjoy, but I think I'll sit back and see how the others rate. Wonderful review, Jenny! :)
ReplyDeleteI like getting the whole story at once too Rachel (ummmmm Burned? *dies*). There's only a week in between each release though which is definitely a manageable amount of time, and I would recommend it for sure after reading all three parts!
DeleteI still haven't tried out these ever-so-popular serials but they seem promising. I definitely need to try some of these out soon and I'm glad you enjoyed this one, Jenny, despite a few qualms. Lovely review, dear!(:
ReplyDeleteThis was my first serial and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more Keertana. At least more like this where the wait in between is a very short amount of time:)
DeleteHuh...I don't know that I'm so into the idea of a serial. I can understand why it would be hard to rate...I'd probably just wait and read them all together!
ReplyDeleteI think when I read her next set of three, I'm at the very least going to wait and review them altogether, even if I read them separately as I did this time:)
DeleteThis sounds like it'll be an interesting serial, but I'd definitely read them all together. I've even been waiting on series installments to read closer together.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear your rating for the full set of serials is higher. I'm with Christy, I'm going to wait to read them all at once because my history with serial stories isn't great so far. This sounds like a very suspenseful story, one I would definitely want to read in full. Lovely review!
ReplyDeleteYES! This sounds like my kind of book! Want to read it now.
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