Eternally Yours Review

TITLE Eternally Yours (Immortal Beloved #3)
AUTHOR Cate Tiernan
PUBLICATION November 6th 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
READ October 27 to 29, 2012
SOURCE Hachette Book Group for review

After 450 years of living, Nastasya Crowe should have more of a handle on this whole immortal thing....

After a deadly confrontation at the end of Darkness Falls, the second Immortal Beloved novel, Nastasya Crowe is, as she would put it, so over the drama. She fights back against the dark immortals with her own brand of kick-butt magick...but can she fight against true love? In the satisfying finale to the Immortal Beloved trilogy, ex-party-girl immortal Nastasya ends a 450-year-old feud and learns what "eternally yours" really means.

Laced with historical flashbacks and laugh-out-loud dialogue, the Immortal Beloved trilogy is a fascinating and unique take on what it would mean to live forever.

I had been looking forward to Eternally Yours ever since devouring the first two books in the trilogy earlier this year. I am happy to say that it did not disappoint! Nastasya (our 459 year old immortal) is back and she is just as snarky and sarcastic as ever. We catch up with her and the residents of River's Edge about a month following her gallivants to Boston and the tragedy with Incy. I was happy to get to see Nas back with River and relieved to see how much growing she did in this novel.

At times I do find some of the things that Nas says to be quite childish for someone with her number of years but through the intense flashbacks throughout the story we can clearly see that she didn't do much maturing as time went on. That's one of my favourite parts of this series (which is weird because I despise historical fiction.) We get to go back in time and experience not only Nas's history but also we get glimpses into the past lives of all of the residents of River's Edge and see that no one is perfect. Everyone has a darkness to their past; from being a Viking who would wipe out entire towns to a devious sibling who planned to wipe out her entire family to gain all the power she could. There are so many different tales weaved together in this series and I loved learning about each person.

My favourite person in the story is, of course, our handsome badass Reyn. Watching his and Nas's relationship grow in this edition of the series was something that I had been longing for. They have so much negative history between them and I understood Nas's motivations for taking everything so slow but I just wanted her to pounce him and get it over with! But as their relationship bloomed we also had someone working dark magic and a mystery to solve. I felt that this one was more slow moving than the others, but appreciated the fact that it focused more so on the characters and their growth. To be honest, I didn't really care who was wreaking havoc on their little settlement and I relished in the day to day mundane happenings instead. I care about these characters and their interactions and the witty writing has you feel as if you are in on conversations amongst friends.

I am sad to see that the series is over but I am happy with the way that it ended. I have been talking lately about how I don't re-read books but upon finishing this series I can totally see myself re-reading it one day to relive everyone's story and absorb it all again. Tiernan has created wonderful characters with dark histories that makes you fall in love with each and every one of them. This was a fantastic series and I honestly with there was more to come!

Darkness Falls Review

TITLE: Darkness Falls (Immortal Beloved #2)
AUTHOR: Cate Tiernan
PAGES: 248 (ePub format)
PUBLISHED: January 2nd 2012 by Poppy
READ: March 20 - 21, 2012
BUY THIS BOOK AT: Amazon / Kobo / Chapters.Indigo

SYNOPSIS You can run from your past, but it will always catch up.

Nastasya has lived for hundreds of years, but for some reason it never seems to get any easier. She's left behind her days of debauchery to find peace and forgiveness at River's Edge, a safe haven for wayward immortals. There she's uncovered her family's epic history, reclaimed her magickal powers, and met Reyn, whom she dubs "the Viking god. " Just as she settles into her new life, Nastasya learns that her old friends might be in town....

Reuniting with her gorgeous and dangerous ex-best-friend, Innocencio, Nas wonders if she'll ever be truly free of her dark legacy. Is Incy dangerous, power-hungry, and wicked? Or is he the only one who truly understands Nas's darkness? Either way, Nas is desperate to find out who she really is-even if the answer kills her.

 "Drag all the skeletons out to where we can see 'em.  That's the only way to get rid of them.  They hate the sunlight."

I am absolutely loving my luck with trilogies right now! Darkness Falls did not disappoint at all.  Cate Tiernan gave what were already great characters an amazing amount of depth and made me love them even more.  Darkness Falls starts off immediately following Immortal Beloved.  Nas is still at River's Edge and she is doing great.  But slowly things start taking a turn for the worse, weird things are happening and she has a sickening feeling that it is her inherent darkness rising up and destroying her chance for happiness.  Just when her heart can't take anymore she is reunited with her best friend Innocencio and she goes with him and back to her old life.  But is it really what she wants? And is Incy someone she can trust? Of course, our girl Nasty has to find out the hard way.

I came into this book wanting to learn more about the supporting characters, River especially.  I really like how she opened up in this book and we found out how she became the patient, understanding woman she is today (it wasn't easy I tell ya!) We also learned more about Anne and Charles which were fantastic tales unto their own.  And of course, we saw more of Nas's past through more of the thrilling flashbacks.  I really enjoy the use of flashbacks in this series, the history is so enchanting.  She's always in a different part of the world, in a defferent century dealing with real life things.  

The love story in Darkness Falls was just as elusive as it was in Immortal Beloved.  I wanted Nas and Reyne to ravage eachother and be done with it!  But, that would be giving everything away too easily, wouldn't it?  Once again the author has made you long for the love that you know is there, but has stayed true to the story of growth that is at the heart here.  As frustrating as it is, it's what makes these books so damn good!  The relationship between River and Nas also fluorished in this one, River opened up in a way I'm not sure she has to anyone else.  

This story has some great morals in it as well. Sure it's a story about immortals with magickal powers going through the motions of everyday life and trying to find something real to live for.  But it is a story of good and evil, of right and wrong.  It's a story that tells us that we can overcome our bad decisions of the past and become a better person in spite of it.  This series digs in deep and makes you look at all the wrong choices you may have made in your life and gives you hope that you can overcome them.  The quote I decided to use in this review really struck home with me, because it's true.  Hiding our indiscretions and never facing the reality of them gets us nowhere.  We need to face our past and learn from it. 

I am in love with this series and I will definitely be recommending them to anyone looking for an Alluring Read.

Waiting on Wednesday (6)

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by

This week I am impatiently waiting for Eternally Yours (Immortal Beloved #3) by Cate Tiernan.  I just read the first two books in two days and I am so eager to see what happens next in this great series! GoodReads doesn't have a cover for it yet but it has a synopsis:

After 450 years of living, Nastasya Crowe should have more of a handle on thie whole immortal thing... After a deadly confrontation at the end of Darkess Falls, the second Immortal Beloved novel, Nastasya Crowe is, as she would put it, so over the drama.  She fights back against the dark immortals with her own brand of kick-butt magick... but can she fight against true love?  In the satisfying finale to the Immortal Beloved trilogy, ex-party-girl immortal Nastasya ends a 450-yeor-old feud and learns what "eternally yours" really means.  Laced with historical flashbacks and lough-out-loud dialogye, the Immortal Beloved trilogy is a fascinating and unique take on what it would mean to live forever.

I am so hooked on this series right now! As I said my review of Immortal Beloved #1, it was definitely a rough start for me but Darkness Falls blew me away!  The wait until November 6th,2012 is definitely going to be a long one!


Other books in the Immortal Beloved series:

Well what are you waiting on this week? Leave a link, I always stop by!

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Immortal Beloved Review

TITLE: Immortal Beloved (Immortal Beloved #1)
AUTHOR: Cate Tiernan
PAGES: 266 (ePub format)
PUBLISHED: September 7th 2010 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
READ: March 18 - 19, 2012
BUY THIS BOOK AT: Amazon / Kobo / Chapters.Indigo

SYNOPSIS Nastasya has spent the last century living as a spoiled, drugged-out party girl. She feels nothing and cares for no one. But when she witnesses her best friend, a Dark Immortal, torture a human, she realizes something's got to change. She seeks refuge at a rehab for wayward immortals, where she meets the gorgeous, undeniably sexy Reyn, who seems inexplicably linked to her past.

Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe--until the night she learns that someone wants her dead.

Cate Tiernan, author of the popular Sweep series, returns with an engaging story of a timeless struggle and inescapable romance, the first book in a stunning new fantasy trilogy.

 In the first 100 pages of this book I was so angry, I almost DNF'd it about 3 times.  The beginning felt like it made no sense to me, I felt like I jumped in in the middle of an ongoing story, I honestly checked to see if maybe, by accident, I was reading the second book in the trilogy rather than the first. It felt sloppily put together and I was having trouble with the english grammar.  But once it got going, I definitely got sucked into this one.

Nastasya is a junkie immortal who is wasting her days away in a haze of wild parties.  She has been through so much in her life that she has lost the ability to care about others and have real connections with those around her.  Until one night one of her best friends goes too far and Nasty can't deal with the unsettling feeling that is left in her stomach.  She makes an escape to the other side of the world seeking refuge in a place she was invited to over 50 years ago by a mysterious woman named River.  At River's Edge we watch her rediscover who she is and find out she has some deep dark secrets.

Nastasya was a confusing character for me, she was over 450 years old but she acted like a child.  I wasn't connecting with her at all at the beginning but as she began to grow, and we peeled away at her layers I realised why she was that way and started to appreciate the heartbreak in her life.  She ended up being a very real character with true emotions. I loved her flashbacks, they didn't feel pointless and foreshadowey, they were very well placed.  The allure of this trilogy is in the mystery surrounding our characters, I finished off so excited to find out more about River, Reyn, Incy, Nasty and even Dray & the natives of the small town.

I craved more interaction between Nastasya and Reyn (the Viking God), but appreciated the fact that the love story didn't overshadow the real story here. I also appreciated the fact that this wasn't one of those insta-love stories, rather we got to watch their relationship grow and were along for the bumps in the road as they figured eachother out.  Sure, from the beginning Nas was attracted to Reyn and she had fantasies that starred him, but she could live without him, and she functioned without his attention.  I feel that is missing from alot of stories nowadays, it's always they meet and immediately can't live without one another, we don't get to know the characters for who they are apart from their love interest, so thank you, Cate Tiernan, for that!
 
This was definitely a rough start but it ended up being a really good read.  I'm really excited to start book 2 and hope that we get more of Nasty and Reyn!