Summary
She could save the world—or destroy it.
Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene
leads a charmed life—until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations.
When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, killing everyone
she loves, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the
future—and they’re still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for
answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.
But she can’t do either alone.
With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin,
and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once
scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her
quest. She knows she can’t totally trust Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin
her way, could she possibly resist him?
Who can Evie trust?
As Jack and Evie race to find the source of
her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient
prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers.
A group of teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good
and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side…
In Poison Princess, New York Times
bestselling author Kresley Cole introduces a dark and intriguing world, full of
unspeakable danger and irresistible romance. (From Amazon)
My
thoughts…
Guys, this book was AMAZING. Seriously. Read
it now. I actually listened to the audiobook version and it blew me away. First
of all, the actors who read the two parts of Evie and Arthur (Emma Galvin and
Keith Nobbs) were so freaking good. It starts out with Arthur who’s this
seriously disturbed guy that lures Evie in to tell her story. His narration was
so creep-tastic that I actually liked listening to his point of view. I caught
myself chuckling darkly at some of his more disturbing thoughts. I don’t want
to delve too deeply into what that says about me, but I’m willing to chalk it
up to Nobbs’ narration abilities. He really delivered and enlivened Arthur. If
I’d read a physical copy of the book, I probably wouldn’t have liked Arthur
quite as much. Galvin also did a superb job with Evie. She narrates most of the
book, and she actually sounded like she could be her character. I have listened
to some audiobooks where it was done well except for the fact that it was totally
noticeable that the actor was not the same age as the character. It kind of
kills the illusion of the narrator’s portrayal.
(A little side note: If you haven't already signed up for Audible, they give you a free book with your first month's free trial. Such a good deal.)
Plot
As far as the plot goes, I found it to be a
unique idea. The supernatural aspects were based on the high arcana cards of
the tarot deck. Can I just stop and say that I LOVE tarot cards? Seriously cool
stuff, and to read something that was inspired by them was way interesting. I
don’t think I’ve seen it before.
I’m a huge fan of the road trip type of
plotline too. It sort of reminds me of one of my favorite shows, Supernatural. It’s a perfect way to get
two people to bond together. Anything that does that pulls that off has won my
approval.
The romance part of this book was really well
done, as well. I’m pretty sure I felt Evie’s anxiety as she tried to deal with
it. Even when I wasn’t reading the book, I was still feeling it since I
couldn’t keep my mind off of it. If I’m being honest, this was kind of
inconvenient when I was at work. Customers kept looking at me like I was a
weirdo. Don’t you just love it when you find a book that consumes you like
that?
Characters
Evie was a really relatable person. I liked
seeing her grow throughout the novel. She doesn’t start off as being very
strong at all, but Evie tries to make herself less burdensome for Jack. As she
began to develop her supernatural abilities, she was understandably freaked out
without being annoying about it. I could see myself acting in the same way as
her.
Okay, now let’s talk about Jack Deveaux. Jack
was a realistic character to me in that he was deeply flawed in some aspects of
his character. For instance, he could be incredibly violent to his opponents. I
could understand why he would be, but it was kind of hard to take sometimes. I
will admit that such a hardened personality kept him and Evie alive after the
apocalypse. Besides that, Jack was pretty darn attractive. He had the whole
French-Cajun thing going for him, and he could be caring when he forgot to act
tough.
Setting
The world building in his novel was
fantastic. In the beginning of Evie’s narration, we see her normal life. It was
so developed that I felt the loss of it after the Apocalypse. The ruined world
was described just enough where I could envision what it looked like without
annoying the crap out of me with too much detail. It was rich in its desolation
and seedy characters. Not a place I’d like to experience firsthand.
My
recommendation?
Read it; listen to it; whatever. Just get your hands on it! (although, if
you have the opportunity, I definitely suggest listening to the audiobook). You
are going to love this novel. It was so good I may end up rereading it again
sometime in the future. I can’t wait for the next one to be released in
October. I give Poison Princess five out of five stars.
You
can find it here:
