12. Coexist by Julia Crane

Sixteen-year-old Keegan is struggling to keep her huge secret from her friends--she's an elf, descended from a long line of elves that live in secrecy alongside humans. In elfin society, mates are predetermined but not allowed to meet until they are eighteen. Against tradition, Keegan's brother Thaddeus told her Rourk's name because his visions warned him she'd need Rourk's protection, especially since Keegan will play a key role in the coming war between the dark and light elves.

Rourk finds himself drawn to Keegan's side every time she thinks his name. He wants to talk to her but remains in the shadows, silently guarding her every time she mentally beckons him. A twist of fate thrusts the two of them together when Rourk is forced to step up his protection and make his presence known. An ancient prophecy deeply entwines Keegan's family and the future of their society. Somehow they must find a way to thwart fate and win the battle...without losing Keegan. With war brewing, and dark forces aligning, will Keegan and Rourk ever have the life together that they both desire?

 

 

Doesn't this sound interesting?  When I first read about this book, I thought, wow - something different that sounds really cool.  Not the usual vampire, werewolf fluff - elves fighting elves.  Awesome!

 

I really, really wanted to love this book.  But every time I read Keegan's part of the story (which is about 3/4 of the book), I wanted to barf.  Her character was so annoying.  Seriously.  Spoiled, so beautiful, so smart, so perfect... it was annoying.  I just could not like her.

 

The story seemed very disjointed.  It was like the author was quite scatterbrained while writing this... it just didn't flow well at all.  And the writing style really drove me nuts.  One sentence in a paragraph would be about Keegan, then all of a sudden the next sentence was Rourk thinking... very confusing.

 

Through out the whole story I waited for this epic battle between the light elves and the dark elves.  I kept thinking, wow, they're going to show all these crazy magical powers fighting each other... it's going to be so awesome.  But there was hardly any descriptions about the battle (that lasted about five pages)... other than, "They fought all day, some elves died, it was sad."  Huh?  That's all you got for me?  I wanted some action!  Very disappointing...

 

Then the ending of the battle - AS IF!  Thousands of years of hatred between the light and dark elves, and it ends that quickly and easily?  Really unbelievable.  Thankfully there was a little something at the end of the story that makes me want to even attempt the second book in the series.  We'll see how it all plays out - hopefully better than this one.

 

 

Rating: 2/5

 

BTW - I really hate the name Keegan.