Nevermore [Paperback]

Nevermore is a bit of a dark tale with paranormal elements.

Isobel Lanley runs with the popular crowd in school. She's a pretty high school cheerleader, and her boyfriend, Brad, is a jock from the football team. Her world gets shaken up when she is paired with the Goth boy, Varen Nethers, for an English project. Isobel and Varen are polar opposites: He dresses in dark clothing and has dyed black hair and a lip ring, and is a bit of a loner. On the other hand, Isobel is the "Queen Bee" who is always surrounded by a group of shallow friends. However, as she spends more time with Varen working on their project, she becomes more drawn to him. Her boyfriend, Brad, and his friends try to make Varen's life miserable but that backfires when it results in Isobel becoming defensive and protective of her new friend. After one look at Varen, even her father is against her friendship with the Goth boy who looks like a dangerous hooligan!

Isobel and Varen choose Edgar Allen Poe as the subject of their English project, and strange things start to happen to Isobel as she spends more time with Varen. She sees and hears things that do not appear to make any sense. Somehow, Varen has something to do with these strange things but she cannot figure out how or why.

I love Creagh's literary style! This book is mammoth-sized at nearly 550 pages, but I became so absorbed into the story that I didn't want to put it down! I immediately liked Varen, even though he was so different, and I really liked how his friendship with Isobel blossomed. Creagh reminds us not to judge someone by their looks, and it is a good lesson to remember. By the way, I absolutely loved Gwen Daniels! She is the girl whose locker is next to Isobel's, and she strikes up a friendship with Isobel after her friends desert her over her newfound friendship with Varen. She is funny and a bit nutty, which is the perfect combination in a best friend. The book has a YA contemporary feel, but Creagh also weaves paranormal elements into the story. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I was really surprised where Creagh went with the story and I didn't immediately catch on to what was happening.

The cover is dark and mysterious, just like the book. I think Varen and Isobel are depicted perfectly, and you can see how utterly different they are and what a strange but beautiful match they make.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story which does end on a cliff-hanger. The second in the series, Enshadowed, was published last month and I cannot wait to find out what happens next!

MY RATING: 4 stars!! It was really good! You should put it on your "To Be Read" list.

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I bought Nevermore when it first came out but it took me months before I finally picked it up to read it. Most reviews that I had read at the time made me postpone reading this and I wasn't sure if I should but I'm glad I did. I LOVED it!

First of all if you're worried that you won't be able to enjoy or understand it because you haven't read Poe before reading Nevermore, don't worry you don't have to. I haven't read anything from Poe but I still managed to enjoy this because as Isobel tries to understand the dream world we get a glimpse of some of his work. I must say that after Nevermore I'm willing to read Poe. Something I wouldn't have done before.

Nevermore was nothing as I expected it to be. From the synopsis you get an idea of what the story will be. A cheerleader and a goth that fall in love but it's so more than that. Isobel was nothing like the typical mean, one-centered, cheerleader you see and expect from many YA books. She was nice and very down to earth. She loved cheerleading for what it was not what it represented. I loved her instantly when she stood up for Varen even if that meant loosing her friends. In this book we get to see Varen being bullied by Isobel's ex and Isobel did everything she could to stand up for him. Whenever I think of Varen and what he went through I just want to hug him!

I adored Kelly Creagh's writing. I'm usually one of those people that want more action than description. I love my dialogues. Nevermore however had more descriptions of scenery than dialogue and it was perfectly fine by me because somehow it was just perfect for this kind of book and the writing was excellent. I don't mind it when the writing is good and in this case it was superb.

The story is complicated and you have to pay attention to it. I found myself wondering what the hell was happening and when I thought I might know what was happening or who did what, I was mistaken and taken aback by something new. The story was unpredictable until the very last minute.

Overall, I loved it. It has made my list of favourite books and I'm waiting anxiously for the next book in the series.

I stopped reading these kinds of books, young adult stories about the popular blonde who falls for the mysterious boy who her friends don't approve of only to find he has a secret. I started to find them repetitive, but this one is special. It hooked me right from the start. It's about the popular blonde cheerleader who is dating the football player with the perfect life and how her life gets turned around after she ends up partnered with the weird goth kid Varen for an english project. They start out not getting along very well, but there is an instant chemistry. Then things start to change for our cheerleader. She starts hearing voices, having weird dreams, and strange things start to happen. All the while she also feels herself start falling for Varen.

In this novel I really liked the characters, especially Varen, and the way Edgar Allen Poe's stories were wrapped into the story right from the start. And not only his stories, but he himself was also a part of the plot. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a cute love story with substance. It's dark and intruiging and kept me up all night reading it all at once. All in all it was an excellent first novel for Kelly Creagh and I can't wait for more!