Saturday, April 13, 2013

Whispers by Lauren Klever

Title:  Whispers
Author:  Lauren Klever
Series:  The Secret Watchers #2
Published:  February 7th 2013 by BookBaby
Page Count:  368
Genre:  Young Adult Paranormal
Shelf:  Review Copy
Rating:  ★★★★★

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Welcome back to the world of Owen Ryer and The Secret Watchers. In this second novel of the series, Whispers, Owen has grown in ability and that's a good thing because the villains are just getting tougher and are pursuing him more relentlessly than ever before! Fortunately for Owen, his buddy Marlo is also getting better at what he does best... computer manipulation. Let's hope he doesn't get caught or both the side of darkness and the side of good will be hot on their trail. Their buddy Adrian is pulling away and they hope he will come through for them when the dark watchers come, because there is no doubt... they will.

For Owen, high school is difficult enough without adding the stress of knowing that there are some things in this world that only a secret watcher can fix. Too bad one of their special abilities isn’t repairing relationships because he feels like no one understands. Owen wonders what is going on with Lucie who is doing everything she can to avoid him. Then there’s Tess. She’s older, wiser and really likes him, but he’s afraid that she might just be using him. Something strange is happening on campus and his friend Katie is involved. And finally his father is not himself, blames Owen for everything and threatens to give his secret away. Owen is scared – plenty of dark watchers are already after him without his father exposing his presence and abilities.

Owen and his family must go to Florida in the hope that he and his mentor, White Eagle, can get to the bottom of what is going on with his father and discover what is behind the strange relationship that Owen’s father and grandfather have rekindled after years of not speaking. They’re afraid it's a trap but what choice do they have? It’s not in Owen’s nature to avoid danger. He will go where he is needed. Now if he can just make it out alive, because girl problems, not getting along with his dad and keeping up on homework are nothing compared to what’s waiting.

My Review:

Klever incorporates just enough background information into this story to refresh readers on what had previously happened, or to allow new readers to pick up the series here (but I’d highly suggest reading Visions 1st) without bogging down the storyline. And although she picks up the storyline, characters, and abilities from the first novel in the series seamlessly, the storyline found here is completely new and utterly wonderful.

Although Klever takes her readers through a great deal of action and suspense throughout this novel, the overall feeling is actually rather mellow. By taking a well written novel and combining intricate storytelling with descriptions that change in tenor and writing style to create emotions in various scenes, she allows the readers to experience different emotions throughout the novel that begin and end with the scene in question. Light-hearted scenes interspersed with darker scenes balance out the novel. At the end, the reader is left with a feeling of completeness rather than a sense of just having run a marathon.

The characters in this novel also help play into the mellow feeling of the novel. The characters all serve to balance each other out. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses that complement each other. They are also very well developed and loveable characters so that the reader is not left wondering what the character would do, but rather can figure it out based on who the person is. You find yourself wanting these characters to succeed. Their reactions to everything are so realistic that you never question them.

I appreciate that his novel works extremely well as part of The Secret Watchers series, it can also be taken as a standalone novel. The events preceding this novel are important, and you can tell that there is a great deal more to come afterwards but this novel contains an entire story in and of itself. While leaving you with a sense of completeness, this novel also leaves you wanting to continue the journey with these phenomenal individuals.

Buy your copy online here today!


3 comments:

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  2. Thanks so much for the lovely review, Jonel. You made my day! Happy reading and may the blog muses be extra good to you!

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