Book Review: Burning Emerald

Title: Burning Emerald by Jaime Reed
Release Date: May 29, 2012
Publisher: Kensington/Dafina
Pages: 302 pages
Genre: Paranormal
Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review

SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers to Living Violet, the first book in the series.

Goodreads Summary: Coping with loss, keeping secrets from friends, and juggling classes has kept Sam Marshall busy in her senior year. She finds comfort in her unlikely companion, Caleb, as their connection grows to where one cannot survive without the other.

But Sam’s biggest problem is a powerful enemy that wants her for himself and to destroy Caleb and his family. Determined to keep Caleb safe, Sam fights a battle where she is both the enemy and the prize, but victory will come at a deadly price.

Normally, I’m not into books about incubus and succubus, but Jaime Reed really makes this work for young adults and certainly makes it work for me.

Burning Emerald picks up shortly after Samara Marshall’s eventful summer where she finds out that both her co-worker Caleb and friend Nadine are Cambions, people who are born with a sentient incubus or succubus inhabiting their bodies. It’s the same summer that Sam fell for Caleb and Nadine died in Sam’s arms trying to save her life from another Cambion. That’s when Nadine’s succubus left her dead body and took residence in Sam’s instead. Now as her senior year begins, Sam is attracting the attention of the majority of boys in her school and the jealous ire of all the girls. And if this new life of cravings and feeding on people’s energy without killing them isn’t hard enough, there is someone from Nadine’s past that is stalking Sam and will stop at nothing to get her.

As in Living Violet, I loved Sam’s sassy, snarky humor. Her relationship with Caleb is also more intense but still sweet. Caleb is still every bit the awesome, mature boyfriend who is even more caring and protective of Sam than ever. He does get a bit alpha at one point in the book and I loved it! I also liked that Sam’s mother is very active in her life and knows about her new paranormal situation. I’ve read so many books where the parents have no idea what’s going on with their teen who then has to sneak around and lie about their supernatural powers. Of course, I love ethnically diverse characters in YA books and Burning Emerald has a great mix of them.

This is the first YA book I’ve read with incubi and succubi and that’s probably because the sexual nature of these beings is not appropriate for teen readers. Jaime Reed makes this story, interesting, exciting and still keeps an edge to it without it being inappropriate.

Burning Emerald is a really good sequel to Living Violet. The book ends with a heck of a cliffhanger and I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Fading Amber, which comes out next year.

Content: Kissing, discussions about sex, profanity and violence.

My Rating: Really Good!

Giveaway: Living Violet by Jaime Reed

The first giveaway of the 2012 Muti-Cultural Book Challenge is of Living Violet by Jaime Reed (check out my review here) and while it was originally only for challenge participants, KM at One Page At a Time and I have decided to open the giveaway to everyone. However, if you do take part in the challenge, you will have more entries in the giveaway. You can sign up for the challenge here.

To enter the giveaway, just follow the Rafflecopter directions below and good luck!

Author Interview: Jaime Reed, Living Violet

I very happy to welcome Jaime Reed, author of the YA novel, Living Violet and The Cambion Chronicles series. I reviewed (and loved!) Living Violet yesterday, click here to read my review.

Me: Welcome Jaime. How did you come up with the idea for LIVING VIOLET

JR: It’s a lot of things, actually. I can’t really pinpoint one specific burst of inspiration. I just remember thinking about supernatural creatures and how normal people would react if they came across one, as oppose to what you usually read about. The creature mentioned in the story actually came from my love of vampires and their origins, and it kinda snowballed from there. As far as settings and world building, it’s a collection of life experiences and living in my home town.

Me: Where did you get the inspiration for the characters?

JR: Life. I love to people-watch and study nuances of a person’s personality. But most of the characters are bits and pieces of people I know, friends, and family. It’s funny when they come to me after reading the book and try to guess which character they are. They find it flattering.

Me: Which character from the book is your favorite?

JR: I don’t really have a personal favorite, but I do have a strange crush on Robbie Ford. He has the smallest role in the entire story, but I’m in love with him. I have no idea why. He’s kinda pervy.

Me: I see the attraction. Boys who are master hackers and can throw epic parties dressed only in a silk bathrobe and boxers fascinate me. I hope we see more of him in the sequel.

Me: What do you have in store for The Cambion Chronicles? How many books are planned for the series?

JR: I signed on with my publisher for three books, so it’s definitely going to be a trilogy, but you never know. Stranger things have happened.

Me: I read in your bio that you try to create characters who are people of color. Please tell us more about your motivation behind the decision and why it’s important to have characters of different backgrounds in YA fiction.

JR: Oh, that’s a tough one. Well, simply put, there are hardly any people of color in the genre. There are some in contemporary YA fiction; they even have their own sub-category, but none in the paranormal arena. My question is ‘why?’ Why the segregation? Does the supernatural only happen to those of a certain ethnicity? Why can’t a person of color be the hero instead of a side character with little to no purpose? Good and evil comes in all shades and I believe in equal- opportunity monsters. I want to even things out a bit and introduce different cultures to a wider audience. I wanted to write a book where my twelve-year-old niece could read it and say “Wow, she’s just like me.”

Me: Do you read the same genre as you write? What are you currently reading?

JR: It’s so weird. When I was a teenager, all I read were adult books, but now that I’m in my 30’s, all I seem to read these days are teen books. I could play it off and say it’s for research and inspiration, but that would be only half true. I’m not really reading anything right now, but I have a list of debut novels that I plan to dive into around February.

Me: What other projects are you working on at this time?

JR: I have a contemporary YA piece on the back burner and another paranormal series on hold. But for the time being, I’m focusing solely on The Cambion Chronicles. Once I finish with that, I’ll be open to just about anything.

Me: Thank you, Jaime!

Contact Jaime on Twitter, her blog, or on Facebook.

Living Violet is an awesome book and it is our January giveaway for the Multi-Cultural Book Challenge. Make sure you sign-up and participate for a chance to win.

Book Review: Living Violet

Title: Living Violet by Jaime Reed

Release Date: Dec. 27, 2012
Publisher: Kensington
Pages: 304 pages
Genre: Paranormal
Source: Publisher

Goodreads Summary: He's persuasive, charming, and way too mysterious. And for Samara Marshall, her co-worker is everything she wants most--and everything she most fears. . .

Samara Marshall is determined to make the summer before her senior year the best ever. Her plan: enjoy downtime with friends and work to save up cash for her dream car. Summer romance is not on her to-do list, but uncovering the truth about her flirtatious co-worker, Caleb Baker, is. From the peculiar glow to his eyes to the unfortunate events that befall the girls who pine after him, Samara is the only one to sense danger behind his smile.

But Caleb's secrets are drawing Samara into a world where the laws of attraction are a means of survival. And as a sinister power closes in on those she loves, Samara must take a risk that will change her life forever. . .or consume it.

I read lots of paranormal books and while I love them, I'm always looking for something different to shake up my reading routine. I was very pleasantly surprised and rewarded by Living Violet because there is nothing cookie cutter about this book. There is no high school angst, no love triangle and absolutely no insta-love. Living Violet is original, well paced and a completely enjoyable read.

I'm a character driven reader and Samara is an awesome main character. The book is told from her perspective and she is very likable. Jamie Reed writes relationships well and I love how she portrays Samara’s relationships with her parents and friends. Samara is a smart, responsible, take-no-nonsense kind of girl and her personality stays true throughout the book.

By far, my favorite part of the book is Samara’s voice. She is witty, funny and sarcastic. Samara is the kind of girl I would want to be friends with, and as a matter of fact, her honest (and humorous) outlook on life’s situations reminds me of some of my own friends.

I also love how Caleb’s character is developed. We are not sure about Caleb at first. We know there is something different about him but we don’t know if he is a good or bad guy. I love the unique paranormal elements of the story and the big reveal was worth the wait. I don’t think I have read another YA book about this subject before.

Living Violet exceeded my expectations and with its diverse and interesting cast of characters, it’s the perfect book to kick-off the Multi-Cultural Book Challenge. I raced through this book and I am dying for the sequel, Burning Emerald, which comes out in May.

Tune in tomorrow when I interview Jaime Reed on Living Violet and other projects she is currently working on.

On a side note: I love that the author is lighthearted enough to poke a little fun at the YA paranormal romance genre with the Specter (a fictional novel mentioned in the book) references. There are more than a few lines in this book that made me laugh out loud, in a really good way.

Content: Some profanity, sexual discussions, attempted rape, kissing and violence.

My Rating: Really Good!