I should start off by saying I’m a bad person. Well, maybe not a bad person – just a bad reviewer. It’s easier for me to write a 100k word novel than it is a simple review – even on a book I really enjoyed. I stress over it. I fuss over. I decide everything is too generic, then I decide I’m giving away too much. So that’s why I’m a bit late on my review of Stacey Wallace Benefiel‘s Glimpse.
Before I begin, here’s the description of Glimpse (stolen from Amazon):
Zellie Wells has a devastating crush on Avery Adams, the son of her mom’s high school sweetheart. At her sixteenth birthday party, held in the basement of her dad’s church, she finally finds the courage to talk to him. Turns out, the devastating crush is mutual.
As Avery takes her hand and leads her out onto the makeshift dance floor, Zellie is overwhelmed by her first vision of his death; shocking because not only are they both covered in his blood, but they’re old, like 35, and she is pregnant.
Afraid to tell anyone about the vision, (she’d just be labeled a freaky black magic witch, right?) Zellie keeps the knowledge of Avery’s future to herself and tries to act like any other teenager in love. When they get caught on their way to a secret rendezvous by her mom and his dad, they are forbidden to see each other.
Convinced that their parents are freaking out unnecessarily, Avery and Zellie vow to be together no matter what. They continue their relationship in secret until Zellie learns that their parents are just trying to prevent her and Avery from suffering like they did. The visions are hereditary, they’re dangerous, and if they stay together the visions will come true.
Now Zellie must choose between severing all ties with Avery, like her mom did to prevent his father’s death, and finding a way to change Avery’s future.
The thing that struck me the most about her book was the voice – it was perfect. Zellie always sounded like a teenager without being whiny or obnoxious. She was very likable and very realistic.
The story flowed beautifully. I think with a lot of debut novels, the biggest problems authors have is with flow and voice – they just haven’t figured out how to hit their stride yet. But Stacey didn’t stumble with either of those. It had a real honesty with the characters that I appreciated. Zellie and Avery were wonderfully drawn characters, and I couldn’t help but feel their yearning.
The paranormal aspect (which I loved) was a bit different than what I’d encountered before. I’m not going to give it away, but it wasn’t what I’d expected it to be, and that’s always fun.
All in all, I’m excited to read the next books in her series, and I see tremendous promise in Stacey’s writing and her future endeavors. Any fan of YA paranormal romance should definitely read this book!
Amanda Hocking
Kimber says: