Thursday, October 20, 2011

Review: Pulse of Heroes - By A. Jacob Sweeny

Author: A. Jacob Sweeny
Release Date:
Purchase Info: Amazon

Michelle used to feel like she was behind in everything, especially school and relationships. Her great aunt from the old country says she is like a bland meal, "no salt or pepper". But in junior year, everything changes. Her father takes a position on the Town Council, a popular boy in school becomes interested in her, and most importantly, the Hekademos Learning Center, a private school for 'troubled' students, moves into her quiet neighborhood amidst the protests of the entire town.

After seeing the School Regent out with a group of young guys just before Christmas, Michelle is convinced that there is something odd about them. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she embarks upon a mission to figure out what is really going on. After an embarrassing fall over the school wall, Michelle meets Elliot and her ordinary ‘bland’ life changes its course forever.

Elliot is no ordinary human. In fact, no one at the Hekademos Learning Center is. Beautiful and fierce, they have survived throughout the millennia by weaving in and out of human events. Through them, Michelle learns that history and myths from around the world are dotted with references to their kind. Michelle falls madly in love with the ever-striking and mysterious Elliot and, as much as he tries to fight it, he develops strong feelings for her as well. Although Elliot carries numerous painful memories from his many pasts, he disregards his own better judgment and the advice of his friends, and finds himself falling for Michelle‘s offbeat personality. Their feelings grow in intensity, but when History catches up with them, the difference between their life paths threatens to destroy any future that they might have had together.

Michelle learns that there are infinite shades of gray between black and white, and has to deal with the bundle of contradictory emotions called love. After some unexpected twists during a family trip to Europe, she has to trust her intuition in order to face the danger and uncertainty of being drawn into Elliot’s wondrous world. Ultimately, it is up to Michelle to make the split-second, life-altering decision that will either tear them apart forever, or give them another chance.

OK....


So this book was hard for me to get through, I'm not going to lie. I guess there was just something about the flow of the book at times that seriously had me thinking, "What the...", or maybe that it just felt that somethings weren't explained enough.

I hate giving even semi-negative reviews, they're not fun. I feel like I'm crushing someones dream & they're going to come after me to with vengeance regardless of how nice I am. But I have to be truthful for the sake of everyone reading this & for the authors sake. 

In Pulse of Heroes I do like how the author created Michelle as a character & the important key Elliot plays in her life.  You can tell that all Michelle wants is to matter to someone, and when she finds that in Elliot you can feel how major it is for her. Yes Elliot makes me swoon, but he would make you swoon too. (it's those eyes, I swear) You can tell that this relationship is life changing from the beginning, and seeing what twists & turns they run into was probably what pushed me to keep reading. But I just kept getting distracted by the jumping around and extra things that I felt didn't need to be in there.
In the end I have to say that I am sorry that I didn't like this book more, because there are some great reviews out there. It just wasn't something that I connected with.



2/5




4 comments:

dawnmomoffour said...

I already have this book, and loved it. I appreciate how well it was written. I followed the story just fine and really liked how the characters interacted. Still supporting my authors and plugging for the kindle at the end :-)
-Dawn aka dawnmomoffour
thedoyle6@rogers.com

Unknown said...

I really hate writing leads than glowing reviews, too. But I think you were fair in stating your reasons. Great job!

Jessica Hansen said...

Thanks Andrea, I really wanted to explain why I didn't like this book more without picking it apart. That's just mean.

Unknown said...

I still think the book sounds very fascinating!! Thanks for your opinion.
viajeradelmar@aol.com