FORESHADOW review

I had a few peeves with Foreshadow. The first thing that stood out was the characters’ names: Raena (MC), Tanis (foster sister), Andrei (psycho stalker), Genevra (foster mom), Cady (a friend), Nuada (the cat). Even simple names had odd spelling twists. A rule of thumb: it’s okay to funk out with a name or two, but try to tame the rest or readers get confused. Genevra’s name was a constant mind-slipper. And Rae’s cat? I mentally renamed her Fluffball The Oracle.

(BEWARE, SPOILERS)

I am also not a fan of the POV shifts. Every so often I would end up in Logan’s head. Turns out, not much in there. Even after he sprouted wings and realized that he could fly, there were no real revelations. He didn’t even panic. Most teens would totally flip out and wonder if they accidentally ingested PCP. But not Logan. The shift was the perfect opportunity to give him that touch of realism/boy-next-door quality, to let us see inside of his heart. But nothing was offered that we hadn’t learned through Rae first.

And Rae’s choices in actions were odd for a teenage girl. Rae is being stalked by guy A, so she just runs off to a neighboring city with guy B (who she doesn’t really know all that well) to hide out? And her foster parents think this is appropriate while they are holed up in a local hotel with Fluffy McPain-In-The-Ass? And boy B’s parents are fine with him charging expensive hotel rooms, room service, and shopping sprees to their credit cards, all in the name of helping a cute girl he hated last week? It pushes the bounds of believability. Had the timeframe been a few months as opposed to a few days, that would have helped.

But please don’t think that I’m upset or let down by Foreshadow. Though a few things peeved me, I was still very drawn to the character of Rae. I wanted to see her happy. Essex captures the essence of this young girl and her world effortlessly. And I love that Rae is not easily pushed around by Andrei. She doesn’t stand for being bullied, and she definitely thinks for herself. These are fabulous qualities that more YA heroines need.  

However, Foreshadow’s downfall -for me- was the “good boy” to “bad boy” face time ratio.

“Good boy” lovers, this book’s for you.

Logan is super good. Crazy, wamalamadingdong good, in fact. Ex: helps wrap a present, carries Rae’s books EVERY DAY at school from class to class, is emotionally there for her while she deals with Andrei the stalker, talks to her in the middle of the night when he should be sleeping, just to name a few. But I am absolutely a “bad boy” supporter. I don’t really want said bad boy to win, but I want to get to know him throughout the book. Andrei was the force behind Rae’s actions, though readers never really get to see more than a few snippets until the last part of the book. What are his motives for stalking Rae? Why does he want her so badly? Nothing comes to light until the last third of the book. That’s too long pining for another glimpse of Andrei, who was super cute and had an accent. Instead of POV shifts to Logan, Essex should have used Andrei the entire time. It would have made perfect sense, and it would have appeased that terrible yearning to walk on the wild side while rooting for good to prevail.

WHAT THIS BOOK HAS:

-A realistic heroine

-An interesting plot

-Heart

WHAT THIS BOOK NEEDS:

-To delve into the deep end of the dark side sooner. Good turns sour when there isn’t enough evil to keep it sweet.

In the end, I deducted gold stars because I wanted more of Essex's well-written antihero.