Existence by Abbi Glines
Author: Abbi Glines Website|Twitter
Published: 13 December 2011 (Wild Child Publishing)
Format: Kindle e-book
Pages: 194
Amazon: Paperback|Kindle
Kobo: E-book
Book Depository: Paperback
Source: Free Kindle download
Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
What happens when you're stalked by Death? You fall in love with him, of course.
Pagan Moore doesn't cheat Death, but instead, falls in love with him.
Seventeen year old Pagan Moore has seen souls her entire life. Once she realized the strangers she often saw walking through walls were not visible to anyone else, she started ignoring them. If she didn't let them know she could see them, then they left her alone. Until she stepped out of her car the first day of school and saw an incredibly sexy guy lounging on a picnic table, watching her with an amused smirk on his face. Problem is, she knows he's dead.
Not only does he not go away when she ignores him, but he does something none of the others have ever done. He speaks. Pagan is fascinated by the soul. What she doesn't realize is that her appointed time to die is drawing near and the wickedly beautiful soul she is falling in love with is not a soul at all.
My Review:
I hadn't read anything by Abbi Glines but she's an author I'd heard a lot about, so when I saw this book was free on the Kindle store I was so excited to grab it and get reading! Existence tells the story of Pagan Moore who has grown up with ability to see wandering souls. One day a soul turns up at her high school and for the first time she finds he can speak to her.
I really loved the idea of this book and how it got into the action straight away. Pagan's just starting her senior year and has recently broken up with her boyfriend so there's that high school drama which I adore! I loved seeing how Pagan copes with the ability to see souls. She's sort of gotten used to it so she's able to ignore them most of the time. I really felt for her because seeing souls wandering about everywhere and not being able to tell anyone is definitely not ideal. When she starts seeing this new soul who comes out and talks to her I was completely intrigued and the story had me hooked.
Whilst dealing with the appearence of this mystery soul Dank (who happens to be male and hot), Pagan is also developing a close relationship with Leif, a member of the school football team. I really liked Leif. He just seemed like the sweetest guy! And I loved seeing his and Pagan's relationship develop as she starts to tutor him for school. Then there's Pagan's best friend Miranda who was lively and funny a great addition to story. There were a lot of times when Pagan was quite serious so having that light-hearted friend nearby really helped. I thought the dynamic between Pagan and her single mum was pretty cool too. There were some really sweet moments between them and they almost seemed like friends which I liked.
The book had a load of mystery which made it an exciting read because I was always waiting to see what happened next. The main mystery of course was just who the mystery soul was and just what he's up to. I found Dank to be a really intriguing character and I thought I wasn't going to like him at first, but he did really win me over and I think that mystery surrounding him really helped with that. There was a great build up of tension and suspense as well.
Where the book started to lose me was the relationship between Dank and Pagan. obviously she's intrigued by him and wants to know just why he's so interested in her, but once it started going further than that I started to lose hope a little. Pagan just turned really mopey, and even though she did genuinely have a lot going on in her life (some of her issues I thought were handled really well) I just couldn't stand the fact she was moping over a guy when she had a seemingly nice boyfriend. I mean obviously it's not your typical boy/girl situation but still, it struck me as not very healthy.
I was feeling a little disillusioned by the whole love triangle, lusting after the bad guy thing towards then end but then I hit the last couple of pages and seriously it blew me away! There were some huge twists I didn't see coming and I think my jaw literally dropped as I read the last sentence. Talk about a cliffhanger! I'll definitely be downloading the next book in the trilogy because I need to find out what happens. The pacing was spot on which is always important to me in a short book. It didn't feel rushed at all. I'm really glad I checked out this book and this author. I'll definitely be reading more of her books! And this is a fantastic read if paranormal is your thing. I'd really recommend it.
Rating: 4*
What to read next: Predestined by Abbi Glines, book 2 in the Existence trilogy or Leif by Abbi Glines, a novella accompanying the trilogy
Books like this: Intangible by J. Meyers
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