The Book Barbies: Blog Tour: [Review] Spectral by Shannon Duffy

Convinced she’s a part of the witness protection program, sixteen-year-old Jewel Rose is shuffled around the globe with her family like a pack of traveling gypsies. After arriving at lucky home twenty-seven, she stumbles upon a mysterious boy with magical powers claiming to be her guardian . . . and warning of imminent danger. Despite the obvious sparks between them, Jewel discovers a relationship is forbidden, and the more she learns about dark, brooding Roman, she begins to question who she can even believe—the family who raised her, or the supposed sworn protector who claims they’ve been lying to her all along.

As she struggles to uncover who her family has really been running from, she is forced to hide her birthmark that reveals who she is. With new realities surfacing, unexplained powers appearing, and two tempting boys vying for her heart, Jewel battles to learn who she can trust in an ever growing sea of lies, hoping she’ll make it through her seventeenth birthday alive.

*thanks to the publishers for the review copy of this book*

Emma's thoughts:

I... wish I knew what to say. I was kind of, torn, about this book. I didn't know if I liked it, or if I didn't? And generally that's not a great thing for me.

It started off pretty generic. New girl in a small town with a strange mysterious boy. Yes, 'True's' back story, supposedly being in the witness protection program, sounds awesome and exciting, but it really just consists of her family being really, really protective and unbearably overbearing (oh don't get me started on Aunt Eva). It just made me cringe.

Taylor and Chase are two people Jewel meets at school. Taylor's your typical 'first-day-of-school preppy buddy' and Chase is that cute guy that Jewel is obviously not going to end up with. They kind of made me cringe too. Just. So. Cliché! Jewel said something, at the end, along the lines of that Taylor was the bestest friend she's ever had out of all the best friends she's ever had. But what? I didn't feel there was any kind of best friend bond, I didn't see them become friends. It felt like, Taylor had no friends, except for her boyfriend, before Jewel came. It was just unrealistic. *facepalm* Even in fantasy books, realistic characters are a must! And Chase with his bitchy ex-girlfriend; aagghhhh. I'm not... I can't even go there...

But that's the cringe-worthy part over!

The second half is much, much, much better! It's exciting, slightly less predictable and there's fighting! You meet new people, and they are plainly, awesomer. At the point, I couldn't stop reading because really, everything was moving so fast. One moment she's in America, next in Russia... oh and, Italy! This was really the highlight of the book, when Jewel finds out who she really is, and not just a few hints, but she really learns to harness these 'powers' she got. (yaay go Jewel!)

And I feel like I should mention the love interest, Roman. Brooding, dark, and forbidden. I mean, he's pretty perfect, but it made me want to gag. I just don't know if it's because of him or my current biased opinion on relationships right now. So I won't go into detail, but I just felt like Jewel and Roman were a little too cheesy and too in love for my taste. But then again, many other people seemed to love them, so hey, maybe I'm just being a bit of a downer.

In all, parts of the beginning really made me want to scream at Jewel and her crazy aunt, but the climax was fun to read. The aspect of being a witch was pretty interesting to read about too. Having your own specialty sounds awesome and if I could have my own, it'd definitely be invisibility :)

Overall rating: 3 stars~ Sometimes predictable but still enjoyable(: