Elixir / Hilary Duff

TITLE: Elixir
AUTHOR: Hilary Duff
OWNED BY CCLS: Yes.

This is a hard book to summarize and explain. Oddly similar to something I've read before. Perhaps comparable to Lauren Kate's Fallen. See for yourself...

Clea Raymond, the seventeen year old daughter of a prominent U.S. politician (mother) and surgeon (father), leads an unusual life to say the least. Clea works as a photojournalist and travels the world taking photos that she believes "capture the soul." Both of her parents are also constantly "on the go" with their work, leaving Clea to fight the paparazzi on her own or spend time with her BFF Rayna and her bodyguard/best friend Ben.

During one of Clea's father's missionary trips to Brazil he goes missing. There are no answers, only questions surrounding his disappearance. Fortunately, one of Clea's photojournalist assignments takes her (and Ben) to the festival of Carnival in Brazil. Clea's trip morphs from a simple photo shoot expedition to a bizarre adventure of sorts that includes fear, love, mystery, intrigue and tales of 500 years past. Perhaps the trip to Brazil will provide Clea with some closure, but it sounds like it may only stir up more questions.

Check out Elixir today @ FRE--only 1 copy is currently available!

M's Verdict: A few things...
(1) This book is hard to explain/describe.
(2) This book leads well into a sequel (coming out this October : Devoted).
(3) I wish that when I had started reading this book that I hadn't known who wrote it. I'll admit that the only reason that I picked up this book is because I wanted to see if actor/singer/songwriter Hilary Duff could write. Unfortunately, I can't help but wonder if this didn't influence how I read this book.

For example, have you ever watched a movie or seen a trailer for a movie and then tried to read the book? How many of you picture what the characters look like? (i.e. When I read Twilight it was after seeing previews of the movie. This meant that as I read the book, I pictured Kristen Stewart as Bella and Robert Pattinson as Edward. I think this definitely changes how you read as well as how you think about a book. The same applies for when you see a movie after reading that book it was based on. More often than not I think--"that is soooo not what I pictured him/her as.)