Elixir [ハードカバー]

My spoiler free review leaves me wishing I could reveal more about Hilary debut novel Elixir. Hilary introduces a great character into the YA genre with Clea. While I couldn't relate to being able to jet off around the world, I could relate to Clea's inner strength, her independence and the drive she has to find answers. Clea finds herself in the middle of a mystery full of twists and dark secrets, as she looks for clues into her father's disappearance. She starts to notice a shadowy figure of a man in her pictures. She learns her father noticed the same thing before he disappeared. It's the same man who haunts her dreams. In each of Clea's nightmares, she sees herself with this man, only they're in a different time periods, and her name is different in each one. Every dream ends the same, in tragedy.

I liked the mystery that surrounds Sage, the mysterious, shadowy figure who's in Clea's pictures and who haunts her dreams. I absolutely loved that when Clea and Ben (Clea's best friends and her dad's confidant), set off on a quest to find answers into her father's disappearance, fate brings Sage and Clea together. As much as I wanted the two of them to acknowledge they both knew each other and had an immediate chemistry, I really liked that Clea at first refuses to acknowledge the undeniable pull towards him.

Hilary Duff has given paranormal a whole new spin. Elixir has a fresh voice, great plot twists and an ending that left me wanting the next book in the series. Though I couldn't get into the beginning of the book like I wanted to, when the plot twists and the love triangle intensify with Clea, Sage and Ben, I was hooked and couldn't stop reading it. A powerful centuries old secret reveals some character twists, uncovers a great mythology and makes for a fascinating plot.

SPOILERS. SPOILERS.

When I first saw Elixir on the shelf in a book store, my eyes flitted to Hilary Duff's name. That made me think - could Duff really write well? I considered buying it, but thank GOD I found it at my library. If I had spent even a penny on this book I would have mourned over the loss of money that could have gone towards something better. This book isn't anything special, really. It had many problems, but first, I'll tell you the whole synopsis:

There's this girl named Clea who goes to Europe with her friend Rayna. Later, after reviewing her pictures she took of the trip, she finds that this (hot)weirdo has been stalking her. He's in every photo. (sometimes he's flying and floating. I have no idea why, but he is)She finds him with her BFFs Ben and Rayna and his name is Sage (Oohh, mysterious) and then they go and find Clea's father and the Elixir of life - or, well, they TRY to.

Now, onto the problems!
Clea is the main character. She's the heroine and perfect in every way. She's rich, smart, the senator's daughter (evidently, in this book, if you're the senator's daughter, then everyone across the whole wide world knows your name - really? I don't even know my senators' NAMES, and if I don't know my own senators, then I don't even know other states' senators, and if I don't know the senators of my state, or other states, then I don't know their daughters, and people in Japan or Rio shouldn't even know who the hell Clea is) and she likes to take pictures - but she's horribly dull. I don't even know what she looks like, really.
Ben is Clea's best 'guy' friend (he's in love with her, of course) and he's supposed to be smart and all but he's just...average. Apparently, in his past lives, he's been the one splitting Sage and Clea up by inadvertently (sometimes) killing her in horrible ways. But come on, Ben, seriously? I think the whole 'killing in past lives' thing was just an excuse to make Sage (the love interest) a lot more appealing than Ben.
Rayna is Clea's friend and she's all too friendly with men. I have no doubt in my mind that she is not a virgin. Other reviews have called her, well, unpleasant names. I have to admit she sort of is an 'unpleasant word' but I'm not going to say it.
Sage is supposed to be the 'hero' the 'love interest', but honestly, 'stalker' 'creeper' and 'white board' fit him all much better. Tragically, Sage is like many of the love interests in dull paranormal novels. He is a white board. Whenever the author wants him to be sweet, she'll write it on the white board. Whenever she wants him to be cold and distant, she'll just erase 'sweet' (as quickly as it came) and put 'cold and distant'. See what I mean? He's underdeveloped, what the author wants him to be at certain times.

Another problem I had was just the writing of the book. It's not...good. But I suppose it's not terribly bad, either. When I read this book, it reminded me of the first drafts I used to write when I was thirteen. There is too much repetition and telling in this book, and overall, the style is bland.
There is too much telling. Far too much. Way too much. I swear, it repeats like wwaaaayy too much, like totally. (Basically, that's how the writing goes)
At times I felt like crossing unneeded sentences off. Paragraphs were like this, "The moon lit up the night sky (I know this is cliche, but it's just an example), and the stars were like glowing orbs of light, surrounding me. It was stunning."
You see that last part? "It was stunning"? There was far too much of that. Many times she would give us a description of something and then add, "it was beautiful" "it was horrible" "it was stunning" "it was like soooo gorgeous". There was far too much of that. Those sentences made a description that would have been nice into something boring and blunt. When a reader can figure things out for his/herself, then there's no need to put things like that.

Plot is another thing. The whole reincarnation thing has been done in a book called Evermore (oddly enough, that book isn't so excellent either), where a couple loves each other, the girl dies horribly each time but the really, really hot guy is immortal because of this immortal drink and they try to get together again and again. I mean, the concepts are interesting, they are, but I don't think Duff played enough on the reincarnation or elixir.

Clea and Sage also end up having sex in a car. In a car. After about - what was it? - three days of knowing each other? It's not even THEIR car. It's RAYNA'S. Hello? RAYNA'S! That car has probably been through a lot (considering who's it is...) so sex would not be the safest. But there is a perfectly good hotel room just waiting for Clea and Sage! Just tell Ben and Rayna to take a freaking hike if you REALLY WANTED TO. I'm not even sure about their ages! I'm guessing they're about 16. This is the kind of thing that encourages teenage sex!!!!

Now onto what I really dislike about this story: the ending. Okay, so at the end, they don't end up finding Clea's father, they don't end up finding the elixir, and Sage gets taken away. NOTHING is accomplished.

Now onto the second thing I didn't like: The message. WHAT IS WITH PARANORMAL ROMANCES THESE DAYS??????? WHAT ARE WE TEACHING OUR KIDS? So if a creepy (but hot) guy is stalking you, then it's okay to go out with him because (he's hot) just really sweet inside, and after that you can have (hot) sex with him in a car because (he's sexy and hot) you've apparently known him in previous past lives (even though that could easily be a lie) and just fall in love with the little (hot) creeper. Is THIS what you want your teens to do? What happened to VALUES or ATTITUDES or BEAUTY INSIDE? Let's face it, Sage is freakin' hot, so THAT'S why Clea likes him. Honestly, I would hold him at gunpoint if I ever met him. Think about it, if Sage was freakishly ugly but a really good person on the inside, how would the story go? Huh? Yeah. You know how it'd go. I think it's just sad what paranormal romances now-a-days teach. They're basically all structured like this: there's a hot guy, a less hot guy (who's usually a better person than the hot guy, and a friend of the heroine), and a heroine. The heroine falls head-over-heals for this mysterious, hot guy, and the friend (better person, still good looking, and a friend) sadly accepts that the girl won't love him because he's not as hot/sexy/mysterious. Then authors try and cram this crap like 'Oh, but the mysterious, hot guy is really caring and sweet on the inside' down the readers throats. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying romances that are totally implausible (the heroine falls in love with the hero in about a day or two) and bad (like having sex in a car about a week after they met).

All in all, read this book if you want. Just take it like a grain of salt.

I'm warning you now. This is more of a rant than a cohesive, intelligent review. It will be filled with spoilers and un-ladylike language, so people of delicate sensibilities take heed.

I like Hilary Duff. I grew up with her in Lizzie Maguire, and even rocked the Lizzie hairstyle for a while. I think she has grown into a nice young starlet as opposed to, well, Lindsey Lohan.

I was curious about this book after seeing her name on it. I was interested. How much of it did Hilary actually write? Did she just tell Elise Allen "write about soulmates" and then go and get a manicure? Or did she come up with plot herself, with Elise Allen only writing it down on paper? I think, after reading it, that I know the answer. I believe this is how the conception of this book transpired:

Hilary's manager walks into Borders mistakenly, absolutely absorbed into keying things into his Blackberry. It is only when he walks into a table, toppling over a pile of books, that he looks up and acknowledges his surroundings. "Hey! This isn't Saks!" But then his eye is drawn to a picture of Lauren Conrad on the back of Sweet Little Lies. He smirks, because he has his suspicions how much of the book Lauren actually wrote. Surprisingly, he sees multiple teenagers in the check-out line with the book in hand. "Hmmpp", he thinks, "Hilary is ten times prettier and smarter and nicer than LC". Then a brilliant idea forms in his head. Hilary's name + YA book = new sports car. Excitedly, he gathers a copy of every YA book in the store and rushes back to the office to make some phone calls. "Hey, Hilary, babe....how would you like to write the ultimate YA book? "

Next time, Hilary, just say no.

This book infuriated me. How stupid do publishers think teens are? This is the same typical formula for every other YA paranormal book out there, except wrapped up in a different dress.

There was nothing special about it. No spark. The writing was dead and lifeless, as were all the characters. I was bored out of my mind with the predictability of it all when I wasn't in a rage of seething hot fury.

Clea Raymond, the narrator, is horrible. She has no personality, and nothing that distinguishes her from every other YA heroine out there. Her name is also too close to "Claire" for my liking, and those of you who've read my other rants know my reasoning for that. Clea is a stupid, vapid girl, who became absolutely insufferable after she discovered *ahem* tru wuv. That's right, folks, she has a soulmate. But don't be too jealous of her now. She also has the inexplicable burden of being caught in the middle of a love triangle. What would a YA book be without one of those? Of course, Clea had no idea her BFF Ben, had feelings for her until he started being a jealous prick. Clea, you give a bad name to women everywhere. We are girls. We always know. Platonic friends, my ass.

Of course, I could have forgiven the book for this. Love triangles are a staple because they create drama and act as filler. Except this one was so blatantly one-sided. We all know Clea lllllluuuuuurrrrvvvvessss Sage (her soulmate guy), who is also immortal. Clea herself is kind of immortal, but more on that later. I might be spoiling things a little here, but suck it up. I'm trying to save you here. Clea and Sage had known each other less than a week. At first, Clea thought he was a crazy stalker. Then she thought he was a serial killer deadset on sending her to the grave. Then all the sudden they were kissing, telling each other how much they loved each other, and having sex in a car. First off, if a guy (with the exception of Leonardo DiCaprio) lets you lose your virginity in car, he does not really love you. Second off, this guy has been around for 500 years. Do you know how many STDs he could have contracted in that time? I don't care if he's immortal. As my health teacher said, herpes can affect anybody. And lastly, WTF CLEA?!! You have known this guy one week and up until a few hours ago you thought he was going to kill you!!!!!!! WHY! And then of course, from then on, it causes her physical pain to be away from her Sagey-poo. Gag me.

I blame Clea's whore friend, Rayna. Rayna, as Clea describes her, is a "romantic" who finds a new "soulmate" everytime she leaves the house. There are words for those kinds of girls, so don't go beating around the bush. Anyway, Rayna gives Clea the poetic advice of "don't think, just feel" right before Clea goes off alone with Sage, the soulmate/stranger/serial killer. NO NO NO. Think first, Clea, think first!! Do you want to become a statistic? This book is all your fault, Rayna, and I hate you.

When everyone wasn't talking about soulmates, they were trying to figure out the mystery of where Clea's father disappeared to. Of course, the focus of the book turned to Sage as soon as he appeared. But anyway, the beginning was rather slow, but then everything happened like BAM!BAM!BAM!. Any information the reader found out was in clumps under circumstances that were too convenient for my liking. It was frustrating. A part I did enjoy was all of Clea's past lives, but those were clumped up and rushed. I think it would have been better to have them dispersed throughout the novel. The ending was also extremely abrupt with so many questions unanswered, I wanted to punch a baby at first. But then I realized the book was over, so then I felt happy again. Here are a list of my questions/complaints:

1. Does Clea not have to go to school? I'm not sure what time of the year this book is taking place, but Clea is still able to drop everything and go to South America or Japan whenever she feels like it. With only two boys for company.
2. Why do people in Japan know who Clea is? Since when is being a senator's daughter such a flippin' big deal that people on the other side of the world know who you are? I don't even know my Senators' names.
3. Why is Clea's mother so horrible? She just let's Clea have total independence. Want to go to Peru? Go ahead! Guam? Why not! Afghanistan? Be sure to bring lots of sunscreen! And you would think, her daughter apparently being such a big deal and all, she might have Clea assigned a body guard or something? Nope.
4. Why does Clea love Sage? He has no personality. She literally just decides she loves him. They didn't even have great chemistry.
5. Why are Clea and Ben immortal too? I understand Sage, somewhat, since he drank the elixir. But there is not explanation for Clea and Ben to have their souls being reborn again and again, and at random intervals.
6. What's a soul? I know what my definition of a soul is, but this book has me all confused. Why is Clea so talented in some lives, like being a singer, artist, or actress, but has no apparent talent in this life? Does a soul just mean you have the same personality (or lack of it)?
7. Why does Sage show up in Clea's pictures? Why is he sometimes floating and sometimes not? GAH NO SENSE
8. Is this the only time Clea is aware of her past lives?, or has she had the same dreams in her past?
9. Since Ben always seems to be the problem, why don't they just KILL HIM? There, problem solved. See you again in another hundred years.

I'm just so done with these crappy YA paranormals. They are all the same. My intelligence is being insulted.