Glimpse [Paperback]

Stacey Wallace Benefiel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2012

Zellie Wells has a devastating crush on Avery Adams, the son of her mom's high school sweetheart. At her sixteenth birthday party, held in the basement of her dad's church, she finally finds the courage to talk to him. Turns out, the devastating crush is mutual. As Avery takes her hand and leads her out onto the makeshift dance floor, Zellie is overwhelmed by her first vision of his death; shocking because not only are they both covered in his blood, but they're old, like 35, and she is pregnant. Afraid to tell anyone about the vision, (she'd just be labeled a freaky black magic witch, right?) Zellie keeps the knowledge of Avery's future to herself and tries to act like any other teenager in love. When they get caught on their way to a secret rendezvous by her mom and his dad, they are forbidden to see each other. Convinced that their parents are freaking out unnecessarily, Avery and Zellie vow to be together no matter what. They continue their relationship in secret until Zellie learns that their parents are just trying to prevent her and Avery from suffering like they did. The visions are hereditary, they're dangerous, and if they stay together the visions will come true. Now Zellie must choose between severing all ties with Avery, like her mom did to prevent his father's death, and finding a way to change Avery's future

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stacey lives in Beaverton, OR with her husband and their two young children. Glimpse is her debut novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 7, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1452858748
• ISBN-13: 978-1452858746
• Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 5.8 x 8.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (186 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stacey Wallace Benefiel is the author of the Zellie Wells trilogy, FOUND, the Day of Sacrifice Omnibus, The Toilet Business - a collection of humorous essays,the upcoming CROSSING, and multiple short stories. She sometimes goes by S.W. Benefiel or Reina Stowe, but knows she's not foolin' anybody. Stacey lives in an orange house in Beaverton, OR with her two young children with old people names. When she's not writing, thinking about writing, or driving her kids somewhere, Stacey is at CrossFit lifting heavy things and cursing the inventor of the Burpee.

For more info. on Stacey and her books, please check out her website: www.staceywallacebenefiel.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Really fun read! November 8, 2010

By JessicaLoves

Format:Paperback

Zellie has a really big crush on Avery, her mom's highschool sweetheart's son. She doesn't even think he knows she exists, but at her 16th birthday party she finds out the crush is very very mutual. But instead of being able to savor her first dance with the boy she is in love with, she is consumed by the vision of his death. What freaks her out almost as much as having a vision, is that in the vision they are both covered in blood, grown up, and she is pregnant.
She keeps it a secret from everyone not wanting to be labeled a freak, but such secrets cannot stay buried for long. And once Zellie's secret is out everyone's secrets start coming out, and they aren't all that good. Like how her mom had a similar vision when she was Zellie's age involving Avery's dad dying, and that's why they didn't stay together. They also have refused letting Zellie and Avery see each other anymore to prevent them from having the same heartache. With the help of her best friend Claire and her sister Melody, Zellie is hoping she can get her life put back together and get these visions figured out before her whole life and everyone in it that she loves is ripped from her.

This is a very refreshing story. It is a paranormal romance, but it doesn't have all the creatures that everyone is writing about right now. This is about Seers, which is what Zellie is, though she doesn't know is. Just as the title states, Zellie can "glimpse" the future, but doesn't know how to control it so she is having a hard time dealing with the visions she's been having. The characters were very likable and are easily related with. Claire is my favorite character, though sometimes she gave to much information without knowing if it is okay to say anything. But she is a cool best friend....

[I'll play parental advisor and warn that there is language and sexual situations in this story.] Read more ›

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome April 25, 2010

By Robert Pattengale

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I just finished the first book of Glimpse-Zellie Wells Book 1. Can't wait until the second book is released. Has a great story line with an touch of romance and mystery. Would recommend this book to anyone!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing! January 31, 2012

By Lucy Swing

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love, love, love this story! My eyes were burning, and still are, but I had to keep on reading, I needed to know what would happen next. The suspense is amazing!
Reading about Zellie totally took me back to my teenage years, and to those school parties where you would hide in the dark corners and make out... what? no one else did that!? Oh, come on!
But best of all was to embark in this amazing journey Zellie found herself in. It wasn't an easy one, either. I mean, how messed up would it be if, the one you love the most, will die if he stays with you? And we have all seen the movie "Premonition" with Sandra Bullock, even if you try to change the outcome, it will still happen.
Anyway, "Glimpse" was an extremely fun and fast read. You will get sucked into Zellie's life and all of the drama that comes with it. Believe me, there is plenty to go around! I cried, I laughed out loud and most of all, I read while my eyes threatened to fall out of their sockets.
I suggest you all take the time and read it, I promise, you will not be let down!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars a lazy afternoon kind of book January 14, 2012

By Resa

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Glimpse" is another young adult, supernatural-romance hybrid, but refreshingly enough it does not involve vampires and the heroine is less than helpless. Zellie Wells finds herself the next in a line of gifted Wells women, who have visions about the future...among other things that are revealed later in the book. The plot itself is fairly simple, she has a vision of something terrible and tries to stop it while dealing with a vision detailing the death of the man she loves, and a few other normal teenage-romance issues and lovingly dysfunctional family. Even with the simplicity of the plot, Benefiel does manage to make it unique, bringing an interesting take on clairvoyance and a few plot points that obviously lead into the other two books of the trilogy. While "Glimpse" might not be the kind of book you have to sit down and think about when you're finished, it's an easy read to sit back and finish in one day. It does start slowly, and as this is a short book that can be a bit of a red flag, but once Zellie starts to have her visions things pick up fairly quickly.

The four main characters of the book are Zellie, Avery (the love interest), Claire (the best friend), and Melody (the little sister). Each of them does have a unique role to play in the book, but I was disappointed in how the characters were depicted. The dialogue, as well as Zellie's inner monologue is littered with likes, sos, totallys, oh my gods, words with -tastic tacked on, and countless other tween speak stereotypes. While a few of these sprinkled within YA dialogue can fit, the sheer number of these within the book cause the characters to sound false.... Instead of giving them unique and individual personalities, it causes the characters to sound like stereotypes, and a few times throughout the book it just made me think of my teen years and when my mom would pretend to talk like a teenager. It also makes the characters sound a lot younger than they're supposed to be, and I had to remind myself Zellie, Avery, and Claire were supposed to 16 and not 12 or 13, and the characters just seem a lot more true and unique in the few passages where they talk like normal people. Other than the dialogue though, Benefiel does a good job of recreating those emotions of youth such as finding your first love, relying on your best friend, and struggling to understand your parents. All of these emotions ring true and it helps redeem the characters from their immature dialogue.

Benefiel's writing style is very fluid and well put together throughout most of the book. She does an excellent job writing from the first person perspective of Zellie, but her style slips a little when she transitions into her third person descriptions of Avery (which only occur 3-4 times throughout the book) and these sections seem a little less detailed and not quite as put together. Her descriptions of visions, set apart by italic text, are also done well, creating vivid pictures and flowing smoothly back into the regular text which makes the book easy to read and follow. I would also like to congratulate Benefiel on her obvious ability to proofread. I've read multiple books over the past few months, some of which were put out by major publishing houses, which were lacking proper proofing and editing. Benefiel's book is free of typos, spelling errors, and major grammar mistakes. It was a pleasant surprise.

Overall, this is the kind of book you should sit down and read all at once. While the tween dialogue does becoming increasingly annoying the further into the book you get, it is possible to get past it for the sake of an interesting, if a little simplistic, plot. The book reads quickly and Benefiel does do an excellent job of recreating certain emotions and feelings of being a teenager. I don't think this book would hold up quite as well if it was a stand alone novel, but as the first in a trilogy it does its job well. There are parts of this book that seem to exist for the sole purpose of setting up the reader for the next book in the series (I won't tell you what they are because that would give away a few secrets) but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and even these sections are integrated into the current plot well enough that they don't seem bizarre or out of place. They will leave you with unanswered questions at the end, so if you're someone who can't stand a book that leaves plot threads untied you won't be too pleased. I was pleasantly surprised with Benefiel as a whole, and I think she's created an interesting heroine in Zellie Wells. I wouldn't put the next two books at the top of my reading list, but I won't leave them off entirely either. Read more ›

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Zel-licious July 3, 2010

By M. Berry

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

It can be difficult for me to find time to get through an entire book these days, so my daughter read this book before I did - and was done within hours of receiving it in the mail. The fact that she barely came out of her room that evening or the following morning validated my own eagerness to dive in. When I would insist that she 'disconnect' from Zellie's world for a few minutes to eat dinner, get some sleep, or some other lame thing, she just couldn't stand it, saying "I have to literally PRY my eyes off the page!" I know it took every ounce of restraint she could muster to not tell me every exciting detail as the story unfolded, as she could barely contain her enthusiasm!

I was finally able to get my hands on the book and read it for myself...and it was fantastic! Zellie, Claire, and Avery are wonderful characters that I could relate to and/or reminded me of friends I had at that age. I don't know which I enjoyed more: the descriptive details that pulled me directly into the 'moment' or the true-to-life narration that seemed to be streaming straight from a teenager's mind. The story is indeed compelling, but I also loved the 'voice' used to tell it.

My daughter and I are both so anxious for the next book!