Customer Reviews

Intertwined (Harlequin Teen)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(60)
3 star:		(40)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Gena Showalter's Intertwined has a fascinating premise: Aden, the main character, has four other souls living within his head whom he constantly hears. Each soul has a special "gift", such as time traveling or raising the dead, but it's Aden's habit of conversing aloud with the souls that has landed him in mental facilities and foster homes since the age of three. Needless to say, it's been almost impossible for Aden to make friends, and the fact that he knows exactly how he will die (thanks to one of the souls) doesn't help his situation. Until he moves to the D and M Ranch for troubled boys and receives a vision of a beautiful girl who will become his love interest; suddenly Aden is eager to find out if the girl he sees briefly is the mystery girl and he gets himself enrolled in the local school in order to find out. Only Mary Ann is not the girl, though she does become a friend. Instead, the beautiful vampire Victoria reveals herself to Aden, accusing him of "calling" her into his life. Thus begins a relationship that finds Aden battling the undead, the school bully, a bunkmate, a werewolf, and assorted other paranormal creatures as he searches for a way to set the souls trapped within free and possibly even get the girl in the process.

Whew. That's a lot of description to pack into a little paragraph. Trouble is, that's only the tip of the iceberg with Intertwined. It seems that each new chapter brings further complications and characters to muddy the waters and make Aden's life more difficult. And that is the biggest problem with this book: it's so convoluted with plots, sub-plots, and coincidences that I'm still not sure what was the main focus. Though I rather enjoyed the characters of Mary Ann, Riley, and Aden, the rest of the cast seemed placed solely for convenience's sake, including love interest Victoria: how wonderful (cough!) was it that she has a gift of making people do and think whatever she wants (but doesn't really practice it on Aden) so that everyone can get out of tight scrapes easily? The conversations were often stilted, moving from today's slang ("Hawt!") to old-fashioned Romanian style vampire-speak within a page or less. And the whole drama with Mary Ann's bff Penny? Unnecessary and just plain distracting. I just kept feeling as though the storyline, while unique, could have been so much more if half of the ideas had been left out and more focus given to the characters' feelings. And at times, if I'm being honest, I felt that the writing style itself bordered on inexperience (though I know that's not the case of the author). All of this mixed together just makes the whole idea...well, silly and not very well planned out.

I still am giving this novel three stars, rounded up from 2.5 because there was a section where Aden and Mary Ann were developing a good relationship that I felt the pages flying by. And overall, it is a fast read with so much potential. There was some humor and some angst that captured me, but this novel needed an editor with a much heavier hand than the one it got. Obviously the ending is a set up for a sequel but I am sure I'll give it a pass. That ending fight scene alone was so poorly written that I'd feel like having my own eyes poked out to spend more of my life wading through too many coincidences and not enough substance.

Somewhat confusing, with the many different story arc's but still a good read once you wade through the layers of the main and subplots of the book. Sadly, all the layers seem to only take away the ease of reading and relating to the main characters - let alone the four souls trapped in Adens head. It just makes it all little hard to follow with so much going on and so many mythical creatures popping up in what felt like every turn of the page.


The biggest let down for me by far, was that the story was sold to me on the fact that the it was about a person with 4 souls trapped inside of him and that each one had a different ability. Seeing the future, Possessing another, Waking the Dead and Time Travel - which was amazing to read when it finally happened throughout the book. I just wished there were more interaction with the trapped souls. In my eyes with the

whole mix of the many different things going on in this world that Gena Showalter has written, the main plot as I saw it (the four souls) had somewhat fallen to the wayside. In the end things were tied up with the souls a little bit to quickly for what I was expecting and left me with questions that I will only hope to see the answers for in the books to follow.


As a whole it was far from bad, just a little jumbled and confusing. Those few flaws wouldn't and won't prevent me from purchasing the next in the series as I look forward to learning more in the future and to find out just where the author will take us and her characters next.

I've read almost all of Showalter's books and I don't remember there ever being a teen book mixed in there, so I was pleasantly suprised by this one. I must admit I was engrossed from the beginning. I even completed the somewhat hefty book in two days. Aden is an unusual boy. Upon birth he sucked into his body four other spirits. All four spirits are all in their own right supernatural. One can flash back into time, one can raise the dead, one can see the future, and one is a sex-starved, harmonal...uh-hum....I mean can flash into another body and control it. Aden is able to use all these gifts since he is in possession of the spirits.

On the downside, Aiden's birth parents gave him up when he was three and he has been in one foster home after another with the exception of all the institutions he had also spent time in. From an early age (despite said early age) he was classified as scizophrenic (spelling?). At age 16 he now resides in a group home for troubled boys. On the upside his future telling spirit is not fortelling him meeting a girl, a girl he will fall in love with. Now if only he wasn't also fortelling his soon death.

I thought it was great. My only complaint for the novel was that there was too much information packed into the story. Way too many sequences and plots going all at once. I must admit that Showalter did work it out so that it wasn't confusing...just too busy.

Intertwined is a book that is complicated. The main character Aiden has a complicated problem (extra souls in his body that talk to him all the time and have strange powers). He meets a girl (Mary Ann) who effects him in a complicated way that he's intrigued by. He also falls in love with a vampire girl who he knows will one day kill him. And there's a werewolf that falls for Mary Ann who is also the protector of Vampire girl and who hates Aiden.

The plot plods by with things conveniently working out and strange subplots and extra characters being introduced that don't really matter that much to the plot and everything just gets more complicated and then conveniently works it's way to the end while not tying up most of the loose ends.

Had the author chose to just focus on the many souls plot or just the plot with the mystical creatures then perhaps this book would have been better, but as it was written it was just too complicated and convenient to the point where I didn't care much when the end came around. I did finish the book (which I can't say about everything I get) so it wasn't that bad, but I'm not going to be reading it again.

Aden has been in foster care since he was three years old. He's had four other souls living in his body for even longer than that--as far back as he can remember, in fact. These souls are constant voices in his head, and each brings a special power to the table. Because of these souls, Aden can time-travel, wake the dead, possess the bodies of others, and see glimpses of the future. Also because of these souls, Aden has spent a significant amount of his life in mental institutions.

Now Aden is sixteen, living in a group home in a new town, and he meets a girl. This girl's very presence silences the voices in his head, for the first time ever. Aden is intrigued, and finds himself being pulled toward this girl. Meanwhile, he also ends up having to grapple with werewolves, vampires, and other creatures of mythology.

I liked Aden and his struggle to be normal, and it was interesting to get to see some of his past and the way he interacted with the voices within. The premise of his character was fascinating, and I would have liked the chance to see how his story worked out.

It was disappointing that this story ended abruptly, obviously making room for a sequel in which things will be wrapped up. Although I liked Aden's character, I didn't find any of the other characters interesting enough that I would want to read a second book about them.

Another problem I had with this book was that it tried to fit in too much fantasy. Aden's ability and the way he was dealing with it made a great story. When the other characters started to appear and the reader found out that there were vampires, werewolves, witches, fairies, and goblins wandering around as well, it just began to feel too unfocused.

When he first saw Mary Ann he knew his life was about to change. Since birth he has carried four souls inside him. Souls with unique abilities. Souls that can't help but distract him with their constant chatter. Bouncing from foster home to mental hospital to boy's home, his life has been anything but pretty. His latest home isn't perfect but thanks to the abilities of one of his trapped soul companions he's pretty sure it might be his last. Only time will tell if he can free the souls trapped within him and what role Mary Ann is meant to play in their release. Yet meeting Mary Ann is only the beginning as his eyes are opened to a world of vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts and faeries. Drawn to him like moths to flame these races will play a role in his future whether he's ready for them to know who he is or not. The fates of all may be intertwined in the destiny of one young man... Aden Stone.

One of the first releases from Harlequin's new Harlequin Teen imprint, Intertwined has been very much anticipated by adult fans of Gena Showalter's writing.

While definitely on par with her adult titles in the writing, Intertwined lacks solidarity in its plot. The switching perspectives of Mary Ann and Aden do not do the story justice. It's my opinion that Mary Ann is a square peg trying to be forced into a round hole, a secondary character being forced to be a key protagonist in a plot that should have been left to Aden alone. That said there is great potential here. Showalter's characters are all interesting, likable and real enough to be relatable. Sorting out which ones are most important to the plot may be the only real issue readers find with them.

On the whole, the plot of Intertwined has a great hook. A boy with four souls trapped in him wants to find them bodies of their own so he can live a semi-normal life. He meets a girl who makes the voices in his head quiet so she must be able to help him somehow. This plot thread works well. It is very enjoyable and the resolution of this plot thread had me tearing up which doesn't happen often with young adult books. What really screws with the story is the sudden random addition of all the other races and the plot they bring with them to prepare for the second book. I hate saying it, but it kind of feels like the author was pressured to cater to the sudden obsession with vampires by adding them to the story. While I love vampire and shapeshifter stories they somewhat muddle this book up and yet couldn't suddenly be introduced in a later installment in this series either.

If you're looking for something paranormal to read and don't mind the above mentioned flaws cropping up in a book this is one worth checking out. Showalter is an engaging writer and fans of her work should probably pick this one up because in spite of the issues I had with this one, a plot has been established for the rest of the series that should be much better now that the world building has been done. Enjoy!

I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did - it sounded just a bit over the paranormal top with vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and zombies. That said, the first page was the hardest to get through. The first time I picked it up, I read most of the first page and put it down. It didn't grab me from word one.
That said, later that night I picked it up again, re-read the first page, turned the page, and COULD NOT STOP. I found myself sitting in an empty bath tub still reading later that night.

The book is very well written with a very good story. I love the idea of a very special young man gifted with unexplainable paranormal powers ending up in the mental health system. It seems like that's what would happen if a boy like this existed. The characters are very well developed and the story very neatly tied together.

It is not as much a vampire novel as I'd thought. Vampires do play a definite role, but they do not steal the stage.

About 3/4 of the way through, the story got a bit forced for about 10-15 pages - like the author was really trying to tuck some ends in, but it was so over the top entertaining that I can't hold it against her.
The ending is well resolved but still it is left open for a sequel. I'll be in line for it!

All through out Aden Stone's life, he has been labeled as cracy, schizophrenic, and violent. It's taken him 16 years to finally be released into a more 'normal' environment. It's almost unreal that he has the freedom to walk around a town on his own, and interact with people. Aden isn't crazy though, he's just forced to live with the souls of four others inside of his head. They constantly battle for his attention, and what makes things worse, they have abilities that Aden can't control.

Each soul has a gift for the supernatural. One can time travel, while another can raise the dead. This can get quite annoying for Aden when he is trying to live a peaceful life. It gets worse though, as the remaining two souls each have an ability as well, one being able to tell the future, more namely what will cause the death of those Aden passes in life. The last, can possess the body of another human, taking Aden and the other souls along for the ride.

Aden has made it his goal to release the souls in side of his head, so for once in his life he can have some peace. When he meets a girl that can quite the souls just by being in his presence, he is certain she will be able to help him figure out the mystery. Aden and Mary Ann have a bond that can't be broken. While they are drawn together, they are both repelled as well, knowing that something is weird about the way they feel about each other. They feel as though they are two magnets, both drawn to each other, but repelled in another.

Things only get more weird for Aden and Mary Anne as their friendship progresses. They meet a werewolf that is hell bent on having Mary Anne for his own, and a vampire princess that Aden can't help but be drawn to. While their love for one another is forbidden, they work together to enter a world full of creatures that both Aden and Mary Anne never knew existed. It will be a bumpy ride, full of surprises and danger, but they are determined to come out on the other side.

I was extremely excited to read this story, and waited eagerly for it to arrive in my mailbox after having ordered it online. It had to sit for a little bit, unfortunetly, due to catching up on a few other reviews that I had promised to have finished beforehand. When I finally was able to dig in, I couldn't stop. Within the first two hours, I was already half way through the story, and itching to find out what would happen next.

This is the first novel I have ever read by Gena Showalter, and I can honestly say I'm more excited to read more of her work than ever. While there was so much going on in this story, it all meshed together very nicely. I thought that by focusing on four characters in this book, plus the souls of four others, it was going to be a jumbled mess. Interwined, was in fact, an action packed rollar coaster with lots of dips and turns.

The story was addicting, and when I finally hit that last page I was eager to know what would happen next with Aden and his friends. Luckily, Showalter has a sequel in the works called, Unraveled, and all I can say is that I absolutly can't wait to get my hands on it, it scheduled for release in September of 2010. In this first installment, Showalter's characters are so well-rounded, and intriguing. I can only imagine how they will progress over time, and itch for the chance at another adventure.

It's unfortunate that the premise is so appealing, because, for me, INTERTWINED was an overwritten, confusing, and crowded paranormal mess. Too much was implied and told directly to readers, the characters were unappealing, and the whole thing was just way too long to hold my attention.

Showalter has the unfortunate penchant of telling, not showing, and making her characters take agonizingly slow paragraphs to undergo a simple thinking process. Any story that relies heavily on the main characters' romantic appeal must work on showing us readers the attraction and potential, instead of telling us over and over again, "X couldn't resist Y. Z was scared to show her feelings" etc.

As a staunch fan of Showalter's adult Harlequin romances, I was disappointed that she seemed to feel the need to "dumb down" her writing for the young adult crowd. Please. It's the R-rated sexual thoughts and scenes that need to go, not intelligent character development. Teenagers can tell the difference between an author who knows the teen voice and an author who typically writes for adults and is just trying to make his or her way into the YA genre.

It goes without saying, then, that I couldn't make myself care for the characters. They were self-absorbed, overbearingly introverted when it came to pondering, and didn't do anything really worth mentioning. So Aden attacks a werewolf, gets bullied, and wants to lavish the vampire princess. So Mary Ann has a few conversations with her friend and boyfriend, and continues to hang out with the werewolf even though his monstrous presence supposedly frightens her because she never knows what's going on.

By this point, a discerning reader will simply ask the important question: so what? Where are all of these disconnected and emotionally distant events leading up to? In the end it didn't matter, because I was already tired of being narrated to like I have an IQ of 50 by a bunch of unlikable characters. I put the book down.

I have to give Gena and Harlequin TEEN this, though: they certainly have the right idea of what story elements will appeal to today's Twilight audience. Readers looking for equally emotionally tortured paranormal romances will no doubt find their way to this new line. I have not read Showalter's other YA books, but unfortunately I just cannot tolerate stories that insult my intelligence--and nor should I have to. Next time, Gena. Next time, Harlequin TEEN.

Aden Stone would just like to have some peace and quiet, a day where he could be alone with his thoughts. It's not something that can ever happen, since he's sharing his body with four other human souls. Each soul has its own personality and its own supernatural power, giving Aden the ability to raise the dead, time travel, take possession of other peoples' bodies, and predict the future. He's practically a superhero...except that everybody thinks he's crazy because he hears voices, so he's spent most of his life in and out of foster care, halfway houses and detention centers. One of his classmates, Mary Ann, can silence the other souls with her mere presence, but neither of them knows how or why. She, too, hears a voice in her head - that of a mysterious black wolf that follows her to and from school. The wolf protects a vampire princess, a beautiful girl that Aden has seen in his visions of the future. She may be able to help free the other souls in his body...or she may bring about Aden's destruction.

This book has a lot of problems, like mediocre writing and an extremely action-based plot with virtually no character development. But the biggest problem by far is that there is just waaaaay too much going on. It's like the author couldn't decide which trendy supernatural creature she wanted to write about, so she put ALL of them in her story. So we have zombies, vampires, werewolves, demons, ghosts, fairies, witches, and goblins, as well as the superpowered displaced souls trapped in Aden's body.

A lot of these creatures are dropped into the story but never really developed. For example, whenever Aden enters or walks by a cemetery, the dead will rise from their graves. The book opens with a zombie-slaying scene. But after the first scene, we don't see the zombies again until the end of the book. Likewise, witches are mentioned a few times by characters, but we don't actually see any until the final chapters of Intertwined. Even then, they don't do much except set a date with Aden to rendezvous in the sequel. Fairies, likewise, make a token appearance but don't really do anything other than exist.

Why didn't the author just pick one or two supernatural creatures and actually develop their history and back story instead of throwing everything she could think of into the book? It's a total mess.

It's actually really disappointing, because the idea of a boy with multiple souls living in his body would have been plenty interesting on its own, but Aden's completely overwhelmed by all the other paranormal tropes crawling out of the woodwork.

To top it off, Intertwined builds up to spectacular showdown between Aden and his vampire rival, and the fight lasts for only a few disappointingly bland pages, to end with a killer cliffhanger.

Just an awful book from beginning to end.