Review: Til Death by Kate Evangelista

Til Death

Kate Evangelista

(Fractured Souls #1)

Publication Date: March 4, 2014

Paperback, Entangled Teen

Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Amazon | Goodreads

 Sixteen-year old Selena Fallon is a dreamer. Not a day-dreamer, but an I-see-the-future kind of dreamer. Normally this is not a problem as she has gotten pretty good at keeping her weird card hidden from everyone in her small town. Except from her best friend Kyle and her grandparents, of course. But when Selena dreams of her own rather bloody death, things get a little too freaky even for her.

Enter Dillan Sloan. Selena has seen the new guy in a different dream, and he is even more droolworthy in person. Beyond the piercing blue eyes and tousled dark hair, there is something else that draws her to him. Something…electric. Unfortunately, Dillan makes it more than clear that he does not feel the same. They just met, so why would he act like he hates her?

When Dillan and Selena are forced together one weekend to work on a school project, Selena prepares to be ignored as usual. But when she stumbles across a few undead in the backyard, Dillan comes to her rescue and reveals a whole lot more. Not only is he part of a society that hunts otherworldly creatures…she is too. And she is being targeted by a force bigger and darker than anything she ever imagined. Despite her death dream, Selena is not going to give up easy, especially when she discovers that Dillan might not actually hate her after all.

My Review

Til Death is cute, but it is kind of typical. I did really love the first chapter, however after that section some stuff started falling into a typical paranormal romance routine. Fortunately, it does get better.

Selena, the main character of the story, makes some stupid choices. She ran away from her friend's house in a guise to “protect” her friends. And she tried to steal a sword from the dude who was saving her ungrateful butt. Then there was the girl with visions aspect, which is totally cliché. Selena also has no parents, just grandparents. The new guy in school, Dillan, has a weird, freaky bond with the small town girl. The bond was similar to an insta-love bond, although it was less so than normal. Selena and Dillan didn’t want to be forced to have this special connection and they fought it constantly.  This did end up being entertaining at times.

Evangelista made it hard to empathize with the angry parts of the story. I didn’t understand why Selena would get mad at Dillan for what he said. I did enjoy that they had such a witty banter though, even if I didn't quite comprehend it one hundred percent of the time. Also, I never could grasp at why Selena felt the way she did towards the end. She had barely been in the know about the supernatural world, yet she felt unwavering loyalty towards one particular side.

I loved Dillan’s point of view. Dillan's introduced before any of the other characters and his world is wicked cool. He’s got a unique situation and character issues going on. Dillan's voice is also really great. He's snarky and smooth. I would have been happier if this whole story was told from his perspective. However, Selena’s point of view did get better over time; about 1/3 of the way through book. She just started to feel less forced. That “bedroom” scene with Dillan and sleeping Selena was very entertaining. And that’s all I can say about that for fear of spoilage. 

I never really got a sense of impending doom/danger with the huge climax of the book. Whenever Dillan’s big moment came, I just felt kind of "eh" about it. But that ending was pretty intriguing. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with all of that epic awkwardness.

 One thing that really makes me mad, but that has nothing to do with the book itself, is that the girl's hair on the cover doesn’t match Selena's. Blonde (cover model) vs. red head (Selena). The cover most definitely has nothing to do with book, Selena didn't wear a dress and frolic through the forest at any point in the story.

All in all, a good book with a few problems. While I plan on reading the sequel, I won’t feel terrible if I don't pick it up right away.

Favorite quote: "Picking up my fork, I said, "You’re just pissed because I had to hold you afterward."

His cheeks flushed. "Score one for me then."

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher. This in no way altered my opinion/review.