Review: Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst

Book: Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Series: None
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars







Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her to remember.
At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things—things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed—and she’s lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

WHAT I LIKED

• Where do I begin?! This was one of the strangest books I ever read. I didn't even know what the story was about or where it was going because it was really bizarre. There were only a few things that I did like. One was the author's writing. Although this book was not one I really enjoyed, the author's writing was enough to make me finish it. Her words were like magic, enticing me to finish reading it to the end. I did not like the story plot, but the way she wrote her words were beautiful.
• I enjoyed reading about the side characters more than the actual main character. I really liked Zach, Malcolm, and Aunt Nikki's personalities. Zach became the love interest to Eve, and is the cutest nerd to the max. He stood out the most with his shining personality. I loved his wit, charm, and how he says everything truthfully. The first time he meets Eve, he tells her he wants to kiss her! At first, I was taken aback by his bluntness, but then it made me like him more. Malcolm was Eve's body guard and became the adopted father type to Eve. I really loved the guy because he protected her and really cared for her when no one else did. He was this huge papa bear that came to Eve's rescue many times. At first I didn't like Aunt Nikki. She was Eve's fake aunt who was really her other body guard. The only reason she was there to help Eve was because that was her job. She felt uncomfortable taking care of Eve, but little by little, Aunt Nikki began to open up. The way she gave Eve advice was funny because she didn't really know how to, but at least she tried.
• The last thing I liked about this book was the diversity. It wasn't all just white people, hooray! Many books these days have an abundance of white characters with no other race. It is kind of sad when you think about it. While this book had the majority of white folks, Malcolm the body guard, was a big, broad African American man. I know many people might not care about that, but it put a smile to my face because we need more diversity!

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

• One of the major things I did not like about this book was the main character Eve. She was dull, with no personality whatsoever. All she ever did through out the majority of the time is pass out from using magic and forgetting what she did the last few weeks. She didn't know what was happening half the time, she always did what others did, and she barely cracked a few jokes to keep me entertained. Eve seriously needed to grow a back bone or something because she seriously bored me to death. Only in the end did she start believing in herself, which therefore brought some spark to her.
• Another major disappointment was the story plot. The summary conveys that there is this really scary serial killer out to get Eve, when in fact none of that really happens. I got mislead thinking that there's going to be some murderer with some scary scenes, but the "killer" hardly enters the scene until about three-fourths of the way. Also, it turned out he wasn't all that menacing. Sure he was a bad man, but in no way was he the horrifying ax murderer I was expecting him to be.
• One of the things that really bored me about this book was the consistent flashbacks of the same exact thing! Almost every chapter Eve had the same vision of a teenager dying at a carnival. I know that she was having flashbacks and all, but the author should have changed the scenery or gave more description as to why she had the vision. It became so repetitive to the point where I was just about to skip that scene since I knew what was going to happen in that scene. There was no need for the same vision to be repeated over and over. The author should have been answering more questions instead.
• While the ending did have a good ending, it was lack luster at best. I did not really feel the need to root for Eve and Zach because there was no sense of connection to them. There was hardly any action, which left the ending too tidied up. Call me morbid, but I was expecting a grand ending to this boring book. At least this was just a standalone book, and the ending did not feel open ended.

FINAL VERDICT
So, would I recommend this book to you guys? Probably not. If you like a slow, boring story, confused main character, with some voodoo in the mix, then sure go for it. Other than that I would not bother reading it. There was no main focus to the story, and I was confused as hell as to what the heck was going on. I did however enjoy the author's writing so I will check out her other books.