ARC Review: “Silver” by Talia Vance

Silver by Talia Vance (Click for Goodreads)

4 1/2 stars

Beauty is pointless when no one’s looking.
Brianna Paxton has been invisible to guys since the eighth grade. She’s pretty enough, it’s just that no one bothers to look. There’s almost nothing that can’t be explained with science, and Brianna has a theory: she’s missing the pheromone that attracts people to one another. Brianna’s theory is shot to hell in one frozen, silver moment, when time stops and Blake Williams not only sees her, he recognizes something inside her that she’s been hiding from even herself.
Before Brianna fully understands who and what she is, she accidentally binds her soul to Blake. Forced to find a way to reconcile forbidden love and her bloody heritage, Brianna discovers that there’s nothing pointless about her, and Blake may be in the most danger of all.

This review is based on an ARC received from NetGalley. You can get a copy for yourself September 8, 2012

I don’t even know where to start with this book. I went into it a little apprehensively, because the blurb made it sound like Brie might be another one of those girls who goes on and on about how she’s not pretty and then whoops there would be this insta-love thing and I would be left knocking my head against my desk.

That didn’t happen.

First off, Brie is totally relatable. She’s geeky, but not in the overpowering, stereotype way. She doesn’t think she’s pretty, she thinks she’s invisible BUT she doesn’t spend hours whining about it. She accepts it, she’s chill about it and she let’s that make her stronger. Especially after dealing with the character of America in The Selection, that was fantastic to read. Add in some snappy dialogue and I was hooked.

The book started off with a rocky beginning, and that was when I realized this book was going to go severely either way with me. The reason for the half star dock is that there were a few logical inconsistencies that made me flip back a few pages and say WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE? or HOW DOES THAT WORK? and I got no explanation. For me, though, they were small (okay, one was not so small and that’s the biggest reason for the docked 1/2 star but I can’t tell you what it is without spoiling!) and I forgot them in the fast pace of the novel. I just enjoyed the ride.

And it is a fantastic ride. There are few books that make me actually laugh out loud, and this is one of them. I was not a fan of Blake at first, but then all the sudden Brie is being all stupidly into insta-love and Blake takes a step back and goes INSTA-LOVE? EW! We became good friends after that point.

The mythology–as you might have seen hinted at and that’s probably the reason why you thought this book was cool–doesn’t disappoint. Vance doesn’t spend an inordinate amount of time explaining it either, which is nice. We know what we need to know as we need to know it. Then, of course, there is all the supernatural powers being flung around. In my book, that is always awesome. Despite not knowing anything about these Irish myths, I was instantly at home in the world and the legend, which isn’t always easy to do.

A big thing with me is always a book’s pacing, and there Silver didn’t disappoint either. There was certainly time set about for “normal” life and romance, but there was plenty of action too–at almost the perfect intervals, actually. Nothing was squashed together or rushed, for the most part. The book kept moving and I was unable to find many places to stop and catch my breath. I know I’m into a book when I have to force myself to literally get up and take a breather for a second.

Overall, Silver is one of my new favorites of 2012. It makes me genuinely sad you guys can’t share this with me until September 8. The characters were relatable and cute, the dialogue was snappy and the mythology was excellent. All the action and romance didn’t help either. 😛 If you’re in for a refreshing read with a great storyline, fast action and sexy romance, definitely give this one a try!

Goodreads tells me that Vance will be writing a second Bandia novel, tentatively titled Gold, to be published 2013. However, it also informs me the title isn’t even final. But add it to your TBR with Silver anyways. 😛

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