"When college student Rena Collins finds herself nose-to-chest with the campus outcast, her rumor-laced notions are shattered. Handsome, considerate, and seemingly sane, Wallace Blake doesn’t look like he spends his nights alone, screaming and banging on the walls of his dorm room. Hell, he doesn’t look like he spends his nights alone, period.
Too curious for her own good, Rena vows to uncover the truth behind Wallace’s madman reputation--and how two seconds of contact had left her with bruises. Of course, there are a few setbacks along the way: guilt, admiration, feelings of the warm and fuzzy variety…
Not to mention the unwanted attention of Wallace's powerful, supernaturally-gifted family.
They’re a bloodline divided by opposing ideals, two soon-to-be warring factions that live in secret among us. When Rena ends up caught in their crossfire, Wallace has no choice but to save her by using his powers. Now they’re really in trouble. With war on the horizon and Rena’s life in the balance, he needs to put some distance between them. But Rena won’t let go. If fighting is what it takes to prove her own strength and keep Wallace in her life, then that’s what she’ll do--even if it means risking a whole lot more than her heart." - Strength, Carrie Butler
This was one of the books, i picked in passing, and was planning on taking my time it. BUT wow did i kid myself. This book had me at the 1st page. i could not put it down till i completed it. i LOVED it.
Rena is awesome, feisty, tough, and stronger than you'd give her credit for. She’s snarky and silly and totally up for just about anything. She’s also thoughtful and a good friend. In fact, all her good friendliness is what gets her in trouble most of the time.(Like most most of us)
Our hero is Wallace, I admit I don't like his name. He came off as nerdy at first and it took me a while to warm up to him as the hot guy. But Wallace has issues. Like major, OMG life-stopping issues. And everyone on campus, well, at least those in the dorm where Rena and Wallace live, think he’s a freak.(i feel for him)
He has alot of issues, that make him SEEM like a freak, but Rena, being the compassionate and stubborn person she is, wants to try and figure him out after she literally runs into him in the hallway and he helps her out.
But getting to know Wallace is not as easy as she thinks, so she has to resort to some underhanded sneakiness and go behind his back. Which really gets the whole ball rolling as far as the plot goes. I think this book could’ve started off later in the story and not lost much. I did enjoy a lot of the dialog in the beginning as Rena is trying to figure out what Wallace’s secret is. I hate to say that part was unnecessary, but I can totally see why it was kept in and it was fun, but it slowed the beginning down a little bit.
Also, this book has a good versus evil theme running through it.
The strong voices of the characters, as well as the easy to read writing style were the first things I noticed. The strength (no pun intended) of the characters is easy to see. You know they have depth. They feel real. Even the secondary characters have great personality.
I was really intrigued by the paranormal details of the story. I found it to be extremely unique, and I liked how it was sprinkled into a contemporary living environment. I also appreciate the subtle foreshadowing about what was going on with both Rena's normal life and what was happening that was...oddly paranormal. (Odd for a normal college student, at least.)
I immediately wanted the sequel to this book. As in, I did not want to wait. I swooned, I laughed, I wanted more immediately. Like NOW!!!!!
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