This was originally posted by me at http://blackanddarknight.wordpress.com (no longer available) on March 13, 2012. It has been slightly altered from the original post. 

I met Rebecca Hamilton through Twitter. I don’t even remember how we ended up following each other, but somehow we did. Not too long after that, she released her first book The Forever Girl.

Rebecca describes this book as paranormal for “new adults” – a growing genre for stories that are in between YA and Adult fiction. It’s targeted toward a younger group (18 or so and up), but has a bit more mature content matter than YA books do.

This book does contain Wiccan, some sexual scenes, and touches very briefly on a lesbian relationship. These things being present in a story doesn’t bother me, because that’s real life these days (and stories are fiction, people), but if you avoid that subject matter, then this is not a book for you.

The Forever Girl starts out with us meeting Sophia Parsons, the inadvertant “black sheep” of the town. She has inherited her grandfather’s home, but some people in the town feel entitled to it because a church used to rest on the land, and they feel it doesn’t belong in the hands of a ‘witch’. There’s also the fact that some people think she’s a murderer.

At the beginning of the story, Sophia has been suffering from a ‘buzzing’ in her head as well. As someone who regularly suffers from ringing ears, I felt especially sympathetic for her. Now, the causes for Sophia and I are completely different, and I sincerely hope the ringing in my ears stays just that!

Sophia is just a regular girl at the start of the story, she’s Wiccan but doesn’t necessarily believe in supernatural creatures. That’s all about to change.

Suddenly, after a night out at a club with a friend, she’s plunged into a world that she’d never dreamed existed.

This book was so easy for me to read, even late at night when I’m propping my eyelids open with toothpicks so I can read while trying to fall asleep. Even then I kept turning pages. It is well written, has a unique plot (though there were sections that reminded me of Twilight), and there’s a love triangle that you never even suspect.

I definitely don’t regret the money I paid for this book, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next one in the series.