Roman, by Kennedy Streath

As a small girl, TJ was forced to make a choice, one which, in hindsight, was not the wisest.  Now, upon the death of her mother, she is forced out of her high society life, and moves into a modest farm house to live with her father.  Her brother, Tony, has to leave shorty after TJ arrives, and he leaves her with a word of warning: Stay away from Roman, the dark, mysterious young man in TJ's father's care.  Yet from the moment she promises to stay away from Roman, TJ finds herself drawn to his enigmatic presence.

From the first moments of this book, I knew I had stumbled on to something very different.  I felt like I was walking into a mist, trying to figure out where this story was headed.  I knew it was more than your typical forbidden romance.  This book covers so many genres, supernatural/paranormal, theology/philosophy, mystery, as well as romance.  But the melding of all those genres resulted in a very rich and complex storyline.  There is a tenebrosity to the story that makes me forget is has a very normal storyworld setting. 

I was really captivated by TJ, and her voice.  I think she is a really rich character, with her own dark and shadowy nature.  Actually, it seems most of the characters in the book have a dark and shadowy aspect.  It kind of reinforces that you never actually know someone as well as you think.  I really liked that, it made the characters interesting and complex.

Clearly the story does not end with this one book.  At the end, I was left wondering, well, now what, a question you want serial books to leave you with.  It makes you look forward to the next book in the series, which I certainly do, because I have so many questions!

This is a young adult book, and while it is fairly tame (as far as YA books go), there is a feeling of foreboding and darkness that might make it more appropriate for older teens.  There is clearly enough substance here to captivate adult readers as well.  I, for one, and interested to see where this series goes from here.

I received a review copy of the book courtesy of the author, in exchange for an honest review.

If you liked this review, please rate it (and others!) as helpful on my Amazon profile. My Amazon Profile