The Eternal Ones

*** This review contains spoilers for the ending. You have been warned. ***

Haven Moore is an outcast in her town in Tennessee. Not only has she had strange visions since childhood, but her grandmother is a religious zealot who was convinced that those visions were the work of a demon. Haven's visions may have gone away, but the reputation for being strange has been cemented with the rest of the town, except for her best (and only) friend Beau. She only has to hold out ten more months before she is an adult and free from her grandmother, but her visions return to her, causing her to black out more and more frequently. She discovers that the visions are from a past life where she was a girl named Constance and loved Ethan. The townspeople go from isolating her to all out attacking her. She sees no other choice but to go to New York to try to find her Ethan. The only problem is she doesn't know the whole story of her past life and if her death in the fire was the result of a tragic accident or murder. Could Ethan be the murderer who accidentally died himself? Or is there someone out there bent on separating her from her true love forever?

The Eternal Ones was a mixed bag of a book for me. The writing style flowed very well and really drew the reader into the book. Haven was a strong character that didn't allow her crazy grandmother or bigoted neighbors to bring her down. When they turned against her and started leaving cruel things in her locker and telling her she was possessed, I felt for her and just grew frustrated that they couldn't see beyond their assumptions and misinformation. I absolutely loved Haven's friend Beau. He was quirky, fun, and gay. Although they have some minor conflicts in the novel, they really supported each other and proved to be fiercely loyal. As far as the plot goes, the mystery really interested me and wasn't predictable at all. I didn't see the ending coming at all and it kept me guessing.

I didn't like quite a few things about the novel. First, although I really liked Haven, she constantly changed her mind about Ethan. I just grew more and more frustrated with her inability to stick to one opinion. This part of the story reminded me a lot of Nora from Hush, Hush, an equally annoying story involving finding out if one's boyfriend is a killer. One minute he's the perfect boyfriend and the next, he's a plotting murderer. The biggest problem I had was with the ending. Ethan proved to be innocent and Haven lamented over doubting him after he lied to her and proved to be generally untrustworthy. Basically, it's ok for your boyfriend to lie right to your face, creep around behind your back, and act like a possessive jerk as long as he's not guilty of murder. Haven had every reason to be suspicious of Ethan because he came off as a creep. Just because they were together in a past life does not mean that he can treat her like crap. I was very frustrated that Ethan wasn't likeable and I don't think he really deserved Haven, which pretty much undermines the whole story.

The Eternal Ones featured some great writing and characters, but Ethan and Haven's indecisive nature really took away from my enjoyment. The book was like the unfortunate love child of My Name is Memory and Hush, Hush. I wouldn't read any more of this particular story if it turned into a series, but I would read more from Kirsten Miller. Her writing style shined through all of the things that annoyed me and I would love to read more from her.

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins