Genre: New Adult, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Harlequin
Expected day of publishing: August 26th 2014
Pages: 384
Synopsis:
In a world of shadows, anything is possible. Except escaping your fate.
Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been gripped by visions of strange realms just beyond her own. But when her sister goes missing, Ivy discovers the truth is far worse—her hallucinations are real, and her sister is trapped in a parallel realm. And the one person who believes her is the dangerously attractive guy who's bound by an ancient legacy to betray her.
Adrian might have turned his back on those who raised him, but that doesn't mean he can change his fate…no matter how strong a pull he feels toward Ivy. Together they search for the powerful relic that can save her sister, but Adrian knows what Ivy doesn't: that every step brings Ivy closer to the truth about her own destiny, and a war that could doom the world. Sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side and Adrian on the other. And nothing but ashes in between…
Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been gripped by visions of strange realms just beyond her own. But when her sister goes missing, Ivy discovers the truth is far worse—her hallucinations are real, and her sister is trapped in a parallel realm. And the one person who believes her is the dangerously attractive guy who's bound by an ancient legacy to betray her.
Adrian might have turned his back on those who raised him, but that doesn't mean he can change his fate…no matter how strong a pull he feels toward Ivy. Together they search for the powerful relic that can save her sister, but Adrian knows what Ivy doesn't: that every step brings Ivy closer to the truth about her own destiny, and a war that could doom the world. Sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side and Adrian on the other. And nothing but ashes in between…
My thoughts:
The cover:
The girl in the foreground must be Ivy. It's a bit hard for me to define her expression, maybe a little lostness, alarm, and a fraction of curiosity in terms of her surroundings, assessing them, mingles on her face. However, it's just my opinion, and since I'm not a psychologist, I'm not an expert at reading body language, so feel free to leave a comment below, telling me what your opinion is, but based on this, I'd guess that this is the first time she visits the other realm.
I'm in love with the letters that "the beautiful" has been written in. This special calligraphy suits the beautiful word.
We don't know Ivy's age, but judging by the picture, I believe that she, or at least the cover model, who usually quite reflects the character, is about 17-18 years old. It's intriguing, though, that she has black hair and ashen hairs in it, like soot and ash, which refers to the title and the last sentence "And nothing but ashes in between…" I'm very very positive that ashes has a relevant role in the story and this last sentence does not only suggest that a village gets burnt and the opponents, including Ivy and Adrien are on the two, distinct, sides of it, but, the way I see it, she has a connection with ashes somehow.
For the first sight, I thought it was a snowy landscape again, but as I'm looking it closer, it's not winter, but autumn, with all the naked branches and yellowish and brown decaying leaves, it's wonderful. It reminds me of Narnia, except the Pevensies entered the place during winter. And that obviously Ivy won't emerge from a wardrobe, but yet I can't get rid of this impression. Anyways have you seen Narnia? :)
The story:
The first half of the first sentence is already captivating. "...the world of shadows...". It raises many questions, such as what kind of shadows? What are these shadows doing? What and how much influence do they have? They are evil, aren't they, and so on. It just makes me want to get answers. Like right now. However, it can be just a fancy slogan to enthrall the fantasy-hungry potential reader and it wouldn't be the only such book. In this case I don't like it, and I'm going to be mad, since I already imagined these ghost-like beings, sliding and slinking, stalking on people and suck their energy out. Okay, maybe I should rein my imagination. Yeah probably. But still, I hope there is more to that. Back to the synopsis, indeed, both the first two sentences are just sort of cliché, the good, old, exaggerated fate-related fudge, which is present in most of the blurbs, nonetheless I have to admit it works, it sounds totally dandy.
The first story-related piece of information that we get to know is that Ivy has have nightmares ever since she was a little girl and that they're about other realms beyond hers. I don't know about you, but I love other realms. How cool are they? (Until they are well-built of course.) A completely different world with completely different habits, environment, hierarchy, rules etc. They are so exciting. And this is where I'd like to share a quote with you. Probably you have encountered it already but here it is, though: "I'm not reading because I don't have a life, but because I have so many." Getting back to the story, the second important fact is that her sister goes missing and somehow it results that Ivy learns about her visions. This is the point where the sexy boy protagonist comes into the picture, who is, of course, insanely good-looking, and attractive but beckons the danger. Furthermore he can't be with Ivy, (why would it be easy?) because the guy is doomed to betray her. It's his fate and he is not able to change it. And despite I'm being cynical and can't help myself, this type of book wouldn't be the same without this kind of lad and I don't mind their presence at all. What's more, I would miss them, if they weren't. Anyways the guys name is Adrian (Gosh, what a swoon-worthy name is that? When I hear this name, I imagine a muscular, snarky, but sensitive boy, and yeah I'm fighting with saying snarky, because then I officially have to renounce my right of talking about trites, but it keeps encroaching into my mind.) They set off to seek out Ivy's sister and salvage her. The text mentions that Adrien knows something that Ivy does not and based on that I'd say, he is from an other realm. There is also an imminent war, which seemingly will have a big impact and will determine many things.
To sum up, I have tons of questions, like why is the war? And I want answers now, but no matter how badly I want them, I, we have to wait until the end of August.
Before Reading Rating:
Cover: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Overall Before Reading Rating: 
About the author:
Jeaniene Frost is the
New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the
Night Huntress series, the Night Prince series, and the upcoming Broken
Destiny series. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to
twenty different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her
husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always
sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading,
poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries,
spelunking and traveling – by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books
frighten her. 
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