Publisher: Jessica Ruddick Books LLC
Publishing Date: March 20th, 2017
Page Count: 277
Source: Sent for Review
Format: Paperback
Description from Goodreads.com:
How do you live with yourself when you decide who dies?
Ava Parks would have killed for an iPod for her sixteenth birthday. Anything would have been better than coming into her birthright of being a seeker for the Grim Reaper, an arrangement made by her fallen angel ancestor in exchange for his re-admittance to heaven. And she isn't just any seeker--she finds souls that have the potential for becoming angels and sentences them to death. A year and two souls into her role as a seeker with her conscience overflowing with guilt, Ava comes up with a plan to thwart the system. When it goes awry, she is forced to submit the name of a classmate, Cole Fowler, an ornery, rough around the edges guy who always seems to come to her rescue, whether she likes it or not. Her feelings for Cole prompt her to intervene, and she saves him from death, upsetting the Grim Reaper's agenda.
While Ava schemes to find a way to save Cole, she learns he has some secrets of his own. She lets him believe he is protecting her, and not the other way around, until a final showdown with the Grim Reaper forces Ava to make choices Cole may never forgive.
Review:
Birthright is such an interesting story. Ava is a "normal" girl, or least she was until she turned sixteen and found out she was a seeker. What is a seeker? Someone who can see aura's and can determine who has been fated to possibly become an angel. She gives these names to a middleman between her and the grim reapers and what happens next? She doesn't really know. All she knows is that because of her, people are losing their lives.
I will be completely upfront and say that there is a part of Ava that I hated, but it also made me love the story that much more. It is her humanity. Ava may be able to see aura's and literally has people's lives in her hands, but she is still just human. See aura's is her only "superpower". This infuriated me, because she is helpless. She literally doesn't have any control over anything, because she is human. Luckily, this doesn't stop her from trying. She knows she doesn't have anything to take control of her life, but she still tries like hell and that is what I loved. It killed me to see her in helpless situations, but she didn't let that deter her from still trying to stand up. I loved it. It made the entire story that much more believable and that much more relatable. I mean if I was a seeker, I would be just as helpless. I'm that helpless in real life (lmao), but I don't let it stop me from doing what I want or what I think is right.
Another thing I really loved about this story is the relationship between Ava and Cole. It is insta-love without being so instant. If that even makes any sense. I'll try to explain. Ava and Cole have an immediate attraction to each other, but because of the secrets they both hide, they try and stay away from each other. There are times when they slip up, but they never really give in until the end. As a reader it is so hard to watch these people who should SO be together, but yet understand why they need to keep their distance. I think it was very well played out.
As far as the paranormal aspects of this book, I found them to be very believable. We only know as much as Ava knows about her job, and that is almost nothing. Now that we have slowly been introduced to more and more paranormal things, I am hoping both us and Ava will learn more about her birthright and what exactly it means to give up the names. I find that every paranormal author takes a different approach to how they introduce those elements to their readers. They can throw it at you right from the get-go, they can surprise you with it a little later in the story, or they can gradually lead you into it. Ruddick gradually leads you into it and I think that it worked very well for this story. We slowly learn more and more with Ava instead of her telling us everything upfront.
Overall:
I absolutely cannot wait for more installments to this series. This book had me from page one and I need to know what is in store for Ava. Will she ever fully understand what it means to be a seeker? Will it always be something that rests on her conscious, or will she end up learning she is doing something for the greater good? I certainly hope so, or else I hope she finds a way to get out of it. This story was very well done, the characters were very well thought out and I completely related to, and loved, Ava's character. I liked that the romance in this book was insta-love without being so instant. There is an instant attraction, but it is fought. I will definitely be continuing on with this series and highly recommend it to others!
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 5/5
**The books cover, description, and info was all found on Goodreads. A link back has been provided. All other work and ideas are of my own creation. This book was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.**
