Paranormal romance.....this is a relatively new genre for me. Sure, I read Twilight and a couple select reads that would fall within this genre, but overall, it really isn't my turn-to genre. However, this came up as a recommended Nook book to read and after reading the synopsis, I thought, "Why not? Seems intriguing enough." So, low and behold I began a complicated relationship with this book. So let me explain why........
The book's main female character is Delaney. She is a senior at a school in Maine and is fairly popular, but the nerdy/smart type of girl popular. Her best friend and neighbor, Decker, is one of those guys who she hangs out with and has fun banter with, but can never tell how she feels about him. She doesn't tell him, you, or even herself, really. During an outing to meet her pals, Decker has Delaney walk across the "frozen" lake. But the lake isn't frozen through and Delaney falls in only to realize she can't find the opening to help herself out. Here is where the tag line comes in: "A lot can happen in eleven minutes." This is the amount of time that Delaney was under water before being pulled out with a rare chance to even be alive.
So, after being pulled out, she is rushed by ambulance to the hospital where she is in a coma for multiple days. Decker being the guilty best friend he is, stays by her side the entire time, except when she wakes up. The doctors are astounded that Delaney is as "normal" as she is, especially since her MRI shows significant brain damage. But what the doctors don't realize is that that brain damage gives Delaney a special ability to tell when someone is about to die. She gets this "itching" feeling within her brain that travels down her spine and to her fingers each time she senses it, causing major twitching within her hands. And after several instances of her "seizure" type behavior, her parents really begin to freak out and question what Delaney is hiding-even going as far as thinking she might have caused someone's death.
Megan's concept for this book was quite good. However, a character by the name Troy pretty much ruined this story for me. Is he good? Is he bad? And then after some time you are left thinking, "Goodness, is this character leaving anytime soon? Please say yes!!!!" See, Troy comes quite literally out of nowhere and somewhat stalks Delaney. He has this secret that makes him much more like Delaney than anyone else around her, and feels they are forever connected. But, it's Delaney's wishy-washy relationship with him that may drive the reader to dislike the story even more. While consistently getting jealous of Decker and his new "girlfriend," Delaney goes back and forth from hating Troy to liking him, and it's utterly painful to read.
Delaney expects Decker to just understand how she is feeling without actually saying anything to him....which we know is quite common for teenagers. However, the amount of anger she carries around about Decker seems forced and misplaced. He continues to try and be a good friend, as she continues to pout and get mad and change her mind about Troy.
The other issue I take with this book is that she never really speaks up with her doctor about what she is able to sense after awakening from the coma. There is a scene where she is at her neurologist's office and can sense a young boy dying and goes totally ballistic in the waiting room warning everyone.....as they all watch her like she's a total psychopath. And later her neurologist tells her that the waiting room episode saved him from dying. But she never just tells the doctor why she was able to tell he was dying-and he never asks. It just seemed very out of character for her. But then again, she was lying and hiding things from almost every character in the story....so maybe not.
Right after finishing this book, I told people it was really good and I liked it. But the more time that passed and the more I was able to really think about the characters, I really felt let down. The concept was so cool and I really WANT to feel a connection to the story, but in the end....Troy was a story killer and Delaney was just annoying.
Delaney does have redeemable qualities which help you attempt to like her character. She feels alone, like she's living in hell having this death telling ability, and desperately wants to find a way to help the people she senses dying. In the end though, you just get sick of her beating around the bush, want her to get over herself, and just finally be honest with everyone around her.
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