Alchemy of Forever Review

The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Pages: 256

From: Pulseit.com

Challenge: 2012 Debut Author

Synopsis: After spending six hundred years on Earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world's riches but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to take the bodies of other humans from jumping from one vessel to the next, ending the human's life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she's done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again.

Then sixteen-year old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body while trying to save her. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she's inhabiting--and falling in love with the boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she's his again, and every moment she stays, she's putting herself and the people she's grown to care about in danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that's eluded her for centuries: true love?  From Goodreads.com

  The beginning is very under developed. In a whirlwind the story begins, and we are introduced to two characters.  There is no way to tell who they are or why they do what they do.  Then before any personality is shown they both run away.  Id did serve as a launch into the story because once I got past that I glided through the first 100 pages.  Sera has a plan, her mind locked on target, and she has had many centuries to enact it.  Her persistence was inspiring.  Maybe even good enough to write a song. Hmm?  Motivating that persistence was this slow-burned-until-blazing human compassion.  She could look at a person and see the best of who they really were.  Where we saw a drug-addicted girl, she was a desperate cry for help and peace, no matter what form that might come from.  It's the kind of feeling one might get about a reconciled murderer (one who had been forced to do it by another).

         The minute we were introduced to who was Kailey I felt this beautiful connection to all that she was, and such sadness that she was gone.  Sera seemed to combine with her, but I had no idea how Sera was going to pull it off.  It was like waking up one day and realizing what a bitch you were.  Sera complains about how she never got to grow up, but she has.  Her experiences, however horrible, made her wise even though her body is sixteen.  This became obvious when other characters revealed how Kailey was, and how enthralled with the teenage drama she had been.

         Noah was great.  He had this way of making jokes even when the circumstances weren't very good, and he always respected Kailey and Sera even if he didn't like what they asked.  As soon as he walked on the page I liked him.  If Alchemy of Forever had been one of those crazy love triangle books I'm confident I would have been loyal to Noah. 

       The ending:   Hmmm..... the last page snuck up behind me and jumped out when I least expected it.  Then twisted a knife in my back.  How could that have happened?  It couldn't have been the ending, just a sick joke someone was playing slipping me an unfinished copy.  There were so many unanswered questions and possibilities left.  I don't even fully understand what happened.  It just-

Rating- 7/10- Awesome, but left something to be desired.