Review: Runes by Ednah Walters

Runes by Ednah Walters

Publisher Firetrail Publishing 
Release- May 7th 2013
Purchase Amazon / B & N

Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her.Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run.Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about Torin. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only are she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life.

My Thoughts
Raine Cooper is your normal soon to be seventeen-year old. Despite having a peculiar but loving mother and missing her father who's been gone for three months and presumed dead since his plane went down in Honolulu, Raine enjoys her average, boring life. She has good friends, a hopefully-possible boyfriend and she has her sports. But when the blue-eyed hottie next door moves in, it changes Raine's entire world and everything she thought was normal, is anything but...

Already a fan of Ednah Walters The Guardian Legacy series, I was looking forward to seeing what her newest release would be like. I'm happy to say that Runes turned out to be a fun, sexy and mysterious story that I've come to expect from Walter's work. All her books have this really comfortable ease to them and her characters feel very natural and seem to come to life in my mind. In this book we get a little bit of everything I enjoy in an escape. Mystery, romance, magic and mythology, but not the Greek mythology that I've read so many times in other books, this one is about the Norse myth which I found exciting and fascinating. 

Raine is a wonderful protagonist. She's strong and athletic and I enjoyed her cool nature and feisty spirit, but when she's around Torin, it seems to bring out more of her brighter colors. Despite Torin's gorgeous alluring appeal, he's an arrogant, condescending pain that seems to get right under Raine's skin. I love the sexy playful banter and quick-wit zingers between these two characters. You can feel this intense irresistible force when ever their in the same space. I also really liked Eirik's character. I've always enjoyed childhood-turned-more relationships but this one is kinda bittersweet. While Eirik is the obvious safe and warm choice for Raine, you can tell her heart really isn't in it. I liked that the romance wasn't instantaneous. The attraction was, but it's suppose to. I liked the fact that Raine didn't just fall to Torin's feet. It made the push-pull chemistry much more believable and more grin-worthy entertaining.

There is quite a bit that happens plot wise so I don't want to spoil to much. I tend to never compare books with other books, but I couldn't help feel a Twilight and Immortal Instruments vibe to this one. I didn't really mind it, but some who read this might. With that said, I still thought the story line was a lot of fun. I've never read anything about Norse mythology before so I found myself really falling into the entire history about the Land of Mist, a goddess named Hel, invisible tattoos, Norms, Runes, Reapers, collecting souls and then finally finding out what and who exactly Torin and the others like him are. The mystery surrounding the truth is frustratingly evasive, but it was well worth it come the end. 

All in all, I had a lot of fun with this book. I love the easy-to-sink-into writing style, the characters are well developed, easy to like and connect with, while the story line is incredible intriguing and consuming. This left us on a shocking evil cliify, so I really can't wait to see what happens next in, Immortals! 

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                                                                      3.5 Snowflakes