The Watchers

So a while back I started out this blog post {HERE} with the sentence “Finally I finished something worth writing home (or in this case: a blog post) about.”  Maybe it’s funny, but I wanted to start this post the same way (see how I got that in there without it being completely the same?).   

See, the problem is that I read A LOT!!! (duh)  And I tend to stick to pretty much the same genre when I’m going to write blog posts (“they” say to stick to one subject when you write a blog so that your readers know what to expect from you – and most of the time I think that’s true).  So honestly, the phrase “Nothing new under the sun,” comes to mind often.  I mean, it’s all been done before:  you have your stories about vampires, shapeshifters, elves, and even occasionally fairies (I can’t stand the ones where they spell it faery... as though that makes it “real”).  But every now and then you find a book that may twist some of those same things in, but still manages a unique and interesting story.

That is what I found in The Watchers, by Lynnie Purcell.  This one actually centered around angels or rather half-angels (the children of angels who mated with humans).  And I’ll be honest, some of it, in the beginning, seemed almost plagiarized from Twilight.  New girl, mysterious guy who takes an interest in her (even though she’s been told “he doesn’t date”) and even warns her not to go into the forest… huuummm.  But I got over all that pretty fast because #1 I love Twilight, #2 these characters are so NOT Bella and Edward, and #3 the characters and the story were fascinating and overall unique.

Clare is such a different teenager.  Yes, she's very sarcastic and can't seem to keep her mouth in check, and I loved that about her.  But I think what I loved best was her relationship with her mom.  Here she has this incredibly weird gift (she can hear thoughts) and yet she doesn’t hide it from her mom.  In fact, she and her mom keep no secrets.  Maybe that’s not your typical teen, but really it’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities either.  Not long after my oldest daughter was born I confessed to a person I trusted that I was already terrified of the teen years.  I told her that I was worried about how to get through the rebellious stages and keep my daughter from making the same mistakes I made.  This women’s response was:  “It doesn’t have to be that way.  If you don’t expect them to be like that they are less likely to be.”  She went on to tell me that having raised 4 kids through to adulthood none of them ever when through that stage and that she loved those years because she was able to become more than “mom” but also a friend at that point.  So, even though it is less common, I was encouraged that someone else knew what my confidant had told me all those years ago.

I also adored the relationship between Clare and Daniel.  #1 they started out as friends and stayed that way most of the book.  #2 they love to debate and that doesn’t take anything away from how much they care about each other because they do it with respect.  They have their own thoughts and even as they fall for each other they keep spirited in their opinions.  They don't see love as meaning you always agree, and that is so much more real than many of the romances in the YA books I read.

This was only the first book in a series and I have yet to read the other three.  It didn’t end on a cliffhanger, but it definitely left me wanting more.  I can’t wait to start The Seekers (Book 2).  And I am so excited to have finally found a series worth writing about!