Title: White Raven

Author: J.L. Weil  

Pub. Date: March 27, 2015

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

DREADFUL LIES.
UNEXPECTED LOVE.
IMPOSSIBLE TRUTH.

It only took one heartbeat to change my life—one chilling phone call in the middle of the night.

And then, as if my life didn’t already suck, my dad sends my brother and me to some idyllic island for the summer to live with a grandma we never met. WTH. Naturally, I rebel. In the end, I find myself shipped off to Raven Hallow…and bored to tears.

Until I get an eyeful of the mind-bendingly gorgeous Zane Hunter. The dark-hair cutie makes my pulse go bonkers, and I think, maybe this might not be so bad after all. Six feet of swoon inducing looks, with a hint of Celtic charm in his voice, he was the type of guy that left a string of broken hearts in his wake. And I had all the heartbreak I could handle.

Yet, there is something uncanny, almost supernatural about Zane, and it’s not just his devastating smirk. No matter how much distance I put between us, Raven Hallow isn’t big enough, and the sparking tension between is undeniable. Of course, the one person I want to avoid becomes my salvation.

My past comes back to terrorize me. Someone wants me dead, and the closer I get to the truth, the more I realize my whole life is a lie. I am no longer sure what is more frightening—the attempts on my life or the guy whose heart and soul are synchronized with mine.

This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the audiobook via Audible.

This had been sitting on my kindle for quite a while and I needed something new to listen to at work. So, I figured why not. The cover is stunning, and it sounded like something I could easily get behind and then binge. I was all set to fall for this book and then the trilogy, but unfortunately that was not the case.

So many times, I nearly DNF’d this book. I couldn’t stand the MC – Piper. She was self-proclaimed “not like other girls” and quickly fell into that stereotype. She wasn’t friends with girls because they were “bitches” and it was just easier to be friends with guys. Stunning, but dresses edgy, and is quirky because “different”. Basically, everything that made up her personality was to make her stand out and not be…like other girls. And I just *barf*.

Not to mention that everything she says whether it’s an insult or just internal monologue is either outdated and no one says those things un-ironically, or a 2000’s rom com college frat boy would say them.

This book was written in 2015 and the MC is 17, so I was a little confused at why she was written this way.

Don’t even get me started on the failed, enemies to lovers romance. It tried so hard to be that, but in my opinion, it failed miserably. I will say that Zane felt like knock off Daemon Black. Charming, bad boy, suave as hell…but just lacked the same kind of spark.

All in all, every character was disappointing. I didn’t believe the high stakes; the emotional weights weren’t there. And maybe you can excuse the MCs actions and shallow personality on the fact that she’s dealing with the trauma of her mother dying, but honestly that feels like a lame excuse. If I had, had another audiobook downloaded and ready to go, I most likely wouldn’t have finished this.

Ultimately this book was just so disappointing. Based on the synopsis, I never could have guessed certain plot elements that happened in this book. It felt like the characters should have been older, early 20s maybe, and that they’d been aged down to fit a certain market.

By all accounts, this book sounded exactly like something I would have inhaled, loved and reviewed – screaming that you should read it.

I’m a firm believer in forming your own opinions, so I won’t tell you not to read it, but there are vast amounts of better books. I’m bummed this didn’t work out, but it’s time to move onto something else! And if anything, I can check off a kindle book that’s been sitting unread for probably at least 3 years.