The Eternal Ones by Kristen Miller

With a title like the eternal ones, I was expecting another vampire novel and wasn't all that excited about reading it. Then I realized it was by Kirsten Miller, the Kristen Miller, as in the Kristen Miller who wrote the Kiki Strike books, which I loved. Speaking of which, Kristen Miller, when is the next Kiki Strike book coming out? It's been forever since The Empress's Tomb.

So the eternal ones. Haven has been having visions of another life since she was a little girl. She remembers places she's never been and people she's never met and can't shake an unnaturally strong desire to find someone named Ethan who she's sure is in New York. Getting to New York isn't so easy. Haven is now 17 and her small town in Tennessee is convinced she's possessed by a demon. Haven sees a boy on TV and she knows he's Ethan. Haven runs away to New York to find him, and discovers she's remembering a past life, and Iain (the guys she saw on TV) was Ethan, her true love. Maybe. In Haven's past life, both she and Ethan died in a fire and Haven can't remember who set it. Was it Ethan himself? Is Haven destined to live out life after life betrayed by the one she loves?

Well...it wasn't about vampires. Or werewolves. So that was refreshing. I'm having a hard time putting into words what I didn't like about this. For one, I think I was a little disappointed that there wasn't the awesome kickassness of Kiki Strike. Maybe it was that it was yet another book where the girl is destined to be with the boy, she has no choice in the matter, even when she thinks he's cheating on her, she still goes to him because she loves him so. Over it. Horrible message for girls. Not actually romantic at all. I don't like it and I'm sick of reading YA where the girl is powerless in the face of love that she has no control over and is unable to make rational decisions because she must be with her man or die. Like, actually die.

I am not going to look down or think less of the kids (or adults) who want to read those books, I have learned much from my seminar. I personally do not like the message those books send. But it sure does open up a lot of good teaching moments, yes?

So there was that. What else? The picture of religion was super stereotypical of "those crazy Bible thumpers in the South." Not that I'm denying that there are people who very well might think someone with visions or who was a bit odd was being tempted by Satan. It was just very caricature-ish. I didn't love it.

If you haven't read Kiki Strike though, you totally, totally should, for it is fabulous.

The Eternal Ones is available in August.