25 March 2012

Existence - Abbi Glines

Release date: December 13, 2011
Number of pages: 194
Publisher: Wild Child Publishing

What happens when you're stalked by Death? You fall in love with him, of course.
Pagan Moore doesn't cheat Death, but instead, falls in love with him.
Seventeen year old Pagan Moore has seen souls her entire life. Once she realized the strangers she often saw walking through walls were not visible to anyone else, she started ignoring them. If she didn't let them know she could see them, then they left her alone. Until she stepped out of her car the first day of school and saw an incredibly sexy guy lounging on a picnic table, watching her with an amused smirk on his face. Problem is, she knows he's dead.
Not only does he not go away when she ignores him, but he does something none of the others have ever done. He speaks. Pagan is fascinated by the soul. What she doesn't realize is that her appointed time to die is drawing near and the wickedly beautiful soul she is falling in love with is not a soul at all.
He is Death and he's about to break all the rules.


I was expecting so much more from Existence. I am really sorry to say that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The exciting summary that enticed me to read this book fell short; for I don't think the novel did the summary justice.


The premise is actually really unique and promising. I loved the idea to use Death as a love interest. That's something new and I was excited to read this. Pagan can see souls but they never talk to her, that is until Dank comes along. The sexy guy ,who Pagan sees everywhere, talks and even sings to her. After having an accident, on which Pagan should have died, the relationship between Dank and Pagan starts to bloom. Except this relationship is kind of against the rules. Will they be together and if so, which price will they have to pay?


Reading this premise, you actually think this book will be amazing. And it should have been, if not for the dramaqueen Pagan. She was whiny and weepy and I was just plain mad at her the whole time while reading this novel. She had the most wonderful boyfriend, Leif, but of course she had to pine for Dank, the one guy she can't and shouldn't have. She even went to a rehabilitation clinic because she was just depressed the whole time, ignoring her friends and mother. She keeps using Leif for comfort until Dank will take her. I didn't enjoy Pagan one bit.
Dank was a bit better but still I feel like I didn't even know him and, please, he just observes Pagan and falls madly in love with her?! Is that even realistic?
I only enjoyed Pagan's friends and boyfriend. They were fun and, well, normal. 


Other thing that bothered me a lot, was that we never get to know why Pagan can see souls! And I was most curious about that. Her soul seems to be special in some way and that was never explored in Existence.


I give this book three starts because it was, as said, a unique and promising idea that sadly didn't quite live up to my expectations. Glines should have tried to make Pagan a stronger main character, instead of something oddly familiar to Bella in New Moon. I will be only picking up the sequel to Existence (coming out in April) because Existence ended with a cliffhanger that something to do with Leif (the best character in this book). But it surely won't be one of my priorities.






Abbi Glines can be found hanging out with rockstars, taking out her yacht on weekends for a party cruise, sky diving, or surfing in Maui. Okay maybe she needs to keep her imagination focused on her writing only. In the real world, Abbi can be found hauling kids (several who seem to show up that don’t belong to her) to all their social events, hiding under the covers with her MacBook in hopes her husband won’t catch her watching Buffy on Netflix again, and sneaking off to Barnes and Noble to spend hours lost in the yummy goodness of books.

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