I received a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This is book one in The Countenance Series, it was absolutely amazing! Laken crashes and awakens in another world where there are monsters in the woods. She’s told she now attends a private school filled with unnaturally beautiful people. The story is that she fell out of a tree and is missing her memories. That’s when things get freaky, she finds her long dead boyfriend Wes and her brother Fletcher…BUT they died in Kansas. Guess Laken isn’t in Kansas anymore. I don’t want ruin the story for you, but this was a fantastic read, definitely worth 5 Stars! ( )

Rating: 4/5

My image of yummy Cooper Flanders:

His eyes widen as he brings my hand to his lips. “Thank you.” It comes out sad. Cooper smiles with his eyes as if my mental admission was all he would ever have to hear. “I need you safe, and I don’t think you’d be safe with me... His brows depress. “God, Laken, I would rearrange the universe to make you mine, I swear it.”

The author’s writing is really beautiful and poetic, the woman can write that’s unquestionable; but at times, and especially in the beginning, the story was all over the place, I was even more confused than the main character.

Laken Stewart thought she was having a very bad dream when she found herself in a creepy forest chased by zombies then saved by a gorgeous boy. The last memory she could recall was of her driving to her cheating boyfriend to rip him a new one for sleeping with the whole volleyball team and then her face going through the windshield of her car; so this must be a coma induced bad dream… or she’s dead and this is the afterlife.

Laken Anderson, as her new ID says, tries so hard to figure out where the hell she landed, but everyone around her seems to know another version of her; all her entourage is made up of faces she has never seen before, except for her brother and his best friend Wesley, the only boy she ever loved, but both, she firmly knows, died drowning more than a year ago. So what was this Ephemeral school? Is it an alternate reality? Did she really, like they’re claiming, fell off a tree and all those vivid memories are just a fragment of her imagination? She starts to believe so, until her roommate, the girl who was very close to uncover the mystery, disappears without leaving a trace.

Though I struggled a lot trying to understand what was going on (I still do in fact), the story, eventually, got better the more Laken was digging in the dirt of what Ephemeral’s Powers That Be tried so hard to hide from her. However, I still don’t get how come she turned into a celestial being? Who are all these people? There were plot holes, and it got me thinking that maybe I should have started the Celestra books before diving into Ephemeral, at least I wouldn’t have been so lost in the world Moore painted, in its hierarchy and dynamics.

Laken was a very likeable girl, not afraid to speak her mind and capable of standing her ground, but I felt sorry for her every time she fell into the trap of her sweet reunion with her supposedly deceased boyfriend; while she was slowly realizing that this Wes is very far from the one she knew back home, she couldn’t shake the feelings she had for him, or the certainty that their love was so powerful, it overcame even death itself.
I didn’t like Wes from the start, it was obvious he was shady along with the world she landed in, when he was creeping in her thoughts or trying to convince her she’s a loon for having those memories. On the other hand, Cooper was everything crush-worthy from his first appearance in Laken’s life.

I am one to despise love triangles with the heat of a thousand suns; however the one featured in this book was very well crafted, so I didn’t mind it at all. It must be due to the fact that it was easier to root for Cooper Flanders than for Wesley, the more we knew about his doubtful motives and creepy background. Coop was sweet, endearing, brave, very charming with his easy naughty banter, worked hard to sustain his family and taking care of his little sister after his mother departure. In the middle of all those filthy rich kids, he was a black sheep and I couldn’t stay unmoved with his pain over watching the girl he fell in love with in the arms of the enemy.

As for the rest of the characters some were multilayered and surprised me such as Flynn who was much more than the Man-whore he appeared to be at first. Others were very shallow and made me want to mutilate their skins with a butter knife.
I wish I knew more about the Uncle Jones, he seemed nice and intriguing enough to make me suspicious of his role in Laken current predicaments.
To tell you the truth, I’m still puzzled at said predicaments; getting to the last pages of the book and knowing very little about the truth behind them left me unsatisfied with the way the author ended her book, I hope the second book will dissipate my confusion (and will have more of Cooper hopefully).
( )

Boring. Boring. Boring. Made it 9% of the way through and all I want to do is delete it.... ( )

The premise of this story is great. It's not like anything I've read before.

I can honestly say the character that kept me reading was Cooper. He seems like the only one that is somewhat sane. His character is also easy to like. I spent most of the book wanting to slap Laken. She's fickle and clings to an idea that needs to dissolve. Although I admire her for not believing what others tell her happened. She refuses to give up on her life in Kansas. I started liking her more toward the end of the book. She comes to grips with what she has to do in order to help those she cares about. I absolutely love Cooper's little sister, Marky. She's adorable, bubbly and so full of life.

The story had a decent amount of action, enter zombie-like creatures. There weren't any dull moments. It seemed like Laken was getting attacked at every turn from either a Super B at her school, or creepy monsters. One things I know is that sex is a dominant form of attraction in this book. You have to love teen hormones going out of control. I think it was dwelled on a little too much. But, characters like Jen kind of toss around the morality of staying "pure."

The story line still intrigues me, even though I couldn't connect with a couple of characters. I recommend this book for older teens due to the sexual thoughts of some of the characters. I will read the sequel in this series.

( )

Ok so this series I think I'm going to like more than the other. So far... Laken is already starting to resemble Skyla in her promiscuous ways. I like the story line but it's so much like her other series that I'm afraid to be excited about the next book. Girl meets boy, girl falls for boy then girl falls for another boy all while being surround by bitchy barbies.

Crossing my fingers though! ( )