Review: Whisper by Alyson Noel

Whisper (Riley Bloom, #4) by Alyson Noel
215 pages, paperback
Finished on 22/7/2012
Genres: Young Adult, Coming of Age, Some Adventure, Romance, Paranormal
Synopsis via Goodreads:

This time, Riley might really have bitten off more than she’s ready for. After practically begging the Council for a more challenging Soul Catch, she is assigned an actual Roman gladiator—Theocoles, the Pillar of Doom. How is Riley, a skinny twelve-year-old, supposed to get through to him? Then she meets the beautiful Messalina, who convinces her that her only chance is to become part of this world. To accomplish this, Messalina helps Riley through a dramatic, mystical makeover, transforming her into the beautiful and mature teen she’s always wanted to be. Finally, Riley can experience her first boyfriend and her first kiss. With a dream this enchanting, will she ever want to leave?

Motivation to Read It: I really liked the first books in the series, so I jumped at the chance to buy this one! (I'd honestly forgotten all about it; *shakes head* I'm telling you: there are too many books coming out every week.)

Review: Alyson Noel is amazing. What a marvelous end to the Riley Bloom series! Not only was Whisper a quick, fun read, but I felt like it really was a coming of age noel because Riley matured so much in this one.

I realize that I didn't do a review for books 2 and 3 in this series, and for that I'm truly sorry. Believe me when I tell you, however, that they were really good and worth the time!

At the end of Dreamland, Riley has had a talking-to with the Council -- or rather, the Council had a talking-to with her -- and they've given her something to appeal to her wishes: a harder Soul Catch. Off to Rome she flies, discovering when she reaches the Colosseum that she must handle this one on her own. No help from Bodhi (although in the end he does sort of provide her with some).

The characters: wonderful. Riley was still a little short-tempered, but she controlled it for the most part and tried to get her job done. Messalina was a great character to me. Whether she was playing the best friend or the evil person that wanted you to never leave, she made it very believable. Dacian was very sweet; I think he makes a great match for Riley. All the characters have good personalities that make them enjoyable.

The plot carried along nicely. We got to see Riley live in Messalina's world for about what counted as 4 - 6 days. There's a point where it seems like several days might've been skipped, but when you read it, it's pretty obvious what happened during that time period if there were any skipped. It wasn't fast-paced, but it wasn't exactly slow either. I would say that it was at that comfortable in-between place.

I'm so sad to see this series come to an end, but it's given me an incentive to finaly finish the Immortals series. It's about time I did!

Satisfying eBook

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