ARC Review--The Temptation by Alisa Valdes

He's not a vampire. He's not a werewolf.

He's something else...the Temptation.

A modern day Ghost! From New York Times bestselling author Alisa Valdes comes the first book in a unique supernatural trilogy about love with a truly mysterious stranger.

After crashing her car on an empty highway, Shane is miraculously saved by Travis, a mysterious cowboy who walks out of nowhere. She is instantly attracted to him, and for the first time, she believes in “soul mates.” But Shane soon discovers that Travis is dead and that strict rules from the Underworld govern kindred spirits of different dimensions. Breaking these rules could destroy both their souls. And while Travis is almost impossible to resist, temptation proves to be the kindest enemy they encounter.

Can true love surpass the power of pure evil? Part love story, part supernatural thriller, this first book in the Kindred trilogy will leave readers lusting for more!

I received this ARC at RT Booklover's Convention via the Goody Room

I have not read such an amazing "ghost" book since Jenny Carroll/Meg Cabot's Mediator series! And that series is pretty old!! Alisa Valdes's The Temptation was amazing! Totally takes ghosts and revenants to a new level!!

Shane was on the verge on death when Travis saves her, she knows then that there's something unique about him, but she doesn't know what. Although she soon finds out exactly what he is! The pacing was pretty good, I mean I breezed through this in two afternoons! And I really liked it! There's the whole forbidden love, this can't work out, we're too different thing going on with the two. Of course that's pretty standard in paranormal romances, but I felt that Valdes does a good job of it. For if the two were to be together, to even kiss, it could ruin Travis's chance at getting to the Afterworld aka Heaven.

I liked that Valdes had names for these places instead of ones we get from religion and the Bible, I just thought it gave it an interesting spin and it doesn't offend anyone either!  

But there is a catch, if Travis were to find his Kindred, aka soul mate, then it would be okay for him to kiss her and everything. But he has to know, if he decides to be with someone or kiss her, and she's not his Kindred, then there's trouble. But neither can fight the feelings they have for one another.

To make things a little tricky, Shane does start out with a boyfriend, one we definitely don't root for though. Not sure if his character will change or not. There's also a brother! Yes, Travis has a ghostly bro! And we do learn about what happened to them and why they are still here roaming earth. Not sure if there's going to be something more with the brother, he wasn't there too much, but I could see him being a more prominent character in the next book!

Which brings up another problem, Shane now sees and talks to ghosts. People around her start treating her differently. Like her best friend whom she confided in and her mother. They think she's going crazy due to her accident. This was an interesting move and pretty realistic too. I liked that it brought up challenges for Shane that was difficult to overcome.

There were only two minor, meager things that bothered me about the book, but not enough to detract my enjoyment. First was the insta-love. I mean really, it's never been a fave thing of mine--except when it happens in Disney and they can get away with it because they're Disney--it's just too unrealistic for me to believe. That because he saves her life, she loves him? It's been a week or two when she finally realizes she loves him. You know, the big L?! But again, it wasn't too bad, I just got a little tired of it when Shane kept proclaiming that she loves him.

The other was simply using the word "brain doctor". It felt kind of dumbed down to me. Why not just say neurologist? It's a pretty common term. I mean we don't call the dentist a "tooth doctor". Maybe it's just because I had to go see a neurologist myself when I was 15 due to having had incredibly horrendous headaches. So I knew the term, I knew prior to going to see him the term. So having to read "brain doctor" just felt childish to me. But again, it wasn't something that ruined the novel!

This was a fabulous read! It's rare to find a good ghost novel these days, for how can a romance between a girl and ghost work? Carroll/Cabot did it years ago and now Valdes has done it! The Kindred trilogy is definitely one I'll be keeping an eye on!

Overall rating 4.5/5 stars

The Temptation releases April 24, 2012