Review: Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon

Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon
Published: October 4th, 2011 (HarperTeen)
Pages: 342
Source: for review from publisher
Challenge: none
Series: Carrier trilogy, #1
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ ½

When Megan Rosenberg moves to Ireland, everything in her life seems to fall into place. After growing up in America, she's surprised to find herself feeling at home in her new school. She connects with a group of friends, and she is instantly drawn to darkly handsome Adam DeRís.

But Megan is about to discover that her feelings for Adam are tied to a fate that was sealed long ago—and that the passion and power that brought them together could be their ultimate destruction.

Megan is a pretty normal teenager until she moves to Ireland with her father. Everything seems to work out perfectly when she gets to her new school: she makes a bunch of friends right away, and has an incredible crush on the hottest guy in school, Adam DeRís. After that, everything goes very fast and soon Megan discovers she has paranormal powers and she is part of a group of people who have all have similar powers.

I'm going to be honest with you. I'm having difficulty putting my thoughts into words for this one. Some of the aspects I liked, and some just did not work for me at all.

First up: Megan is easily accepted in high school and quickly develops a relationship with Adam. I do not like insta-love and this was no exception. I can understand a crush right away, and then getting to know eachother to build up some sort of relationship. I do not understand how you can promise eachother forever when you've only seen eachother a couple of times in class.

There was something else bothering me while I was reading it, but I couldn't put my finger on it until I was about halfway or three quarters through the book. The story reminds me a lot of Twilight, in terms of the heroine moves to a new place, is really insecure, gets new friends quickly, falls in love with someone she really shouldn't be with. The DeRís family reminded me of the Cullens, especially with their guardian. The difference between Bella and Megan though, is that Megan actually takes matters in her own hand when that needs to be done.

Having said that, there were also elements that I really liked. I liked the writing, even though it wasn't my taste, because it kept me reading til the end. The best thing about the book was the whole 'mythology' aspect of the Mark and the Carrier of the Mark. I thoroughly enjoyed reading that, even though I was disappointed that I couldn't understand some of the background information that was given later on in the novel. It went way over my head and that's a shame, because for me personally, that whole history made the book worth reading for me.

Overall, I just don't think this was really my thing, unfortunately. Even though the book was not really a match for me, I think people who enjoyed Twilight might be able to enjoy this story.