Review: Elemental Reality by Cesya Cuono

Title: Elemental Reality
Author: Cesya Cuono
Source: Received from publisher through a blog tour in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis:

When Callie Pierce was ten, her mother disappeared without a trace. On the eve of her disappearance twelve years later, the Earth seemingly comes alive. The elements speak to Callie, and that's only the beginning. Everything she has ever known was a twisted fabrication to protect her. Now the truth is set free. Callie and her sister are more powerful than any Faerie ever born. Now they have to use their powers to save their mother and family from the evil hands of fate that threaten to tear them apart. Welcome to her elemental reality.



Review:

Elemental Reality centers around Callie – a young woman in her early twenties. One day, odd things start happening to her. Shortly thereafter, Callie finds out that her and her sister are actually fairies – a fact that has been kept from them in order to protect them. Now that Callie knows the truth, she is on a mission to find her mother who has been missing for the past 12 years.

I have a lot of mixed feelings on this book. Because of this, I'm going to do this review a little differently than I usually do. I'm going to break this up between what I liked and didn't like. I think I will start off with what I didn't like to get that out of the way.

I thought that a lot of things that happened in this book were just a little too convenient. For instance, Callie and her sister just happen to be the most powerful faeries EVER born. They can do things that no other faerie can do, even though they have no training using their powers. Also, I didn't see how not telling Callie and her sister about them being faeries protected them. I found it funny that their wings just sprouted from their backs right after they found out about what they were. Also, I just wasn't sure what category to put this book in. The main character is 22 – but it had a young adult feel to it. Callie still lives with her dad. Her soul-mate Oli still lives with his parents as well. They didn't go past kissing, and Callie acted like her dad would freak out if Oli was caught in her bedroom. The way Callie acted and talked also seemed like a high school girl.

On the other hand, I liked Callie's snarkiness. I loved the internal banter she had with herself, and also the way she interacted with her sister Lola. There were a lot of funny moments. There were a lot of well developed secondary characters as well, and I liked them all – especially Oli. He is from Australia, and I enjoyed hearing all of his Australian terms. Callie and Oli have some great chemistry together. Also, considering the fact that this is the author's first book – I think she did a great job. For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I think that most of you who enjoy YA paranormal romances would enjoy this book as well.