Autumn

by Sierra Dean

[KitsuneBae]

For a full review, please visit Thoughts and Pens

Autumn tells the story of Eloise Whittaker and Cooper Reynolds, two teenagers coming from different worlds. Eloise, diabetic and still suffering from her father’s recent death, moved into rural Poisonfoot, Texas to live with her paternal grandmother. Though the move freaked her out at first, she was suddenly drawn to the place when she first met Cooper, the infamous, off-limits guy in school. Meanwhile mysterious dreams started to haunt her nights leading the two teenagers to discover that a curse of a long time ago had already intertwined their lives more than they’re prepared to accept. And Eloise must find a way to lift the curse before it fully consumes Cooper’s humanity.

Autumn might strike you like its Twilight all over again with Eloise moving to a strange place and voila, she instantly met this enigmatic guy and she falls crazy for him. But I assure you, my bloggy pals, it is NOT! Eloise is one tough lady (even if she’s diabetic) whose world does not revolve around Cooper alone. And thank heavens; I have never seen her swooning over the guy. BUT she did flirt in the most charming way (at least she did not make the exaggerated effort of playing hard to get which really irks me off). And handsome Cooper is not your beloved Edward who’d been chased by the campus female populace. Cooper’s the exact opposite, boys and girls steer clear away from him like he had contacted some contagious disease. Honestly, I love how Sierra portrayed him like this, the shunned handsome guy who braved high school despite the stigma his family’s story had created. I actually feel for him. Plus points to Sierra for narrating Autumn from two points of view, Eloise’ and Cooper’s. This way, I have a great grasp of the hero and heroine’s personality making me feel closer to them.

The romance part of Autumn was also admirable, not overly done yet it masterfully delivered the message that I felt giddy and warm. And I assure you, you wouldn’t puke with too much sweetness. It was good that the book kept this part in moderation and set off to show us the real story of Autumn: Eloise’s grief, her struggles to fit in her new environment, and the pressure of her friends; Cooper’s curse, his dilemma of not belonging and his attempts to ward off curious Eloise. Amidst all these, Sierra also added a mixture of frightening and action scenes that the very first chapter of Autumn had already gave me the creeps.

Everything in this book was put in a balance setting the stage for the story to fully unfold in the succeeding books. And I think that Sierra was correct in this approach since that would totally rule out confusion from the readers.
My only wish for this book is that the other characters should have been more developed especially Eloise’s new found friends and Grandma Elle. Especially the latter since I know that she’d be playing a very important role in this series. And she was kind of flat, a wallflower.

On a general note, this book is one hell of a good Y/A read ending with an enthralling cliffhanger at the end. I am screaming for MOOORE!