With a great dual POV, Kate Evangelista gives us a refreshing paranormal hook that combines traditional paranormal elements with mythology. When Selena dreams a new boy will come to her small town, she is right, as usual. Only a few people know of her ability to dream the future, and she wants to keep it that way. What she doesn't dream about is his immediate hatred towards her...despite the crazy chemistry that sparks every time they accidentally touch. When Selena finds herself confronted with a creepy situation she quickly learns that there is much more to Dillan than she first thought. And the more she learns about his past-and his present - the more she discovers about her own abilities and how they might be connected much more closely than she had ever imagined. Selena is a closet psychic in a small town. Only her best friend and her two grandparents know her secret: she dreams the future. When a smoking hot new boy shows up in her second period math class, Selena is immediately intrigued. When they touch, sparks literally fly. Despite the obvious connection between them, he seems determined to hate her guts. Jerk.
To make matters worse her recent ex-boyfriend Bowen has started an all-out campaign to win her back. A girl can only handle so many boys at one time. Dillan does not want to be in this middle-of-nowhere town when he could be doing other things, like saving the world. Due to a recent screw-up he is banished to live with his uncle for a few months until things blow over. He's supposed to lie low and stay cool. But this girl at school, Selena, attracts him in ways that he thought he would never experience again. When local dogs keep going missing around town, Dillan decides to help out. But he quickly learns that there is much more at stake than a few missing pets. The strange turns positively freaky when Selena is cornered in the forest by some supremely icky walking undead. Dillan rescues her and reveals his identity as a Hunter of the Illumenari, a group that protects humans from any and all things unhuman that go bump in the night. For some reason a lot of unhuman stuff is targeting Selena. Working with a network of local Illumenari, Dillan helps get to the bottom of the mystery.
Usually, my one-star reviews are really long and detailed, but with Til Death, I don't have much to say. This book just never held my interest, so I'd forget most of what I read as soon as I sat it down. There's nothing new here and nothing that grabbed me and made me want to keep reading.
Til Death started off badly for me as soon as the narration alternated between third and first person. I hate this narrative style. It takes me forever to settle in, if I ever do, and with this I never did. I am just not meant to read books narrated this way, since I'm pulled out of the story at every POV switch. Short chapters meant lots of switching.
The world building was lacking. We're given terms for things, but no explanation. What the heck is an Illumenari? What about the different branches: Legacy, Counsel, Mercenary, Seer, etc? I have no clue! Well, Seers can see the future, but that's about it. The plot also doesn't kick in until the end. Dillan was sent to investigate dead dogs, but that's barely mentioned since he spends most of his time brooding and scowling at Selena. Selena is wanted by some evil person known as Maestro. Why? I don't know.
Til Death was just boring. Nothing happens, and when something does happen, I don't care because I haven't been given a reason to care. And I didn't even know what was suppose to be going on, since nothing is explained that well. The romance is the typical new, broody guy and the beautiful, special girl who thinks she's ugly. They hate each other but make out anyway because of some cosmic connection....and yeah. That's basically it.
