Review: Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Title:  Intertwined
Author:  Gena Showalter
Summary:  There's something about the new guy at Crossroads High... Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him: one can time-travel, one can raise the dead, one can tell the future, and one can possess another human. With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions, Aden and the souls have become friends. But now they're causing him all kinds of trouble. Like, he'll blink and suddenly he's a younger Aden, reliving the past. One wrong move, and he'll change the future. Or he'll walk past a total stranger and know how and when she's going to die. He's so over it. All he wants is peace. And then he meets a girl who quiets the voices. Well, as long as he's near her. Why? Mary Ann Gray is his total opposite. He's a longer; she has friends. He doesn't care what anyone thinks; she tries to make everyone happy. And while he attracts the paranormal, she repels it. For her sake, he should stay away. But it's too late... Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own, and a vampire princess Aden can't resist. Two romances, both forbidden. Still, the four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger--but not everyone will come out alive...

The Dish:  I've been a bit of a Gena Showalter fan ever since I read The Nymph King.  There's just something about the way Showalter writes that really pulls me into the story.  Intertwined is the first YA book I've read by Showalter, and holy schnikies, is there a LOT going on.  Not that that's a bad thing, there's just a lot of material to absorb and process within just the first 100 or so pages.  We have four major players in this play of life: Aden, the boy who everyone thinks is insane because he has 4 different souls inhabiting his body; Mary Ann, the girl that somehow neutralizes the souls within Aden; Victoria, the mysterious girl who is drawn to Aden; and Riley, guardian of Victoria who has a habit of hanging around Mary Ann.

Let me first say that I am impressed with Showalter's ambition with Intertwined.  Most titles deal with one or two supernatural beings while Intertwined encompasses vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches, ghosts, demons, just to name a few.  Fortunately, rather than try to explore all of these supernatural beings at once, Showalter examines only a few within this first novel, namely that of two main characters who are a vampire and a werewolf.  I actually like the idea of setting up an entire world living within the "normal" everyday world that most humans live in, and obviously that supernatural world would be composed of many different supernatural beings.

The characters really do make the story very enjoyable and engrossing.  I'll admit that Riley is my current particular favorite simply because of his protectiveness despite his somewhat brooding nature.  Aden is a doll in his own right, especially with having to share his head with 4 other people.  That would definitely be enough to put someone in an institution.  In the way of the relationships among the major four, I feel divided in my thoughts.  On the one hand, the hopeless romantic in me wants to go "Awwwww" about how the couples come together because of the sweetness of it.  However, the logician in me says that clearly they would need more time to truly fall in love.  Fortunately, the romantic side wins out simply due to the tense situations both couples are placed in.  That can definitely create a stronger bond between a pair of characters.

Understandably, this is the first part of a much greater story, so while the climax wasn't as immense as I thought it would be, it definitely made me curious to see what will happen in the next installment of the series, Unraveled.