Review: Glimmer by Phoebe Kitanidis

Glimmer by Phoebe Kitanidis
Release Date: April 17, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Library

Description from Goodreads:
When Marshall King and Elyse Alton suddenly wake up tangled in each other's arms with zero memory of how they got there or even who they are, it's the start of a long journey through their separate pasts and shared future.

Terrified by their amnesia, Marshall and Elyse make a pact to work together to find the answers that could restore their missing memories. As they piece together clues about their lives, they discover that they're in the idyllic mountain resort town of Summer Falls. Everyone seems happy there, but as Marshall and Elyse quickly learn, darkness lurks beneath the town's perfect facade. Not only is the town haunted by sinister ghosts, but none of its living inhabitants retain bad memories of anything--not the death of Marshall's mom, not the hidden violence in Elyse's family, not even the day-to-day anguish of being a high schooler.

Lonely in this world of happy zombies, Marshall and Elyse fall into an intense relationship founded on their mutual quest for truth. But the secrets they're trying to uncover could be the death of this budding love affair--and of everyone, and everything, they love in Summer Falls.

I picked this book up from the library because it was gorgeous in everyway. The cover, the description, all thay jazz. My hopes were actually super high for this book. So now I'm sad to say that this book let me down.

This book began really well. It's seriously intriguing. Honestly, what could be better than two people waking up naked in a bed together with no recollection as to who they are or how they got there? Their brains are completely blank--they don't even know their own names. So there was a good, strong start.

But as the story goes on, my interest was lost. What was once strength in this story became boring. Their amnesia got sadly irritating as the story went on. I felt almost like I did when I was reading As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott, but with a smidge less confusion. I'm not a fan of mysteries that are tried to be solved when both of the main characters have no clue whatsoever as to what is going on. It just confuses me and slows down my progress in the story. Before I knew it, I was skimming and flipping ahead to see where I might possibly find a more interesting event in the story.

Character Rundown: Marshall. He was a nice guy. I have to give him credit for that. But I feel like he wasn't as interesting as he was intended to be. Especially with the amnesia. For a good chunk of the story he's only there to "make certain that Elyse is safe." I'm a sucker for that kind of thing, but I like more depth to go with it. His character did get a little better once we learned more about him, though by that point I was already bored. Elyse. Oh, I did not like her at all. She was so whiny. So, so whiny. I am very critical on female characters, I know, but this critiscism is well deserved. She dwelled much too much on her past. I understand that bad things happened, and she should most definitely acknowlege this, but she should move on, too. She had Marshall right there to help. Still, I must admit that I liked her honesty.

The romance. Insta-love. That's all I have to say for it. I'm not the type of person who dislikes books or fictional relationnships simply because of insta-love, but it just didn't work for me in this book. They had amnesia--I would have liked to see more of feelings emerging as they got to know each other again than a big WHAM of "ooo, I like him."

The ending. Cheeeeeeesy. Again, I'm not one to dislike a whole book for this small reason, but since I hadn't really been enjoying this book to begin with, the ending just disappointed me even more.

All in all, this book just was not my cup of tea. I'm not saying other people won't like it. It has a really great premise, and is a stand alone. Which is so sadly rare these days. Still, I didn't much enjoy it, so I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone. Feel free to give it a shot, though. I hope you enjoy it more than I did!

♥Jessica(: