Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Hardcover: 384 pages
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Books for Young Readers
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic

The Arcana Chronicles

Book One: Poison Princess

Order On Amazon: Hardcover
                               Kindle
Order On Barnes and Noble:
Hardcover and Nook

Author's
( Goodreads ! Website ! Twitter ! Facebook )

Amazon Summary:

She could save the world—or destroy it.  Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.  But she can’t do either alone.  With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can’t totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?  Who can Evie trust?  As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side….

My Review:

For some reason, when I first glanced at the cover for Poison Princess, I thought it would be a historical erotica romance type of book, and not the usual fast paced and steamy (but clean!) romance I usually crave. That's why I immediately said "pass" without researching more about it. Weeks later, I came across the book again after reading a glowing review about it. I deemed this as fate and decided to dig a little deeper and find out what all the hoopla was about. The summary talked about things like ancient prophecies, visions, and superpowers, and of course that got me really intrigued because it sounded like a book I would pick up and devour in a day. So ignoring the cover, (Not that the cover wasn't pretty, but it still reminded me of one of those erotica novels I see in Wal-Mart stores. *Shivers*) I cracked it open and prepared to journey into the post-apocalyptic world known as the After Flash.

After reading the first chapter, I was completely and wholly hooked. At that moment, I knew that I wouldn't be getting sleep any time soon. I kept on reading and reading until my eyes felt like they were bleeding and my dad turned off the lights so that I would have to read under the covers with a flashlight. It was that good! I loved how Kresley started at the end and flash backed to the beginning. Not many authors possess the skill to utilize it nowadays, but when an author does use it correctly, there's a 99.9% chance that I'll love it! The first chapter was told in the point of view of this creepy and insane psychopath. Gahh! His thought process and the way he looked at other human beings like they were just insects ready to be dissected totally creeped me out and had my eyes widening. But even though it was quite disturbing to be in the mind of a nutjob, it still reeled me in and I genuinely wanted to find out what happened next to Evie. Was she going to be the next unfortunate victim? Or was she smart enough to not fall for the psychopath's tricks?

Evie, was a pretty likable protagonist. Even though I couldn't really relate to her, I understood where she was coming from and her actions were pretty realistic. Before the Flash, (Modern Civilization) Evie had one of the richest families in Louisiana. She lived in a mansion, had a closet you could get lost in, wore shirts that probably cost like half a grand, and had the cute Quarterback of the football team as her boyfriend. Any other person would say she lived a pretty lavish and easy life right? Wrong. Evie isn't like other girls. She sketches grotesque pictures of red witches who enjoy inflicting pain on others, monsters who ooze pus and drain humans of their blood, and barren lands filled with nothing but death and destruction. Not only that, but she also has countless nightmares every night and hallucinations so real, that she can barely tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Like any other teenage girl, she thinks she's going completely bonkers and losing her sanity. Yet even though she's terrified in the inside, she tries her best to pretend that it doesn't bother her, to stay strong so that no one will judge her. After the flash, (after solar flares torch the earth and populations have diminished drastically) Evie still fights to stay alive. Some people might think that she was pretty much useless because she couldn't do much, but I think that she tried her best and that's all that matters. What else can you expect from a 16 year old girl, who's all alone in the world with only her sick mother to keep her company?

Jackson, ehhhh I had mixed feelings about him. My first impression of Jackson was "bad boy" after seeing the cover, and unsurprisingly I was right. He's the type of guy who stares at a girl's ass and doesn't even feel ashamed about it. At first I thought he was rude and barbaric, but throughout the novel I've learned that he just uses that meanness as a shell to protect himself. Jack grew up in a bad childhood home with leaky roofs and a mother who had abusive boyfriends, but he still had hopes and dreams of living a better life when he grew older. He could be considerate and thoughtful at times, but sometimes he just blatantly tells Evie that he just brought her along for sex, because there are "slim pickings" and then I just go back to disliking him again.

I loved the style of writing this author used. It sucked me right into the novel and I could actually feel myself standing in Evie's shoes and see the devastated world through her eyes. Most of the time, when I get to a particularly dull part of a novel, I just read every other word and skim the rest, but I couldn't do that through this novel because I was hooked onto everything the author described. Poison Princess was pretty well paced as well. I was never bored of it, that's for sure. It didn't have my heart pumping faster or anything but it still captured my attention. And that ending! Oh My Gosh I hate cliff hangers sooooo soooo soooo much!

I will definitely be watching out for the second installment of the Arcana Chronicles and won't hesitate on picking it up this time!

Heroine- 5/5
Romance- 4/5
Action- 6/5
Comedy- 2/5
Overall- 4.5/5