Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Omens by Kelley Armstrong

Omens (Cainsville, #1)
"#1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong begins her new series with Omens, featuring a compelling new heroine thrust into a decades-old murder case and the dark mysteries surrounding her strange new home.

Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.

But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancĂ©, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.

Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.

Aided by her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens’ last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her." (Description from Goodreads.com)


I'll admit it. I went through a Twilight phase and from that I found a love of supernatural books. Enter Kelley Armstrong and her werewolf series Bitten. From there I fell in love with Armstrong as a writer. Armstrong first focused on the werewolves and then moved to witches, and all sorts of other supernaturals in her universe.

Back to Omens..when I first saw that she was coming out with a new series set in a new world, well fan girl moment is the only way to describe it. I squeeeeed a lot! With Bitten, we meet characters that have had a long and heavy history together. With Omens, Olivia, runs to a new town to make it on her own and we get to meet a new set of characters and discover them as she does. The story is set in multiple POVs giving you a more well rounded story from different perspectives. I felt it also added to the mystery of the town and its people.

I really loved that Olivia wanted more out of life. Even at the beginning. However, mom and James seem to be against it. With her running to Cainsville, you get to see her make a life of her own.
We also don't see Olivia fall in love with someone right after the demise with James. We see her grow and explore her new life while researching the mystery.

The book overall had nice pacing that kept you wondering who was supernatural and involved in the larger picture. There was also nice plot twists and turns throughout the book...most seemed to include a Mr. Gabriel who is his own mystery.


My favorite character was Ricky, son of a biker and also in the bike club. He was a blip in the story. A few pages of the story but I loved him and hope to see more of him in future books. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a man on a motorcycle.

Overall, I found Omens to be an excellent start to a new series with great background and story setting. I look forward to reading more in this series and learning more about these characters! If you're a fan of paranormal fiction or Kelley Armstrong, I would suggest trying this book for your next read.


No comments:

Post a Comment