Sunday, January 11, 2015

Review of Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston


Title/Author: Once Every Never (Never #1) by Lesley Livingston
Publisher/Date published: Penguin, July 14th 2011
How I got this book: received it as a gift from the lovely Karin, thank you so much!! :D
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Clarinet Reid is a pretty typical teenager.

On the surface.

She's smart, but a bit of a slacker; outgoing, but just a little insecure; not exactly a mischief-maker, but trouble tends to find her wherever she goes.

Also? She unwittingly carries a centuries-old Druid Blood Curse running through her veins.

Now, with a single thoughtless act, what started off as the Summer Vacation in Dullsville suddenly spirals into a deadly race to find a stolen artifact, avert an explosive catastrophe, save a Celtic warrior princess, right a dreadful wrong that happened centuries before Clare was even born, and if there's still time, literally, maybe even get a date.

This is the kind of adventure that happens to a girl once every, never.

Guys, I totally adored Once Every Never and it's killing me that I can't get my hands on the sequel Every Never After!!! I was so lucky that I won Karin's giveaway and she let me pick this one, but now I'm DYING for the next book!!

I loved Clare, but I cannot get over the awful thing that is her full name: Clarinet. I mean, really? REALLY? Who names their daughter Clarinet?? That's just not.. I mean, SERIOUSLY? Ok, I just had to get that out of my system.
Clare is a lovely girl who travels to London with her best friend and meets again the boy who she thought was a nerd, but has in 5 years actually grown into his skin and is REALLY hot now! So I thought it was a bit superficial that's she into him now when she wouldn't give him a second glance the last time they met, but oh well, I was probably this superficial as well when I was 17. But she's a true friend and I feel that she grows as a person throughout this novel and everything that she experiences both in the past and in her own time.

And guys, I especially loved the friendship between Clare and Ali! I mean, these two are true friends and not frenemies, they genuinely look out for each other and are teasing each other, but you can feel the love shine through. And Ali is really smart, which is awesome! So I'm so excited that the next book will have her being the MC, now if only I could get it somewhere...

And the boy! Here's a swoony, smart, HOT nerd! I love that Lesley Livingston let Milo keep all of his nerdy qualities, but just had his looks be more droolworthy than they were 5 years ago. I like the moments when he takes charge. I also loved that he's just such an amazingly good guy! He's ready at a moment's notice to help out his cousin and her friend and I just have hardcore mushy feelings for Milo. He's my kind of guy.

So it was fun and at times heartbreaking to see Clare go back in time and discover what exactly was going on and how something that I thought got a lot of attention at the start (and I was wondering why) was actually relevant to the story. I did think that the 'villain' was a bit silly and he could have definitely been developed better. I could absolutely see this being turned into one of those feel-good movies!

I love that Once Every Never led me to a historical figure I know very little about: Boudicca, and I'm excited to do some research and find out more about her! Reading Once Every Never was a lot of fun with a sweet romance!

My rating: 4,5 stars

Made me crave: spinach salad with avocado

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