Intrinsical by Lani Woodland is a new young adult paranormal romance that gives a new slant to what paranormal is all about. It is her debut novel and it is filled with everything that makes paranormal so exciting as she creates a new way of showing us how out of the ordinary life can really be. It is the perfect way to have a taste of Halloween anytime of the year. It delves into ghosts, curses, dark sinister mists, hauntings, and let's not forget a little romance along the way. I loved this story from start to finish and it grabbed me and had me hanging on for dear life wondering what was going to happen next. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough as I devoured all the many unexpected twists that forced surprise from my mouth numerous times.
In addition to the amazing story-weaving talents Lani possess,where she easily casts the reader under the spell of her well-written, engaging characters; she also has an incredible eye for photography. She took the fabulous underwater picture that graces her cover.
In Intrinsical, Yara was looking forward to attending Pendrell boarding school with her best friend, Cherie. It was a chance to escape all the jokes about her crazy ghost-talking grandmother. She wanted to be normal and with relief thought that the dormant Waker gene that let her grandmother see and talk with ghosts might just have missed claiming her. But when she sees a dark mist trying to attack Brent, a gorgeous, popular athlete, and tries to kill him, she impulsively jumps in to save his life. But this causes her to draw the attention of the dark mist as it begins to stalk her as she learns about the curse that has haunted her new school with dark spirits, as it seeks to threaten her life. At the same time Brent turns his focus to Yara as he wants to know more about the girl who saved his life.
Then Yara's best-friend Cherie, excited to investigate all the stories of hauntings around the school, hopes to make contact with the ghosts of the curse. She drags her new boyfriend Steve along with Yara and Brent into the heart of the curse, but she doesn't have the ability to make contact, even though she studied with Yara's grandmother,the ways of the Wakers, strange things begin to happen around them.
Meanwhile, Yara learns that maybe the Waker gene didn't skip a generation after all. Fighting her heredity and her growing powers as a Waker she finds herself pulled further and further into the realm of ghosts and dark spirits as she and her friends delve deeper into finding out about the long standing curse and the mystery behind it the danger that lurks in the shadows as they learn that the deaths that occurred at the school and the sinister nature of them is may be more than what anyone ever realized.
Intrinsical held me spell-bound until the last amazing twist-filed page. I loved the characters and how they grew with each new discovery they made. The ties of friendship and loyalty are portrayed in a depth that shows the importance of courage, trust and always being there for each other. They changed as they learned that they could be more important in each other's lives than they ever imagined.
I loved how well each new surprise sprang out at me unexpectedly as incredible events where there was no turning back left you wondering how the characters could possibly overcome them and how unpredictable it all was in the end. It was refreshing to find this clean paranormal romance free of sex and swearing.
Lani's writing transported me to Pendrell where I felt the brush of the icy wind on my face and could smell the chlorine that permeated the air and hear the slopping wet foot prints as they appeared sinisterly as they drew closer and closer. I could even feel the chill go up my spine when a mysterious message appeared in a fogged up mirror. This is a book where you want to curl up in a under the covers with a flash light so you can chase away the shadows edging closer and closer.
You can learn more about the fascinating world of Intrinsical at http://www.intrinsicalthebook.com/ and you can purchase your own chilling ghost-filled copy of Intrinsical by clicking here or here.
Disclaimer: While I did receive a copy of the book from the author, my opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.
you can check out my review at barnes and noble here, and my review at amazon here.
