Review: Anew (The Archers of Avalon #1) by Chelsea Fine

Title: Anew (The Archers of Avalon, #1)
Author: Chelsea Fine
View: Goodreads
Buy: Amazon
Dates read: February 11 to 13, 2012
Rating: ★★★★★


The story is about Scarlet Jacobs, who wakes up in the middle of the forest with amnesia. She suffers from a curse that has had her living partial lives and being reborn since the 1500s. Along with the immortal brothers, Gabriel and Tristan Archer, and their friend Nate they seek out to find the Fountain of Youth to end Scarlet's curse before she dies once again in this life.

The story was incredibly unique. I had never read anything like it before. It had me hooked from the very beginning. The writing style is wonderful and easy. Here we have a melancholy theme and yet I laughed my way through the story. The writing is kept just light enough to ease you through it, while holding on to it's heart-wrenching theme.

The real blue ribbon here are the characters. Scarlet is a wonderful heroine. She isn’t over the top, or powerful. She is making the most of her life with her amnesia. She tries to stay upbeat as she takes things one day at a time. The only berating she does to herself is when she is cursing herself for being attracted to one Archer while she is dating the other. Heather, Scarlet's best friend, is a blessing. This girl is funny and loving, the very type of person you would want in your own life. As for the Archer brothers; Gabriel disappointed me a bit. He starts out swoon-worthy and then kind of fades into the background as Tristan starts to take center stage. Tristan I instantly liked. I love dark brooding characters though. You give me a boy who is cold and mysterious but with a heart like his and I am hooked. I would have liked to see more of Scarlet's guardian, Laura, but I have this feeling there is more to her than what meets the eye. I’m usually wrong about my hunches, but I kind of hope that my hunch will be spot on with her. I would just love to see the twist. I figure we will see much more of her in the next installment.

A lot of authors cannot pull off a truly enjoyable love triangle, but Chelsea Fine did a fantastic job. The worst part of the book was the cliffhanger. I am not a fan of cliffhangers and Anew had the worst of them all. I am simply dying waiting for the next installment.

There were a few editing mistakes, but none that really got to me. I think my biggest regret with the book was the lack of a picture of Tristan's tattoo. I was having trouble envisioning it in my mind, and a photo of it didn’t exist in my ebook copy. (EDIT: Chelsea Fine posted an image of the tattoo to her blog! Finally!)

All in all a wonderful piece of literary art that I recommend to one and all. Bravo Mrs. Fine, bravo.