Intrinsical By Lani Woodland

Sixteen-year-old Yara Silva has always known that ghosts walk alongside the living. Her Grandma, like the other women in her family, is a Waker, someone who can see and communicate with ghosts. Yara grew up watching her Grandmother taunted and scorned for this unusual ability and doesn't want that to be her future. She has been dreading the day when she too would see ghosts, and is relieved that the usually dominat Waker gene seems to have skipped her, letting her live a normal teenage life. However, all that changes for Yara on her first day at her elite boarding school when she discovers the gene was only lying dormant. She witnesses a dark mist attack Brent, a hansome fellow student, and rushes to his rescue. Her act of heroism draw's the mist's attention, and the dark spirit begins stalking her. Yara finds herself entrenched in a sixty-year-old curse that haunts the school, threatening not only her life, but the lives of her closest friends as well. Yara soon realizes that the past she was trying to put behind her isn't going to go quietly.
-
Intrinsical is a new and original story in the young-adult paranormal genre with plently of twists and turns that keep you reading.
-
Yara is your normal teenage girl with one exception. She can see and communicate with ghosts. Her grandmother also has this gift and it seems to pass throughout the female line of her family. As soon as she starts attending Pendrell Boarding School her powers seem to activate and strange and chilling events start occuring.
-
Right from the beginning of the book you are pulled right into the story and Yara's world. Literally as soon as you start reading Yara encounters her first experience with ghostly occurrences on campus. There is no build up, you are pulled head first into the novel which was quite exciting and grabbed your interest straightaway. Throughout the novel there were some real spooky moments like when Yara feels somebody is waching her or when she sees the sudden appearance of footprints on her floor.
-
At first I wasn't sure what to make of Yara and Brent. I felt that they didn't have distinct personalities to begin with because I didn't feel like I was getting to know what sort of people they were which is probably because of the sudden introduction to them. However, I suppose that sort of fits in with their situation, since they are unsure of what will happen to them (you'll know what I mean if you've read it) and Yara doesn't know how to feel about her gifts after wishing for so long to never have them. Although over time I did start getting to know them and in the last third of the book I felt like I really understood them and they really came into their own. Yara was stronger and I loved how she came about and accepted her talents and gave up the self-consiousness of being seen as crazy.
-
I also really enjoyed the witty banter between Brent and Yara. The romance in the story was realistic and you felt they really got to know each other and assess their own feelings before acknowledging them straight away. It wasn't rushed. Also, Yara's best friend Cherie was my favourite character. She was fun and hilarious at times with the quotes she came out with (page 256 was especially funny!).
-
At times the story did move quite quickly, so sometimes I was a bit confused at what was happening but all the pieces did come together satisfyingly in the end. I would have loved to have learnt more about Pendrell aside from just it's curse and Yara's Grandmother and her family history in dealing with their unusual gifts, but this is just the first in a trilogy so I don't expect it all in just the first installment.
-
The writing flowed easily so it was a quick read and was also full of great sensory descriptions that allow you to immerse yourself in Yara's world and get a feel for the atmosphere. Overall, a solid start to a promising series and I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a refreshing new paranormal series. I will definitely be on the lookout for the next book, Indelible, when it is released (expected September).
-
(P.S. isn't that cover gorgeous and as a bonus it is completley relevant to the story)
-
.5
-
Random Passage: Whatever history this room had, it made my skin crawl. It wasn't just the poor lighting, dusty air and debris-littered floor. Something horrible had happened here, and had left its residue behind. It seemed to rise from the bottom of the tiled pool and leak from the ceiling, clinging to the wall and binding itself like some parasite into any host it could ensnare. I imagined its cold fingers rooting inside me, spreading throughout, and leaving traces of itself embedded in my soul.