Catherine Green

Chloe Diaz's perfect older sister, Stacy had done the unthinkable when she hopped on the back of her boyfriend's motorcycle and rode off into the sunset. Her parents were furious, and so Chloe became the repository of all her parents' displaced hopes and dreams. It is becoming truly exhausting, so as soon as she's able, Chloe leaves for college several months early.

Once she's enrolled in summer school, Chloe's life begins to change in ways she never expected. She's more than happy to leave the super heroic, save the world missions to her new study partner, Tal - who claims that as one of 'The People', she was sent from 'The Palace' to maintain the cosmic balance between good and evil. Chloe assumes that this is code for "I'm a pamphlet distributing, incense burning, religious weirdo."

Chloe was certain of three things in her life: first of all, boys who looked as gorgeously suave as Seth Wilks never even looked at her twice; second, they sure as heck never claimed she was their soul mate (as appealing as that particular thought might be); and third, there would never come a time in Chloe's life when she would have to choose between following her heart towards her own happiness, and following a much different path towards her destiny. Chloe was wrong; the time for her decision has come...

Now the future of the world is in her hands, but what if the price is too great to pay? Chloe learns that, in the Palace, destiny is not enough...

I must say that I enjoyed reading this book very much. This was a very intriguing and unusual premise; slightly darker and grittier than most readers might expect when they think of religious-themed fantasy, but I found the characters sympathetic and well-developed, the story was well-written and kept my attention engaged through to the end. I certainly want to read the next book in this series - To Call Your Name. I give Life in the Palace by Catherine Green an A!… (más)

An interesting take on the paranormal romance genre. I loved the characters, they felt real, it was easy to keep up with the assortment of background characters because they were given some sort of backstory and description that many books gloss over. The theme of "the world is not as it seems" is handled in an entirely new way and it's fascinating to see it through the eyes of the new character. While other books in the genre have unrealistic buy in to the acceptance of someone from the outside entering a "new world" Life in the Palace handled it from both the main character looking in and the dwellers of the Palace looking out at this person trying to enter their world. I hated the end because I wanted to know more! I am so happy to hear that there are more books in the series so the readers aren't left hanging!… (más)

An interesting take on the paranormal romance genre. I loved the characters, they felt real, it was easy to keep up with the assortment of background characters because they were given some sort of backstory and description that many books gloss over. The theme of "the world is not as it seems" is handled in an entirely new way and it's fascinating to see it through the eyes of the new character. While other books in the genre have unrealistic buy in to the acceptance of someone from the outside entering a "new world" Life in the Palace handled it from both the main character looking in and the dwellers of the Palace looking out at this person trying to enter their world. I hated the end because I wanted to know more! I am so happy to hear that there are more books in the series so the readers aren't left hanging!… (más)

Chloe Diaz is starting a new life in Montreal. She's discovering a whole new world, one that includes her classmate Tal and the very handsome Seth. Seth and Chloe are immediately drawn to each other, but Chloe also begins to find interest in Tal's background. Tal belongs to a group of believers known as "The People," and Chloe begins to learn more about them. The People are caught in an eternal battle on an entirely different spiritual plane, and they create ammunition and strength for the battle by being of service in the physical realm. Unfortunately for Chloe, the worlds of Tal's beliefs and her relationship with Seth become intertwined in ways Chloe could have never imagined, and things will never be the same.

So I found the concept of this book to be really interesting. However, I'm not sure the execution lived up to the idea. The relationship of Chloe and Seth was very quick, and while I don't particularly enjoy that kind of thing it made sense within the context of the book. The plot kind of stalled out after that though. Some of that was due to some of the necessary exposition with Tal and The People, and then setting up their relationship with Chloe and Seth. Things kind of drug from there though until very close to the end. When things really began to wrap up together, things got very exciting again. Maybe this is just due to my general dislike of schmaltzy romance? There is a lot of that in this book. Think Twilight levels of sudden soulmate-ness. I know a lot of people dig that though, so they may not feel like it drags as much as I did.

I did like Chloe though. She was a girl who did things her own way and for her own reasons. Even while being caught up in this sudden romance, she was very capable of making her own decisions that were best for her life. Seth is very much a dream guy who tons of girls will want to see more of. Tal and her group were even more interesting to me. I wanted even more explanation of what they did and why and how it all worked. I did think that Tal and friends did not come off looking very good with the way they handled the Chloe situation, but then no one really comes off looking the hero in all this. In the end, I'm not sure how I feel about this book. The ending felt very unsatisfying for me, but it certainly left me hanging. However this is a creative book with interesting concepts. I think people who enjoy romance and adventure will find things to like in this book.

Book provided for review.… (más)