Review: The Emerald Talisman by Brenda Pandos

Book Description via Goodreads:


To be normal, sixteen-year-old Julia Parker would shed her empathic gift in a second. Life has been difficult since her mother's mysterious disappearance ten years earlier - an event she witnessed, but can't remember. Julia's situation becomes more complicated after a near death experience from a blood thirsty stalker. As high school students go missing it is clear there is a connection to her own experience--past and present. Someone has to stop the madness and a chance encounter with a creepy psychic foretells that only Julia is the key to stopping the madness, but it may require the life of the one she loves.

Source: Brenda Pandos (Thank you!)
My Thoughts:

Julia is sensitive, loyal and caring. Unlike most teenagers, she actually knows when someone is lying to her. Her gift helps her see through the façade and perceive someone as he truly is. But never did she expect that she would encounter someone so animalistic.

Young and charismatic, Julia finds herself falling for her life saver – Nicholas. More than anyone else, he confuses her. What seemed like rudeness to her was something else entirely to him. It was all part of his life and his mission. With constant restrains and threats, their relationship was like a pendulum, swinging from emotion to emotion, ever-changing until it stops and settles on something they both wanted. And with him, she faces an evil that has always been around her and unearths the mystery of her mother's disappearance.

Brenda Pandos brought to life an enchanting story with strong inclinations to the ancient vampire mythology. There have been a few novels with exaggerated twists to the vampire myth but this one, although maintained, remained fresh in the sense that it brought back the thrill and danger of the night, as well as the threat of vampires that I used to watch in movies. Sometimes the best stories are not the ones that dive out of the myth but the ones that keep it and weave teenage dilemmas into it. Plus, she writes outstandingly well with words that I find uniquely hers.

The Emerald Talisman is a delicious vampire novel that has everything I want: badass guys, prophecies, shapeshifters and supernatural mystery. It’s too good that I actually had to leave it home and resist the temptation of bringing it to school, in fear that it would distract me.

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