Review: Elemental Reality by Cesya Cuono

Book Description via Goodreads:

E-ARC, 249 pages

August 21, 2011, Revolution Publishing

When Callie Pierce was ten, her mother disappeared without a trace. On the eve of her disappearance twelve years later, the earth seemingly comes alive. The elements speak to Callie, and that's only the beginning. Everything she has ever known was a twisted fabrication to protect her. Now the truth is set free. Callie and her sister are more powerful than any Faerie ever born. Now they have to use their powers to save their mother and family from the evil hands of fate that threaten to tear them apart. Welcome to her elemental reality.

Source: Jennifer from Revolution Publishing (Thank you!)

My Thoughts:

Elemental Reality started with Callie’s birthday. But she had issues with this special day. She always remembered her mom who has been gone for years. The birthday coinciding with an unfortunate day was a trend in YA. I always encountered it. But Cuono handled it well – not dwelling too much on the dark side. I liked how she was able to balance the elements of light and dark and sweet and bitter throughout the novel.

Callie was 22 years old. She was a working girl who was also a punk rocker minus the singing talent. She was lively, loved the color hot pink and had a semi-bad love life. In a way, she reminded me a bit of Becca Bloomwood of The Confessions of a Shopaholic. She had the same charm, minus the obsession and the uncontrolled money spending. She was also a Faerie – a very talented one. But with her living in the human world, believing that she was one of them, she had not really developed that ‘Faerie attitude’ that I usually encounter in YA novels. She was like a human mentally and emotionally.

The two guys in her life were Cayden and Oli. Cayden was the first one she met on the night of her birthday. He made her feel like she was an emotional mess. Back then, Callie liked it. He was confident and seductive. Enter, second love interest – Oli. He was the new Australian neighbor. He was naturally hot, handsome, gentle and adorable. Above all, Callie felt something unexplainable that connected her with Oli. He was so easy to trust, so easy to fall for. They had great moments together that I enjoyed reading.

Cuono’s twist in the mythology of faeries and demons was new to me. This was the first time that I encountered a book with faeries against demons. Usually they worked together. With this mythology, she molded Callie’s life into an exciting, dangerous and dramatic one. Her mission to save her mother was probably the most risky and most important thing she ever had to. She faced the challenge and the probability of them failing with her family and friends. Cuono’s writing injected humour and appeal to her debut.

Elemental Reality is an entertaining, witty, unique and promising paranormal romance. I can see this series getting better. Although I’m not exactly sure if this one is YA, I feel like it’s not an Adult novel too. It’s somewhere in between. I recommend this to readers of paranormal and fanatics of faeries.

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