Everlasting by Angie Frazier

Summary from Amazon:

Sailing aboard her father's ship is all seventeen-year-old Camille Rowen has ever wanted. But as a lady in 1855 San Francisco, her future is set: marry a man she doesn't love in order to preseve her social standing. On her last voyage before the wedding, Camille learns the mother she has always believed dead is in fact alive and in Australia. When their Sydney-bound ship goes down in a gale, and her father dies, Camille sets out to find her mother and a map in her possession - a map believed to lead to a stone that once belonged to the legendary civilization of the  immortals. The stone can do exactly what Camille wants most: bring someone back from the dead. Unfortunately, her father's adversary is also on the hunt for the stone, and she must race him to it. The only person Camille can depend on is Oscar - a handsome young sailor and her father's first mate - who is in love with Camille and whom she is inexplicably drawn to despite his low social standing and her pending wedding vows.

With an Australian card shark acting as their guide, Camille eludes murderous bushrangers, traverses dangerous highlands, evades a curse placed on the stone, and unravels the mystery behind her mother's disappearance sixteen years earlier. But when another death shakes her conviction to resurrect her father, Camille must choose what - and who - matters most.

Review:

Ever since I first heard about Everlasting, I've been dying to read it. Since not only did the premise sound promising, but the cover is absolutely stunning! Luckily, Everlasting proved to be a beautifully written and stunning debut that I could just not get enough of it!

Camille is a girl torn between two worlds: one that involves what her late father wanted most for her and the one that her heart craves; leaving Everlasting to be a novel in which she discovers where she wants to be among many other things. Camille was crafted to be a strong protagonist, and one whose emotions just radiated of the page from the start and took hold of me as I too went along on her journey to find several items and people who were lost to her. Oscar was another character who managed to take hold of me as I learned more about him and saw his (adorable, if I must say so myself) relationship develop with Camille. I loved reading about their interactions with each other because they often managed to bring a smile to face and for me to go 'Aww!' to myself. Lastly, I adored Ira, who often managed to bring a chuckle or two out of me, and Samuel, who while wasn't always the best guy managed to win me over by the end.

When I first saw the premise I thought it screamed "Interesting" and "Read ASAP!" and it lived up to my assumptions, thankfully. Since mixed together with the Angie's stunning writing, fun and likable characters, an alluring mystery, a race against time, and a forbidden romance Everlasting managed to have the best of all worlds! Adding to that, I loved the twists and turns it took that forever kept you guessing!

Though, with saying that, I do feel like Everlasting had the tendency to drag a times, but it would only last for a couple of pages and pick right up again. Leaving this to be a mostly minuscule problem overall.

In all, Everlasting a book that calls to be read this summer, and if you don't give it a chance, you're missing out big time!

And Angie, if you're reading this, great job! I'm truly looking forward to reading Everlasting #2! :)

Grade: A-

Source: Publisher for review.

Everlasting will be released June 1, 2010!