Elixir

SPOILERS. SPOILERS.

When I first saw Elixir on the shelf in a book store, my eyes flitted to Hilary Duff's name. That made me think - could Duff really write well? I considered buying it, but thank GOD I found it at my library. If I had spent even a penny on this book I would have mourned over the loss of money that could have gone towards something better. This book isn't anything special, really. It had many problems, but first, I'll tell you the whole synopsis:

There's this girl named Clea who goes to Europe with her friend Rayna. Later, after reviewing her pictures she took of the trip, she finds that this (hot)weirdo has been stalking her. He's in every photo. (sometimes he's flying and floating. I have no idea why, but he is)She finds him with her BFFs Ben and Rayna and his name is Sage (Oohh, mysterious) and then they go and find Clea's father and the Elixir of life - or, well, they TRY to.

Now, onto the problems!
Clea is the main character. She's the heroine and perfect in every way. She's rich, smart, the senator's daughter (evidently, in this book, if you're the senator's daughter, then everyone across the whole wide world knows your name - really? I don't even know my senators' NAMES, and if I don't know my own senators, then I don't even know other states' senators, and if I don't know the senators of my state, or other states, then I don't know their daughters, and people in Japan or Rio shouldn't even know who the hell Clea is) and she likes to take pictures - but she's horribly dull. I don't even know what she looks like, really.
Ben is Clea's best 'guy' friend (he's in love with her, of course) and he's supposed to be smart and all but he's just...average. Apparently, in his past lives, he's been the one splitting Sage and Clea up by inadvertently (sometimes) killing her in horrible ways. But come on, Ben, seriously? I think the whole 'killing in past lives' thing was just an excuse to make Sage (the love interest) a lot more appealing than Ben.
Rayna is Clea's friend and she's all too friendly with men. I have no doubt in my mind that she is not a virgin. Other reviews have called her, well, unpleasant names. I have to admit she sort of is an 'unpleasant word' but I'm not going to say it.
Sage is supposed to be the 'hero' the 'love interest', but honestly, 'stalker' 'creeper' and 'white board' fit him all much better. Tragically, Sage is like many of the love interests in dull paranormal novels. He is a white board. Whenever the author wants him to be sweet, she'll write it on the white board. Whenever she wants him to be cold and distant, she'll just erase 'sweet' (as quickly as it came) and put 'cold and distant'. See what I mean? He's underdeveloped, what the author wants him to be at certain times.

Another problem I had was just the writing of the book. It's not...good. But I suppose it's not terribly bad, either. When I read this book, it reminded me of the first drafts I used to write when I was thirteen. There is too much repetition and telling in this book, and overall, the style is bland.
There is too much telling. Far too much. Way too much. I swear, it repeats like wwaaaayy too much, like totally. (Basically, that's how the writing goes)
At times I felt like crossing unneeded sentences off. Paragraphs were like this, "The moon lit up the night sky (I know this is cliche, but it's just an example), and the stars were like glowing orbs of light, surrounding me. It was stunning."
You see that last part? "It was stunning"? There was far too much of that. Many times she would give us a description of something and then add, "it was beautiful" "it was horrible" "it was stunning" "it was like soooo gorgeous". There was far too much of that. Those sentences made a description that would have been nice into something boring and blunt. When a reader can figure things out for his/herself, then there's no need to put things like that.

Plot is another thing. The whole reincarnation thing has been done in a book called Evermore (oddly enough, that book isn't so excellent either), where a couple loves each other, the girl dies horribly each time but the really, really hot guy is immortal because of this immortal drink and they try to get together again and again. I mean, the concepts are interesting, they are, but I don't think Duff played enough on the reincarnation or elixir.

Clea and Sage also end up having sex in a car. In a car. After about - what was it? - three days of knowing each other? It's not even THEIR car. It's RAYNA'S. Hello? RAYNA'S! That car has probably been through a lot (considering who's it is...) so sex would not be the safest. But there is a perfectly good hotel room just waiting for Clea and Sage! Just tell Ben and Rayna to take a freaking hike if you REALLY WANTED TO. I'm not even sure about their ages! I'm guessing they're about 16. This is the kind of thing that encourages teenage sex!!!!

Now onto what I really dislike about this story: the ending. Okay, so at the end, they don't end up finding Clea's father, they don't end up finding the elixir, and Sage gets taken away. NOTHING is accomplished.

Now onto the second thing I didn't like: The message. WHAT IS WITH PARANORMAL ROMANCES THESE DAYS??????? WHAT ARE WE TEACHING OUR KIDS? So if a creepy (but hot) guy is stalking you, then it's okay to go out with him because (he's hot) just really sweet inside, and after that you can have (hot) sex with him in a car because (he's sexy and hot) you've apparently known him in previous past lives (even though that could easily be a lie) and just fall in love with the little (hot) creeper. Is THIS what you want your teens to do? What happened to VALUES or ATTITUDES or BEAUTY INSIDE? Let's face it, Sage is freakin' hot, so THAT'S why Clea likes him. Honestly, I would hold him at gunpoint if I ever met him. Think about it, if Sage was freakishly ugly but a really good person on the inside, how would the story go? Huh? Yeah. You know how it'd go. I think it's just sad what paranormal romances now-a-days teach. They're basically all structured like this: there's a hot guy, a less hot guy (who's usually a better person than the hot guy, and a friend of the heroine), and a heroine. The heroine falls head-over-heals for this mysterious, hot guy, and the friend (better person, still good looking, and a friend) sadly accepts that the girl won't love him because he's not as hot/sexy/mysterious. Then authors try and cram this crap like 'Oh, but the mysterious, hot guy is really caring and sweet on the inside' down the readers throats. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying romances that are totally implausible (the heroine falls in love with the hero in about a day or two) and bad (like having sex in a car about a week after they met).

All in all, read this book if you want. Just take it like a grain of salt.

My spoiler free review leaves me wishing I could reveal more about Hilary debut novel Elixir. Hilary introduces a great character into the YA genre with Clea. While I couldn't relate to being able to jet off around the world, I could relate to Clea's inner strength, her independence and the drive she has to find answers. Clea finds herself in the middle of a mystery full of twists and dark secrets, as she looks for clues into her father's disappearance. She starts to notice a shadowy figure of a man in her pictures. She learns her father noticed the same thing before he disappeared. It's the same man who haunts her dreams. In each of Clea's nightmares, she sees herself with this man, only they're in a different time periods, and her name is different in each one. Every dream ends the same, in tragedy.

I liked the mystery that surrounds Sage, the mysterious, shadowy figure who's in Clea's pictures and who haunts her dreams. I absolutely loved that when Clea and Ben (Clea's best friends and her dad's confidant), set off on a quest to find answers into her father's disappearance, fate brings Sage and Clea together. As much as I wanted the two of them to acknowledge they both knew each other and had an immediate chemistry, I really liked that Clea at first refuses to acknowledge the undeniable pull towards him.

Hilary Duff has given paranormal a whole new spin. Elixir has a fresh voice, great plot twists and an ending that left me wanting the next book in the series. Though I couldn't get into the beginning of the book like I wanted to, when the plot twists and the love triangle intensify with Clea, Sage and Ben, I was hooked and couldn't stop reading it. A powerful centuries old secret reveals some character twists, uncovers a great mythology and makes for a fascinating plot.

Vanity publishing at its worst, this under-developed highly unbelievable story centers around your average American rich and famous girl who's earned her fame by being born, apparently. Her hardships in life are that she's got two friends who follow her everywhere, she gets to travel to exotic lands without even a consent form from her mother, oh yeah, and she's often discriminated against for being privileged... how sad.

There are flashback scenes to the past rife with anachronisms. Characters are one-dimensional. And the most offensive thing of all, Duff's reviews in the mainstream media are glowing. "How refreshing to see a young woman setting a good example to America's youth" they all seem to say.

Don't buy this book. In fact, someone please review this book in a mainstream media outlet and give it what-for. Critics used to have balls in this country... That was before they were all purchased by Disney Corp. and forced to placate instead of have a legitimate opinion.

Disclaimer: I have no real opinion on Hilary Duff. I haven't heard her music, and my only exposure to her movies was a two-minute cameo in [[ASIN:B0000714E6 Human Nature]]. Too bad her debut book is a lackluster limp lump of lifelessness. "Elixir" isn't a devastatingly bad paranormal romance, but it is crammed with cliches, clumsily written, and has a protagonist so Mary Suish that it burns.

After a vacation trip across Europe with her friend Rayna, Clea Weston discovers that a ageless hot guy has been stalking her across Europe. He's also in all photographs of/by her, and she's having dreams about past lives with him. And during an otherwise pointless trip to Rio, she finally encounters the man, who is named Sage.

Sage turns out to be connected to Clea's father, who has been presumed dead for months, and the Elixir of Life he was searching for. And after discovering her father's data on the Elixir (courtesy of REALLY IMPROBABLE GUESSES), she and her friends Ben and Rayna accompany Sage on a... very leisurely quest to discover the truth.

It feels like someone told Hilary Duff, "Paranormal romance is hot right now! Just write a plotless book with a bland heroine, sexy boys, and some supernatural stuff!", so she dashed off "Elixir" over the weekend. This is one of the blandest, most cliched paranormal romances I have ever read; it feels like it was made with Mad Libs.

Part of this is because Duff's writing is terrible -- her style is as bland as cold oatmeal, and it's full of leaden infodumps, repetition (Sage is always "magnetic!"), and cheesy descriptions that are trying to be poetic ("endless swirling mass of inky black nothingness"). And the dialogue will make you want to claw off your ears, especially when Duff tries to be romantic or funny ("Wow. He must spend a fortune on eBay").

To make matters more confusing, Duff stuffs the story with all sorts of confusing, inconsistent stuff about fate, and pads it with pointless scenes that add nothing (time to talk about cinnamon buns, sex and clothes!). Even worse, half the supernatural concepts in here like the reincarnation and the incubus/angel theory are TOTALLY NEGLECTED. They contribute nothing!

Finally, the ending is confusing, anticlimactic, and solves nothing... which means a sequel is probably is probably in the works.

Clea isn't as repulsive as many paranormal romance heroines... but she's still boring and immature. And even worse, she's a Mary Sue -- a wealthy yet humble girl who also happens to be a globetrotting teenage photojournalist. And a worldwide megacelebrity. AND a Krav Maga expert who becomes helpless at convenient times. Does she also sing like a nightingale and have rainbow hair?

Sage is basically a blank slate with "Mysterious Love Interest" stamped on his face, and Ben is just pushy and annoying. Almost all the other characters are devoid of personality, and even the antagonists -- who have the ridiculous name "Cursed Vengeance" -- are totally faceless.

"Elixir" is a paint-by-numbers paranormal romance, with no passion and not much of a plot. Hilary Duff, please stick to singing.

You see this book while at the grocery shop. You pick it up not because it looks interesting, but because it has a recognizable name on it. You think whether this Duff character has any talent. So you read the back of the synopsis. But as you're doing that your ice cream in your arm starts to melt. You sweep it up into your cart and get to the check out. The cashier sees your novel and gives you a nod. You think that's a good sign. So you take it home, and when you have some freedom, you check it out. It's bad. So bad that you throw up. Your puke goes all over your bed and you don't wonder why. You leave the room to get paper towers, and your dog goes in and licks it up before you return. You curse the heavens, then go to bed. You don't like it. You put your Elixir book up for sale on eBay, but it only sells for a penny and the cost of shipping. You regret your decision. You light up and cigarette and accidentally burn your house down when you go to sleep. You regret buying that Duff novel. You try to sue her, but your case is thrown out, and you're seen as crazy. Now living with your mother in law, without nothing on the horizon, you end it all.

Hillary Duff did a good job creating her story world. It is very engaging and refined. Great read. People should regard this book as a stand alone. Although Hillary is a famous actor and singer, those achievements and this novel are completely separate. Don't judge this book based on Hillary the social highlight, but as Hillary the Author. I am looking forward to her next book.

Clearly written for young adults, this novel is an interesting first attempt. Unfortunately, it is just the beginning (or maybe first 75%) of a story. The main character, Clea, is hardly defined. A lot of details within the story seem to be rushed over. The ending can't be spoiled because there is no ending! Clearly, this book is simply the beginning of a series...so know that before you think you are purchasing a complete story to read.

When i first heard Hilary Duff had a book coming out i was skeptical as to whether or not to check it out. But curiosity got the best of me & i looked it up & read the first chapter on the publishers site. All i could say was WOW.
Having been a fan of Hilary since Casper Meets Wendy & Lizzie McGuire, i already knew i loved her as an actress & singer & i can now say that i love her as a writer as well!. This book had my attention from the first page. I can't wait until the second one is released.
I think it was wonderfully written & based off of a pretty original idea (the names of Sage & Clea are my favorite). Ofcourse it isn't going to be 100% original because, let's face it, with all the different books there are out there it doesn't leave much space for originality. However, i've never come across a book like this before, and i think it was put together perfectly. It's safe to say i devoured this book quickly. :).
Being 21 i still love reading YA books over anything else because they're so much easier to get lost in to the point where you can just picture everything your reading as if it were right in front of you, & that's exactly what reading this has done.

I congratulate Hilary Duff on this amazing book & absolutely hope that we get the next one out asap!
Take my advice..BUY THIS! If you're a fan of paranormal stories with a bit of romance, & mystery thrown in there you won't regret this purchase! :)

PLEASE DO NOT BELIEVE ANYONE WHO SAYS THIS BOOK IS BAD BECAUSE ITS WRITTEN BY HILARY DUFF! I almost didn't purchase this book because I read reviews that said exactly that. At first I was a little hesitant getting a book written by an actress/singer but it was hands down one of the best books I have ever read and it ends leaving you wanting more which is perfect because the second book comes out in less then two months! I 100% recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a mystery/romance novel. You definitely won't be disappointed, I hope this helped (:

Hilary Duff has proven that she is a multi-talented artist with this book. Not only has she gotten better as an actress, she's opening a new door in becoming a storyteller. The books has some grammatical and punctuation errors, but is a great read. It's very engaging, as you desperately want to know what happens when the Elixir is found. As I read the book, I could not believe that I was reading a book written by Hilary Duff. Although it was not entirely written by her(with the help of Elise Allen) - I can still hear Duff's voice in this book.

I believe the story was strong, I think it could have been a lot better. It felt a little rushed, but I expect better things from the next novel. I really do hope that they turn this book into a film. It deserves to be a film.