The Seven Rays Review

The Seven Rays by Jessica Bendinger

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release date: November 24, 2009

Source: Flamingnet

The creator of Bring it On, Jessica Bendinger, brings her teen savvy writing to this paranormal romance, The Seven Rays.

You are more than you think you are.

THAT IS THE ANONYMOUS MESSAGE that Beth Michaels receives right before she starts seeing things. Not just a slept-through my-alarm-clock, late-for-homeroom, haven't had-my-caffeine-fix kind of seeing things. It all starts with some dots, annoying pink dots that pop up on and over her mom and her best friend's face. But then things get out of control and Beth is seeing people's pasts, their fears, their secrets, their desires. The images are coming at Beth in hi-def streaming video and she can't stop it. Everyone thinks she's crazy and she's pretty sure she agrees with them. But crazy doesn't explain the gold envelopes that have started arriving, containing seeing keys and mysterious tarot cards. To Beth, it all seems too weird to be true. You are more than you think you are? But here's the thing: What if she is?

Review:

The Seven Rays was a fantastic debut novel. It has to be one of the best books I’ve read in a while. It was intriguing, suspenseful, and romantic. The plot was extremely original and well written. The characters were well developed and Beth was a funny, refreshing voice that kept the story moving. She was relatable and a character I would like to know. I felt for her when things got tough and she really stood up for herself. The whole plot was just so good. I loved the variety of characters and the idea of 7RI. The ending was just fantastic. I loved how all the characters and twists in the plot tied together in the end. Although throughout the book you got little sneak peaks at the other characters, it wasn’t until the end that you really got to know them all. There wasn’t a slow part of the novel. Everything was fast paced and had me at the edge of my seat. There hasn’t been a lot of buzz about The Seven Rays, but I would highly recommend it and am so glad I got a chance to read it.

The romance wasn’t a huge part of the novel, but I really liked Richie. He was one of my favorite male characters in a while. You could tell how much Richie cared for Beth and I really liked how he proved appearance isn’t everything. He had a great heart and was the perfect person for Beth. The other characters were nice, too. I didn’t really care for Shirl. In the beginning I really liked her, then she went out of favor towards the middle, and by the end I liked her a little more. There were a lot of characters that didn’t appear in the book again after having pretty big roles in the beginning. I missed some of my favorite characters- DeeLee and Nessa. The twist with Nessa was fabulous and it added a lot to the novel. Towards the middle I thought I kind of knew what was going to happen, only to be sucked down a new path with new twists and turns in the plot. This has been one of the most unique books I’ve read in awhile and I’m eager to read more by Jessica Bendinger (maybe a sequel to The Seven Rays?!)

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars