Review & Giveaway: All's Fair in Vanities War

All's Fair in Vanities War (The Seer's Seven Deadly Fairy Tales)
by Elizabeth Marx
ebook Edition
Published October 24th 2011
Review copy from author

Summary from Goodreads:

Salem’s always held sinister secrets. No one understands this better than a sixteen-year-old girl who dies on Halloween night and is reborn a Seer. 

The Seer can’t imagine anything worse than being an invisible teenager with enormous black wings. Until she finds out she’s been sacrificed to watch over Locke’s new flame. 

Locke Cavanaugh is a Druid, and part of the Order, a clandestine organization entrusted with keeping its members cloaked in the Ordinary world. Physically scarred from the accident that took his girlfriends life, Locke is searching for the OtherWorldly magic that damaged him, because only those without blemish can rule the Order. And once at the helm of the Order he has every intention of finding those responsible for her death. 

On the West Coast, Keleigh Flaherty witnesses her parents’ murder by beasts that should only exist in nightmares. She is whisked off to the safety of Salem, where she learns how potent and dangerous her concealed Vate talents are. Keleigh wants to be Ordinary, but when her mother reaches out from the OtherWorld, and implores her to find a forgotten relic she’ll have to use all her ExtraOrdinary powers to locate it. 

As Locke and Keleigh join forces, they unravel the Order’s involvement in the witch hysteria and murmurs of a Celtic prophecy. While Locke’s affection for Keleigh blooms, The Seer is torn between her duty to protect Keleigh, and her desire to stop Locke from making the ultimate sacrifice in order to earn Keleigh’s love . . . 

But if they don’t find the witches bottle before the 

ShiningOnes do, someone stalking Keleigh from the shadows will take her instead and plunge all worlds into chaos.

Thoughts:
What drew me first to this wonderful book is the cover. It's like so mysterious and beautiful! I'm guessing that's Keleigh on the cover what with her strawberry blonde hair. Ops..I'm getting ahead of myself. Sorry.

Let me just say, the book literally starts with a bang. A girl gets thrown out of her boyfriend's car and died instantly on the way to a party only to discover that her afterlife existence is already mapped out and planned by the powers that be. She was chosen to be a Seer; a recorder of events of sorts and is assigned to watch over a young ExtraOrdinary girl destined for great things. Apparently the young girl; Keleigh will eventually entangled herself with that cute boyfriend; Locke who survived the crash which does complicate matters a bit.

Locke is disgruntled and blamed Keleigh for the death of her girlfriend and their hostile encounters at first was really interesting to watch. As times passed, Locke and Keleigh are thrown together again and they must fight the evil presence that lurks to threatened the ExtraOrdinary community.

The Seer is a mystery to me. Her living history are told through flashes and her name was never mentioned in the beginning chapters so it left me wondering who she really is before her death and all. The book is told from her unique POV and you can feel the pain when she's witnessing that her old boyfriend is falling for Keleigh. For an invisible Seer forced to be in the sidelines, she has quite the rebellious streak and I'm rooting for her.

The story is rich in Celtic elements but unfortunately some parts are just a bit confusing for me. Nevertheless the story indeed capture my heart and the magical mayhem, dilemma and battles are intriguing enough to keep me entertained.

Recommended for: fans of  YA & urban fantasy
Verdict: 3 stars.

In my Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge 
Available on: Amazon


The author is kind enough to offer an e-book copy of this wonderful book. Yay! The giveaway is International and will end on February 29th.
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