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Elixir #2
Devoted: An Elixir Novel
“The sense of adventure and urgency are compelling” ( School Library Journal ) in this sequel to the New York Times bestselling Elixir by Hilary Duff .
Clea Raymond believes her soulmate, Sage, is lost forever, and it rips her apart. She is haunted by memories of him being taken away by his enemies. Then strange signs and dreams point to a way she can possibly win him back. To succeed, she’ll have to put her faith in her former best friend Ben—despite the devastating reason he’s lost her trust.
As Clea and Ben follow a dangerous and mysterious trail across the globe to reach Sage, all their loyalties will be tested. And Clea will face a terrible choice—she can save Sage, but only by betraying the people closest to her. With Sage’s immortal soul in the balance, whatever Clea decides will change her life forever….
Clea Raymond believes her soulmate, Sage, is lost forever, and it rips her apart. She is haunted by memories of him being taken away by his enemies. Then strange signs and dreams point to a way she can possibly win him back. To succeed, she’ll have to put her faith in her former best friend Ben—despite the devastating reason he’s lost her trust.
As Clea and Ben follow a dangerous and mysterious trail across the globe to reach Sage, all their loyalties will be tested. And Clea will face a terrible choice—she can save Sage, but only by betraying the people closest to her. With Sage’s immortal soul in the balance, whatever Clea decides will change her life forever….
368 pages, Paperback
First published October 11, 2011
144 people are currently reading
5668 people want to read
About the author
Hilary Duff
32 books1,267 followersHilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, pop singer-songwriter and entrepreneur. After gaining fame for playing the title role in the television show Lizzie McGuire, Duff went on to have a film career; her most commercially successful movies include Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003), and A Cinderella Story (2004).
Duff has expanded her repertoire into pop music, with four RIAA certified Platinum albums and over thirteen million albums sold worldwide. Her first studio album, Metamorphosis (2003), was certified triple platinum and she followed it up with two more platinum albums, Hilary Duff (2004) and Most Wanted (2005). Duff's last studio album, Dignity, was released in April 2007 and was certified Gold in August 2007.
She has also launched a clothing line, "Stuff by Hilary Duff", and two exclusive perfume collections with Elizabeth Arden. Duff and her mother were listed as producers for the movie Material Girls, As of April 2008, her upcoming films include the action thriller War, Inc., animated comedy Foodfight!, and independent films Greta and Safety Glass.
Duff has expanded her repertoire into pop music, with four RIAA certified Platinum albums and over thirteen million albums sold worldwide. Her first studio album, Metamorphosis (2003), was certified triple platinum and she followed it up with two more platinum albums, Hilary Duff (2004) and Most Wanted (2005). Duff's last studio album, Dignity, was released in April 2007 and was certified Gold in August 2007.
She has also launched a clothing line, "Stuff by Hilary Duff", and two exclusive perfume collections with Elizabeth Arden. Duff and her mother were listed as producers for the movie Material Girls, As of April 2008, her upcoming films include the action thriller War, Inc., animated comedy Foodfight!, and independent films Greta and Safety Glass.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 432 reviews
April 1, 2012
I'm not sure I can find adequate words to describe how awful this book was, but I'm certainly going to try.
I truly enjoy escapist entertainment. Like watching an episode of a Real Housewives show or listening to a Katy Perry album. I don't expect a work of genius, just a little dollop of sugary stupidity to relax my brain after a busy day. You know, the fun kind of stupid. Devoted is the insulting kind of stupid. The sort that makes your mouth gape open in disbelief or your eyes roll in disgust at each absurd plot device or insipid narration. Upon finishing this book I threw it to my side and thought, "Why the fuck did I even finish that?!?" It surely must have been to warn anyone else away from doing so with this review.
I honestly didn't remember a lot of what happened in the first book of this series, but it didn't matter, because the first half of the book is mostly characters rehashing the story. Essentially, Hilary (um, Clea) is trying to find her immortal ~*~soul mate true love~*~ Sage because he was kidnapped by cult members who want to steal his immortality that is derived from the elixir of life so they can become immortal themselves and do all kinds of nasty evil things. Apparently there is now also a family of beings of "projected consciousness" who drank the elixir too back in "ancient Greece" (no, seriously, they call it that.) The main character of this family is a seven year old girl named Amelia (which is not even a Greek name, by the way) who drank the elixir by accident and so her whole family drank it too in order to spend eternity with her. Turns out, if you drink enough elixir to become immortal, eventually your body can't take all that immortality and it will wither and stop being able to function. Then you just become a sort of spirit ghost thing that is in limbo and your body is just a husk. Amelia's grandfather builds a house in Switzerland fitted out with glass coffins for their bodies to chill out in and wait until they can recapture the elixir's powers and allow their consciousnesses to return. Confusing? Insanely ridiculous? YES. Read on!
***SPOILERS FROM HERE ON***
Clea is visited by these spirit things while she's Bella Swan-ing over the loss of her "true love," who she'd only known in her current lifetime for maybe a week, and who had sex with her in a car to show her how much he cares. What a winner. The spirit things show her visions of Sage. He's in a room! Somewhere! And a really hot girl is his captor... Oh noes! Reluctantly, Clea teams up with her convenient romantic rival/bff, Ben. Ben, however, has moved on from mopey Clea to her surprisingly famous senator mom's assistant, Suzanne. Clea presents Suzanne to her readers as a perfect overachieving type. I think we're supposed to dislike her, but I was rooting for Ben to kick Clea's pathetic ass to the curb and run away with Suzanne. Eventually, of course, Ben agrees to help search for Sage. The two go on a ridiculous mission to meet up with one of the elixir cult groups that is looking for Sage too, since everybody wants up in this elixir of life for their own purposes. Clea's mom's new stable boy (who is conveniently dating Clea's friend Rayna) is, surprise! a member of this cult group of people who only live till they're 30 for some reason. He comes along to help. Which side will win??? Do you really still care? Okay...
Clea sees a vision of Sage and hot captor girl performing a ritual that will sever the soul mate tie between himself and Clea because spirit mom thing showed him a vision of Clea "cheating" on him with Ben. But she wasn't, really, she was just trying to trick the spirit mom! Misunderstanding! Oh no! Don't destroy this beautiful non-mentally abusive relationship! Too late. The ritual takes place. Eventually the group finds where Sage is, conveniently like, ten minutes before the cult group led by spirit being girl's evil mom is about to kill him to drain the elixir from his body. Some people get shot and stuff. One second before time's up, Sage is stabbed in the heart. Yay! Stable Boy got stabbed too by the same knife. So... Sage's spirit inhabits Stable Boy's body. Now Clea has 3 love interests... kind of. WHAT THE FUCK. No one should love her- she's awful!
In my review of Elixir, I predicted Ben would die to save Clea and Sage would kill himself so his soul can inhabit Ben's body. This sort of happened, but in an even more annoying way! So, okay... Clea's boyfriend (Sage) is now inhabiting Rayna's dead boyfriend's (Stable Boy) body. Can you imagine that scenario? "I'm making out with my boyfriend, who just happens to be your dead boyfriend too!" Awkward! Clea is also still in love with Ben, who likes Suzanne, and who should really have stayed out of this whole mess to begin with. Run away, Ben! And you too, Rayna! You're both better off. Clea is a self-destructive waste and a terrible role model for young women. I truly think she might even be a worse protagonist than Bella Swan. Yikes, folks.
If you made it this far, I commend you for trying to make sense of this review. I can barely make sense of it myself, and I managed to make it through all 350 pages of this awful book. That wasn't much of a feat, though, it's in 14 point font, and several chapters are in italics just in case you can't distinguish that there are different narrators. There truly must be better young adult supernatural novel series to spend your time on. Even Twilight is marginally better than this!
I truly enjoy escapist entertainment. Like watching an episode of a Real Housewives show or listening to a Katy Perry album. I don't expect a work of genius, just a little dollop of sugary stupidity to relax my brain after a busy day. You know, the fun kind of stupid. Devoted is the insulting kind of stupid. The sort that makes your mouth gape open in disbelief or your eyes roll in disgust at each absurd plot device or insipid narration. Upon finishing this book I threw it to my side and thought, "Why the fuck did I even finish that?!?" It surely must have been to warn anyone else away from doing so with this review.
I honestly didn't remember a lot of what happened in the first book of this series, but it didn't matter, because the first half of the book is mostly characters rehashing the story. Essentially, Hilary (um, Clea) is trying to find her immortal ~*~soul mate true love~*~ Sage because he was kidnapped by cult members who want to steal his immortality that is derived from the elixir of life so they can become immortal themselves and do all kinds of nasty evil things. Apparently there is now also a family of beings of "projected consciousness" who drank the elixir too back in "ancient Greece" (no, seriously, they call it that.) The main character of this family is a seven year old girl named Amelia (which is not even a Greek name, by the way) who drank the elixir by accident and so her whole family drank it too in order to spend eternity with her. Turns out, if you drink enough elixir to become immortal, eventually your body can't take all that immortality and it will wither and stop being able to function. Then you just become a sort of spirit ghost thing that is in limbo and your body is just a husk. Amelia's grandfather builds a house in Switzerland fitted out with glass coffins for their bodies to chill out in and wait until they can recapture the elixir's powers and allow their consciousnesses to return. Confusing? Insanely ridiculous? YES. Read on!
***SPOILERS FROM HERE ON***
Clea is visited by these spirit things while she's Bella Swan-ing over the loss of her "true love," who she'd only known in her current lifetime for maybe a week, and who had sex with her in a car to show her how much he cares. What a winner. The spirit things show her visions of Sage. He's in a room! Somewhere! And a really hot girl is his captor... Oh noes! Reluctantly, Clea teams up with her convenient romantic rival/bff, Ben. Ben, however, has moved on from mopey Clea to her surprisingly famous senator mom's assistant, Suzanne. Clea presents Suzanne to her readers as a perfect overachieving type. I think we're supposed to dislike her, but I was rooting for Ben to kick Clea's pathetic ass to the curb and run away with Suzanne. Eventually, of course, Ben agrees to help search for Sage. The two go on a ridiculous mission to meet up with one of the elixir cult groups that is looking for Sage too, since everybody wants up in this elixir of life for their own purposes. Clea's mom's new stable boy (who is conveniently dating Clea's friend Rayna) is, surprise! a member of this cult group of people who only live till they're 30 for some reason. He comes along to help. Which side will win??? Do you really still care? Okay...
Clea sees a vision of Sage and hot captor girl performing a ritual that will sever the soul mate tie between himself and Clea because spirit mom thing showed him a vision of Clea "cheating" on him with Ben. But she wasn't, really, she was just trying to trick the spirit mom! Misunderstanding! Oh no! Don't destroy this beautiful non-mentally abusive relationship! Too late. The ritual takes place. Eventually the group finds where Sage is, conveniently like, ten minutes before the cult group led by spirit being girl's evil mom is about to kill him to drain the elixir from his body. Some people get shot and stuff. One second before time's up, Sage is stabbed in the heart. Yay! Stable Boy got stabbed too by the same knife. So... Sage's spirit inhabits Stable Boy's body. Now Clea has 3 love interests... kind of. WHAT THE FUCK. No one should love her- she's awful!
In my review of Elixir, I predicted Ben would die to save Clea and Sage would kill himself so his soul can inhabit Ben's body. This sort of happened, but in an even more annoying way! So, okay... Clea's boyfriend (Sage) is now inhabiting Rayna's dead boyfriend's (Stable Boy) body. Can you imagine that scenario? "I'm making out with my boyfriend, who just happens to be your dead boyfriend too!" Awkward! Clea is also still in love with Ben, who likes Suzanne, and who should really have stayed out of this whole mess to begin with. Run away, Ben! And you too, Rayna! You're both better off. Clea is a self-destructive waste and a terrible role model for young women. I truly think she might even be a worse protagonist than Bella Swan. Yikes, folks.
If you made it this far, I commend you for trying to make sense of this review. I can barely make sense of it myself, and I managed to make it through all 350 pages of this awful book. That wasn't much of a feat, though, it's in 14 point font, and several chapters are in italics just in case you can't distinguish that there are different narrators. There truly must be better young adult supernatural novel series to spend your time on. Even Twilight is marginally better than this!
May 10, 2012
I have to say that I'm incredibly disappointed. The writing was horrible and the characters were as well.
I think the reader was supposed to sympathize for Clea and love her but I just thought she was incredibly selfish and self-absorbed. I had no clue how two guys were in love with her. If Sage was dead, then the Cursed Vengeance people could have a good life instead of dying.
Then, the love. If Sage was her soulmate, would he cheat on her with another girl? NO. Even if he was under drugs and temptation, he shouldn't have kissed Lila or fallen in love with her. At first when I saw that vision, I thought Petra was faking it. Also, if Clea loved Sage, then Clea wouldn't have gotten revenge at Sage by making out with Ben. Ben was already moving on and Clea wasn't helping.
When you're hurt, don't you go talk to a friend instead of making out with another guy?
sigh.
I think the reader was supposed to sympathize for Clea and love her but I just thought she was incredibly selfish and self-absorbed. I had no clue how two guys were in love with her. If Sage was dead, then the Cursed Vengeance people could have a good life instead of dying.
Then, the love. If Sage was her soulmate, would he cheat on her with another girl? NO. Even if he was under drugs and temptation, he shouldn't have kissed Lila or fallen in love with her. At first when I saw that vision, I thought Petra was faking it. Also, if Clea loved Sage, then Clea wouldn't have gotten revenge at Sage by making out with Ben. Ben was already moving on and Clea wasn't helping.
When you're hurt, don't you go talk to a friend instead of making out with another guy?
sigh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2012
Alrighty, first off: WHAT A MEAN WAY TO END THIS BOOK!!
Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I officially love this series. I love the way it works, I love the science behind it, I love the conflict.
Ohhhh myyyy goooosh it's good. And I wasn't even expecting this book until next week! DONE.
I feel like the story is quick and engaging. I kept telling myself that I needed sleep, but the story wouldn't let me. There are plenty of flaws within this story. Plenty of plot holes. But honestly, isn't that the case for most stories? I find it truly amazing that Hilary Duff is as successful as she is and still seems genuinely good. Reading these books has raised my respect level greatly.
I highly suggest this series to anyone who likes young adult and is ok with paranormal but sick of the constant cheap lit that keeps getting pumped out. Seriously, there are only so many times I can read about a vampire falling in love with a mortal (not dissing all those stories, there are some good ones...)
The number one thing I like about this book is how fast paced it is. I feel like there aren't pages and pages of explaining the technicalities. We know only what they know and when they know it. I also love the romance. There's so much conflict. And there's enough plot twists where I wasn't predicting the ending (and I'm normally pretty good at that.)
Overall, I highly suggest this book. And of course, I'm sure now someone is going to listen to my suggestion, read it, and hate it, but to each his own I guess.
Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I officially love this series. I love the way it works, I love the science behind it, I love the conflict.
Ohhhh myyyy goooosh it's good. And I wasn't even expecting this book until next week! DONE.
I feel like the story is quick and engaging. I kept telling myself that I needed sleep, but the story wouldn't let me. There are plenty of flaws within this story. Plenty of plot holes. But honestly, isn't that the case for most stories? I find it truly amazing that Hilary Duff is as successful as she is and still seems genuinely good. Reading these books has raised my respect level greatly.
I highly suggest this series to anyone who likes young adult and is ok with paranormal but sick of the constant cheap lit that keeps getting pumped out. Seriously, there are only so many times I can read about a vampire falling in love with a mortal (not dissing all those stories, there are some good ones...)
The number one thing I like about this book is how fast paced it is. I feel like there aren't pages and pages of explaining the technicalities. We know only what they know and when they know it. I also love the romance. There's so much conflict. And there's enough plot twists where I wasn't predicting the ending (and I'm normally pretty good at that.)
Overall, I highly suggest this book. And of course, I'm sure now someone is going to listen to my suggestion, read it, and hate it, but to each his own I guess.
June 7, 2017
UPDATE 5/17/12: UGH. THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE TO READ. IT'S BORING ME TO DEATH. THANKS A LOT, DUFF. YOU CREATED A NEW RECORD OF MEDIOCRE.
AND I'M ONLY PUTTING IT ON-HOLD BECAUSE I WANT TO GET IT OVER WITH.
UPDATE 5/19/12: Okay, I decided to give another chance.
UPDATE 5/21/12: I . . . I can't. This book is taking my strength away. But I'm supposed to finish it!
I tried. I mean it. I tried to say wonderful things about this book but . . . I can't.
This rarely happens to me!! Take two weeks to finish this semi-normal lengthy book? The last time it took me that long to finish was when I was reading A Million Little Pieces and that was the most boring book I'd ever read! Wait, scratch that! The Host is still the most boring book I'd ever read. But that's not the point!
The point is that Devoted was awfully slow and might had killed several of my brain cells. There's only two reasons why it takes me longer to read a book:
1. I had better books to read, but the book wasn't boring.
2. This book was a piece of shit and I had better books to read than this trash!
And Devoted was definitely the latter.
Okay, seriously! Hilary Duff, I think you're a decent actress and singer, but as an author? HEEEEEEEEELLLL NOOOOOO!!! I admit, your writing style is not that bad, but when it comes to actually developing characters and a plot . . . you suck. HARD.
The story starts with Clea being in depressive mode. Her "soulmate" of centuries long has been kidnapped by "The Saviors of the Elixir of Life". Or was it Cursed Vengeance? I don't know, I only remember that it was someone with a crappy originality for an important name. Really, Duff? Were those the only good names you could think of? Cursed Vengeance? The Saviors of the Elixir of Life? Why . . . I can't even . . .
And do I need to remind the names of the characters "Clea", "Rayna" and "Nico"? Wow! Aren't you so creative?
Seriously. Authors need to stop giving stupid names to characters.
And Clea Raymond still thinks she's DORA THE FUCKING EXPLORER!! Stop asking questions, you BEEEEEEEPPP!!
And the aroma of sage . . . was from Sage. Page 87
Sorry, I had to! XD
Moving on, I hate how this relationship between Clea and Sage (Yes, that's his name!) is portrayed as love. “Sage saw the parts of me I didn’t share with anyone... the weak parts I scratched and clawed at every day... and he loved me anyway.” If by "parts" you mean your fucking vagina, then I understand where all the "love" came from!! Do I have to remind you that he was actually prepared to deflower you when you two first met? He brought a condom just in case!! And you actually consider this romantic?
No wonder why the genre of YA paranormal is going downhill.
I just hope that the condom broke and that he infected you with an ancient STD.
Meanwhile, Petra is planning on separating Clea and Sage's bond between them. Her daughter, Amelia, tries to defeat that plan. How do we know? Because they also made an additional POV for Amelia!! REALLY?! Why couldn't you just keep your readers in suspense on why everything was happening? Besides, Amelia was a very dry character to actually follow her through. One reason why it did took me longer to finish. You could have saved a lot of trees, Duff!
Ben acts like a douchebag towards Clea. Well, I don't blame him! Clea actually blamed him for Sage's kidnapping! And when he hooks up with Suzanne, she thinks is unfair that he doesn't pay any attention to her! Clea, you're the most selfish and hypocrite person I'd ever read. And when she calls him to apologize, guess what she does? BLAME HIM AGAIN ON EVERYTHING! SERIOUSLY?! And Ben goes all Somebody That I Used To Know on her.
Ben:
Clea: STAY AWAY FROM ME!! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!!
Ben:
Clea: WHY THE HELL DID YOU RUINED MY CHANGES TO HAVE A HAPPY LIFE WITH SAGE!! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!! FUCK YOU!!
Ben: *realizes that she doesn't need him anymore and that she's a bitch*
Clea: Wait, what? I didn't mean what I said!! I wasn't serious!!
Ben: Goodbye, Clea. I'm going to fuck Suzanne again. Bitch.
Ah, those two!!
Later, we discover that Sage is hooking up with Lila!! WHAT A FUCKING PIG!! And you know what was his excuse? "I just want to make Clea happy without me, so I'll just screw the first girl I see to numb my pain." UGH. And this guy is supposed to make anyone swoon? I can only feel vomit . . . that I want to throw on Sage. I know that he was drugged by Petra, but still! If you really love somebody, you don't cheat and fucking hurt their feelings.
And you know what's the best part? Clea immediately gets her revenge . . . with Ben!! Actually that wasn't the best part . . . the best part was when Petra showed what happened to Sage and he removes the bond they had in a heartbeat!!
And the even better part? Clea fucking regrets everything and still loves Sage after all!
Bullshit!! You were too quick to cheat on him, too! And Sage is a fucking hypocrite!! I hate this couple so much!!
A fight scene, and the sacrifice of Sage later . . . Amelia appears and destroys the Elixir that came from Sage so the Saviors couldn't live forever! YAY!
But Sage is dead! OH NO!!
Not to worry! His soul gets inside Nico's body!! Who is Nico? Oh yeah! Nico is the only guy that Rayna has ever liked and actually cares about him!! And now Rayna and Clea are going to share a guy!
THE. FUCKING. END.
Elixir was actually like brain-candy and kind of entertaining despite the stupidity of it. But Devoted might be one of the worst things ever written. It has no depth and plot to actually put any attention to. Once again, I'm sorry. I really tried.
BONUS!!
AND I'M ONLY PUTTING IT ON-HOLD BECAUSE I WANT TO GET IT OVER WITH.
UPDATE 5/19/12: Okay, I decided to give another chance.
UPDATE 5/21/12: I . . . I can't. This book is taking my strength away. But I'm supposed to finish it!
I tried. I mean it. I tried to say wonderful things about this book but . . . I can't.
This rarely happens to me!! Take two weeks to finish this semi-normal lengthy book? The last time it took me that long to finish was when I was reading A Million Little Pieces and that was the most boring book I'd ever read! Wait, scratch that! The Host is still the most boring book I'd ever read. But that's not the point!
The point is that Devoted was awfully slow and might had killed several of my brain cells. There's only two reasons why it takes me longer to read a book:
1. I had better books to read, but the book wasn't boring.
2. This book was a piece of shit and I had better books to read than this trash!
And Devoted was definitely the latter.
Okay, seriously! Hilary Duff, I think you're a decent actress and singer, but as an author? HEEEEEEEEELLLL NOOOOOO!!! I admit, your writing style is not that bad, but when it comes to actually developing characters and a plot . . . you suck. HARD.
The story starts with Clea being in depressive mode. Her "soulmate" of centuries long has been kidnapped by "The Saviors of the Elixir of Life". Or was it Cursed Vengeance? I don't know, I only remember that it was someone with a crappy originality for an important name. Really, Duff? Were those the only good names you could think of? Cursed Vengeance? The Saviors of the Elixir of Life? Why . . . I can't even . . .
And do I need to remind the names of the characters "Clea", "Rayna" and "Nico"? Wow! Aren't you so creative?
Seriously. Authors need to stop giving stupid names to characters.
And Clea Raymond still thinks she's DORA THE FUCKING EXPLORER!! Stop asking questions, you BEEEEEEEPPP!!
And the aroma of sage . . . was from Sage. Page 87
Sorry, I had to! XD
Moving on, I hate how this relationship between Clea and Sage (Yes, that's his name!) is portrayed as love. “Sage saw the parts of me I didn’t share with anyone... the weak parts I scratched and clawed at every day... and he loved me anyway.” If by "parts" you mean your fucking vagina, then I understand where all the "love" came from!! Do I have to remind you that he was actually prepared to deflower you when you two first met? He brought a condom just in case!! And you actually consider this romantic?
No wonder why the genre of YA paranormal is going downhill.
I just hope that the condom broke and that he infected you with an ancient STD.
Meanwhile, Petra is planning on separating Clea and Sage's bond between them. Her daughter, Amelia, tries to defeat that plan. How do we know? Because they also made an additional POV for Amelia!! REALLY?! Why couldn't you just keep your readers in suspense on why everything was happening? Besides, Amelia was a very dry character to actually follow her through. One reason why it did took me longer to finish. You could have saved a lot of trees, Duff!
Ben acts like a douchebag towards Clea. Well, I don't blame him! Clea actually blamed him for Sage's kidnapping! And when he hooks up with Suzanne, she thinks is unfair that he doesn't pay any attention to her! Clea, you're the most selfish and hypocrite person I'd ever read. And when she calls him to apologize, guess what she does? BLAME HIM AGAIN ON EVERYTHING! SERIOUSLY?! And Ben goes all Somebody That I Used To Know on her.
Ben:
Clea: STAY AWAY FROM ME!! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!!
Ben:
Clea: WHY THE HELL DID YOU RUINED MY CHANGES TO HAVE A HAPPY LIFE WITH SAGE!! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!! FUCK YOU!!
Ben: *realizes that she doesn't need him anymore and that she's a bitch*
Clea: Wait, what? I didn't mean what I said!! I wasn't serious!!
Ben: Goodbye, Clea. I'm going to fuck Suzanne again. Bitch.
Ah, those two!!
Later, we discover that Sage is hooking up with Lila!! WHAT A FUCKING PIG!! And you know what was his excuse? "I just want to make Clea happy without me, so I'll just screw the first girl I see to numb my pain." UGH. And this guy is supposed to make anyone swoon? I can only feel vomit . . . that I want to throw on Sage. I know that he was drugged by Petra, but still! If you really love somebody, you don't cheat and fucking hurt their feelings.
And you know what's the best part? Clea immediately gets her revenge . . . with Ben!! Actually that wasn't the best part . . . the best part was when Petra showed what happened to Sage and he removes the bond they had in a heartbeat!!
And the even better part? Clea fucking regrets everything and still loves Sage after all!
Bullshit!! You were too quick to cheat on him, too! And Sage is a fucking hypocrite!! I hate this couple so much!!
A fight scene, and the sacrifice of Sage later . . . Amelia appears and destroys the Elixir that came from Sage so the Saviors couldn't live forever! YAY!
But Sage is dead! OH NO!!
Not to worry! His soul gets inside Nico's body!! Who is Nico? Oh yeah! Nico is the only guy that Rayna has ever liked and actually cares about him!! And now Rayna and Clea are going to share a guy!
THE. FUCKING. END.
Elixir was actually like brain-candy and kind of entertaining despite the stupidity of it. But Devoted might be one of the worst things ever written. It has no depth and plot to actually put any attention to. Once again, I'm sorry. I really tried.
BONUS!!
Want to read
May 20, 2011they should've stuck with the flower theme!
July 19, 2011
I've been waiting for the second book ever since I finished the first one. can't wait to read it.
November 17, 2011
*******MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS********
Clea is back and is still searching for the answers about her missing father and her connection with the elusive and dangerous Sage. But will her discoveries put her in even greater danger?
Who ever thought that a simple 2 sentence blurb would make me go crazy into reading this book? The obvious reason being that I had read Elixir #1 and I loved it so so so so much I almost started hyperventilating when the postman pushed the beautiful brown package through my front door. It is almost true to say I am in love with my postman these days :D
This book was filled with even more adventure than #1 if you can believe it. I almost leapt at the pages to kill Petra on several occasions! I have to say I am amazed at how awesome Hilary Duff can write and actually keep me entertained. I would dive into the book everyday to see if Clea was any closer to finding her Soul Mate. I liked Ben in the first book but throughout the beginning and middle of the second he kind of did my head in with his coldness toward Clea and his cockiness. But later I began to love him again. And in my imagination, he got hot ;)
I was swallowed up by the book and finished it within a few days, sneakily taking it everywhere with me.
The ending was... WOW! What an ending should be. I didn't want it to end. I wanted there to be a dozen more chapters so I could see what happened. But it's fair to say, it was Mind-Blowing!!!!
I'm eagerly waiting for the 3rd instalment and I'm pretty sure I'll go crazy if it isn't anytime soon. :D
I recommend it to anyone. Even if you are not a Duff fan, you will love it just for the same reason as you love all your other favourite Paranormal Romances such as Twilight or The Hunger Games etc. I give it a biiiig 5 stars just for being amazing and making me cry so much :)
I look forward to reading whatever Hilary Duff has next to throw at me :)
Clea is back and is still searching for the answers about her missing father and her connection with the elusive and dangerous Sage. But will her discoveries put her in even greater danger?
Who ever thought that a simple 2 sentence blurb would make me go crazy into reading this book? The obvious reason being that I had read Elixir #1 and I loved it so so so so much I almost started hyperventilating when the postman pushed the beautiful brown package through my front door. It is almost true to say I am in love with my postman these days :D
This book was filled with even more adventure than #1 if you can believe it. I almost leapt at the pages to kill Petra on several occasions! I have to say I am amazed at how awesome Hilary Duff can write and actually keep me entertained. I would dive into the book everyday to see if Clea was any closer to finding her Soul Mate. I liked Ben in the first book but throughout the beginning and middle of the second he kind of did my head in with his coldness toward Clea and his cockiness. But later I began to love him again. And in my imagination, he got hot ;)
I was swallowed up by the book and finished it within a few days, sneakily taking it everywhere with me.
The ending was... WOW! What an ending should be. I didn't want it to end. I wanted there to be a dozen more chapters so I could see what happened. But it's fair to say, it was Mind-Blowing!!!!
I'm eagerly waiting for the 3rd instalment and I'm pretty sure I'll go crazy if it isn't anytime soon. :D
I recommend it to anyone. Even if you are not a Duff fan, you will love it just for the same reason as you love all your other favourite Paranormal Romances such as Twilight or The Hunger Games etc. I give it a biiiig 5 stars just for being amazing and making me cry so much :)
I look forward to reading whatever Hilary Duff has next to throw at me :)
October 28, 2011
I’m a little overwhelmed with Devoted. It was a good and all, definitely a step up from Elixir, the first book. But I guess the vastness on how this series has progressed into was not something I was prepared for. What started out as a simple love story morphed into a world where the story of the Elixir of Life has more to it than it seems and the tragic love story between Clea and Sage is just one of the few misgivings when the Elixir is involved.
Devoted introduces readers to whole new set of characters that will either disgust you, awe you or make you sympathize with. There are so many things the Elixir could do that the characters are unaware of until disaster strikes.
I’m kind of a little disappointed with Clea and Sage’s actions. Even with the whole narrative and history about them being soulmates and how strong and rare this bond is, what they did spoke louder than what history projected, and trust me their actions did not speak “we’re soul mates.”
I admire Hilary for creating this book; even though she had help, the storyline is still commendable. Although I’d have to say that the stretch Devoted has introduced me to made me feel that I didn’t love this book but I didn’t hate it either. It may have been a bit too much for me to take in but I definitely enjoyed reading this.
The ending has unwrapped this series to endless possibilities and it is what I may call an "open" ending. I don't even know if that makes sense but I’m certainly looking forward to the third installment.
For more of my reviews, please visit my blog:
The Blair Book Project @ www.theblairbookproject.blogspot.com
Devoted introduces readers to whole new set of characters that will either disgust you, awe you or make you sympathize with. There are so many things the Elixir could do that the characters are unaware of until disaster strikes.
I’m kind of a little disappointed with Clea and Sage’s actions. Even with the whole narrative and history about them being soulmates and how strong and rare this bond is, what they did spoke louder than what history projected, and trust me their actions did not speak “we’re soul mates.”
I admire Hilary for creating this book; even though she had help, the storyline is still commendable. Although I’d have to say that the stretch Devoted has introduced me to made me feel that I didn’t love this book but I didn’t hate it either. It may have been a bit too much for me to take in but I definitely enjoyed reading this.
The ending has unwrapped this series to endless possibilities and it is what I may call an "open" ending. I don't even know if that makes sense but I’m certainly looking forward to the third installment.
For more of my reviews, please visit my blog:
The Blair Book Project @ www.theblairbookproject.blogspot.com
November 11, 2011
I was a little bit disappointed, tbh, because it was not as good as the first one. I read the first one in one or two days because of how much I loved it. I finished this one in over two weeks. That's not only because I was busy. This one was way more boring. Plus it made me dislike Clea/Sage who are supposed to be the big OTP of the book. I'm all team Ben know. I'm sad because I'm afraid the third book will go the same way (or even worse considering the end - that I will not tell you about for those who haven't read it yet). I will be so disappointed if I end up this series bored when the first book was so epic.
It was not a bad book, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't further recommand it. You should totally read it though if you follow the series, it would make sense!
It was not a bad book, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't further recommand it. You should totally read it though if you follow the series, it would make sense!
Read
July 19, 2011The cover model looks too much like Hilary for me to get past the fact. I hate to say it, but I'm probably going to read this even though I know I shouldn't for fear of my brain rotting.
September 27, 2012
Meh.
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I really don't know why I marked this book as-read. I don't even remember the first book's story. LOL!
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I really don't know why I marked this book as-read. I don't even remember the first book's story. LOL!
August 5, 2019
All I know is pain.
November 11, 2011
I was intrigued when I heard about Hilary Duff’s novels and when I received Devoted for review I was open minded about reading it, even though I hadn’t read the first novel in the series Elixir. To be honest, I was really disappointed with this story. It certainly had potential but its delivery was lacklustre. The first couple of chapters basically recapped (I assume) the first novel, so I felt like I was able to catch up on what happened in Elixir. But it was written in a bland introspective way that didn’t get me hooked into the story.
The main failing of this story is the characters. Clea was really unlikeable; she was quite selfish and completely absorbed in reconnecting with her long lost love Sage no matter who ended up hurt along the way. I really liked the character of Ben, who made up the love triangle for the story but didn’t really see why he was interested in Clea. Perhaps I missed out on some of their backstory because I didn’t read Elixir. The story revolves around Clea trying to find Sage and I felt like there was no depth to her character, she was completely undefined and really had nothing else happening in her life except finding Sage.
Devoted is quite a quick read (thankfully!) and ends with a cliff-hanger, setting it up for the third book in the series- but I won’t be reading it.
May suit YA readers who enjoy a quick, straightforward fantasy read without too much complexity.
The main failing of this story is the characters. Clea was really unlikeable; she was quite selfish and completely absorbed in reconnecting with her long lost love Sage no matter who ended up hurt along the way. I really liked the character of Ben, who made up the love triangle for the story but didn’t really see why he was interested in Clea. Perhaps I missed out on some of their backstory because I didn’t read Elixir. The story revolves around Clea trying to find Sage and I felt like there was no depth to her character, she was completely undefined and really had nothing else happening in her life except finding Sage.
Devoted is quite a quick read (thankfully!) and ends with a cliff-hanger, setting it up for the third book in the series- but I won’t be reading it.
May suit YA readers who enjoy a quick, straightforward fantasy read without too much complexity.
October 14, 2011
As with the first book I had a hard time getting over the similarities between this series and The Immortals series by Alyson Noel. I thought this book was good just seemed to take forever and then boom its over with a huge cliffhanger. Don't want to spoil it for anyone but if it is what I think it is poor Rayna!
December 23, 2011
oh my gosh, what the hell? You know, when both the main characters don't end up together you sure as hell DO NOT wanna mess with me! HILARY DUFF DONT MESS WITH ME. YOU BETTER GET BOTH OF THEM TOGETHER AT THE THIRD BOOK! Or i'll have to burn the third book even though i borrowed it from the library !
Read
September 26, 2011When I finished reading Elixir, I was more than happy to have a copy of Devoted on hand to start reading right away. It turned out to be just as good and just as addicting as the first book. It was definitely a highly enjoyable read.
Clea is back home but she can't stop feeling bad about how she lost Sage in Japan. And she can't help but blame Ben for everything that happened. Her only comfort is that she knows Sage is still alive because he still appears in the background of her pictures. But that's not much help when it comes to finding and saving Sage from The Saviours of Eternal Life. That is until Clea first meets Amelia and her family and starts having hope of finding Sage again. Especially when a mysterious message appears on her computer screen, telling her to go to the Cursed Vengeance. Except it doesn't exactly lead to Sage, it led to an alliance with the enemy. But that doesn't stop Clea from continuing her search for Sage, especially now that she is having dreams of his location. The only problem is, Clea may just be running out of time if she has any hope of finding the Sage she lost.
If I'm being completely honest, I think I liked the story in Devoted better than the one in Elixir. I especially liked the addition of Amelia and her family to the story to provide background on the Elixir of Life. I loved finding out more about how the Elixir came to be, how it works exactly and the effects it can have in the long term. What I really enjoyed was the dual points of view, changing between Clea and Amelia. It was nice to have a new perspective, especially since Amelia's point of view was so different from Clea's. And once again, the ending was absolutely heartbreaking, except this time around, I didn't have the next book on hand to start reading right away.
I was kind of annoyed with Clea for the first part of the book, mostly because it felt like she was just sitting there pining for Sage. So I was really happy when she finally decided to do something and actively search for a way to find and save Sage. Basically, when she wasn't moping around, I liked Clea. I loved the change in Ben though. He felt like a completely different character and I personally thought it was an improvement, especially since he wasn't always trying to make Clea see the feelings he had for her. Mostly his new behaviour just amused me. In this book, Rayna was more present and I liked finding out more about her. Her relationships with boys are just the funniest thing. That leaves Amelia and her family and they were nothing if not interesting. Though Amelia and her mother were more present than the rest, it was still just interesting to see the dynamics in a family that has been around for a couple thousand years.
Overall, Devoted was a fantastic sequel. Hilary Duff and Elise Allen once again surprised me to say the very least. I can't wait for the book to find about what happens next to Clea, Sage and Ben.
Clea is back home but she can't stop feeling bad about how she lost Sage in Japan. And she can't help but blame Ben for everything that happened. Her only comfort is that she knows Sage is still alive because he still appears in the background of her pictures. But that's not much help when it comes to finding and saving Sage from The Saviours of Eternal Life. That is until Clea first meets Amelia and her family and starts having hope of finding Sage again. Especially when a mysterious message appears on her computer screen, telling her to go to the Cursed Vengeance. Except it doesn't exactly lead to Sage, it led to an alliance with the enemy. But that doesn't stop Clea from continuing her search for Sage, especially now that she is having dreams of his location. The only problem is, Clea may just be running out of time if she has any hope of finding the Sage she lost.
If I'm being completely honest, I think I liked the story in Devoted better than the one in Elixir. I especially liked the addition of Amelia and her family to the story to provide background on the Elixir of Life. I loved finding out more about how the Elixir came to be, how it works exactly and the effects it can have in the long term. What I really enjoyed was the dual points of view, changing between Clea and Amelia. It was nice to have a new perspective, especially since Amelia's point of view was so different from Clea's. And once again, the ending was absolutely heartbreaking, except this time around, I didn't have the next book on hand to start reading right away.
I was kind of annoyed with Clea for the first part of the book, mostly because it felt like she was just sitting there pining for Sage. So I was really happy when she finally decided to do something and actively search for a way to find and save Sage. Basically, when she wasn't moping around, I liked Clea. I loved the change in Ben though. He felt like a completely different character and I personally thought it was an improvement, especially since he wasn't always trying to make Clea see the feelings he had for her. Mostly his new behaviour just amused me. In this book, Rayna was more present and I liked finding out more about her. Her relationships with boys are just the funniest thing. That leaves Amelia and her family and they were nothing if not interesting. Though Amelia and her mother were more present than the rest, it was still just interesting to see the dynamics in a family that has been around for a couple thousand years.
Overall, Devoted was a fantastic sequel. Hilary Duff and Elise Allen once again surprised me to say the very least. I can't wait for the book to find about what happens next to Clea, Sage and Ben.
April 13, 2015
Where to begin? I gave Elixir four stars. So obviously I expected this book to be at least slightly good. Considering what type of book the first one is(the lovesick girl searching for her soulmate), I really didn't except much, even though I liked the first one. Wow, was I surprised.
Let's start with the character development. Let's see... hmph. None comes to mind.
Okay, let's move to the cool characters. Hm.... drawing a blank again.
This book had no flow, no character development, no new, interesting aspects, so stunning revelations, nothing at all interesting. Even the writing seemed like horrible quality, which in Elixir it was not. Most of the new things you discovered are things that you've already guessed or won't be surprised by. And Clea... holy crap! Girl, I didn't know you were such a slut! She sees Sage drugged up and making out with a girl so she completely uses Ben to "get back at him." I'm sorry, but what a selfish bitch. Ben has done awful things, but he didn't mean to do those things and certainly doesn't deserve to be used that way. And Clea wasn't even trying to convince herself that she actually liked Ben. She was being completely open with herself about how she was using him. Even when she was almost naked on top of him she was thinking of sticking it to Sage. And then when Ben rejects her because he's not a complete tool, she goes back to her car crying. You stupid, whiny baby! I don't care that your feelings are hurt. In fact, it kind of makes me happy, they way you haven't given a crap about anyone but you boy this whole book.
And what's up with that, anyway? Clea is such a selfish person that she's willing to make probably hundreds of people die before their 30th birthday so she can save a guy that has been alive for 500 years because she loves him. She doesn't care that the guy her friend, Rayna, likes it going to die within two years. All she cares about is that she'll be alone.
And the ending. Wow. You know a book is bad when you only like the last 20 pages, and then not even the ultimate ending. I was so happy when Sage died. I literally smiled and thought that maybe I'd give this book two stars instead of one just for this fact. But then he went and possessed the body of the guy that Ben killed(which is a whole other rant). Stupidest thing ever.
If there's a third book, I'm seriously considering not reading it. And if you know me you'll know that I hate not finishing a series. But I don't think I can stomach more of this.
Let's start with the character development. Let's see... hmph. None comes to mind.
Okay, let's move to the cool characters. Hm.... drawing a blank again.
This book had no flow, no character development, no new, interesting aspects, so stunning revelations, nothing at all interesting. Even the writing seemed like horrible quality, which in Elixir it was not. Most of the new things you discovered are things that you've already guessed or won't be surprised by. And Clea... holy crap! Girl, I didn't know you were such a slut! She sees Sage drugged up and making out with a girl so she completely uses Ben to "get back at him." I'm sorry, but what a selfish bitch. Ben has done awful things, but he didn't mean to do those things and certainly doesn't deserve to be used that way. And Clea wasn't even trying to convince herself that she actually liked Ben. She was being completely open with herself about how she was using him. Even when she was almost naked on top of him she was thinking of sticking it to Sage. And then when Ben rejects her because he's not a complete tool, she goes back to her car crying. You stupid, whiny baby! I don't care that your feelings are hurt. In fact, it kind of makes me happy, they way you haven't given a crap about anyone but you boy this whole book.
And what's up with that, anyway? Clea is such a selfish person that she's willing to make probably hundreds of people die before their 30th birthday so she can save a guy that has been alive for 500 years because she loves him. She doesn't care that the guy her friend, Rayna, likes it going to die within two years. All she cares about is that she'll be alone.
And the ending. Wow. You know a book is bad when you only like the last 20 pages, and then not even the ultimate ending. I was so happy when Sage died. I literally smiled and thought that maybe I'd give this book two stars instead of one just for this fact. But then he went and possessed the body of the guy that Ben killed(which is a whole other rant). Stupidest thing ever.
If there's a third book, I'm seriously considering not reading it. And if you know me you'll know that I hate not finishing a series. But I don't think I can stomach more of this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2011
Warning: mild spoilers.
Once again, I could not put this down. Especially toward the end, I was screaming and felt like throwing it against the wall (but that's always a good thing for me haha).
However, I liked Clea even less in this one than in Elixir. She is so whiny, stupid, and slutty. Sage also got on my bad side; why on EARTH would you get with someone else when you know your freaking LITERAL SOULMATE is trying to find you?? I just found it unfathomable. Not only does he not seem like the type, it was just really, really odd to me... Maybe he WAS acting for Clea's sake, that wasn't really clear, but because of Sage's stupidity Clea got even more stupid and RUINED EVERYTHING. And I understood Clea's side completely, but she could have picked someone who was NOT her best friend that is still in love with her and has a girlfriend (who I also don't like. She doesn't seem like Ben's type and she seems super uppity and annoying) to fool around with. Anyway, rant over.
At first I thought the addition of so many new characters took away from the charisma of the first book and I was like Oh, God. Then, to find out half was written in Amelia's point of view... Obviously this one didn't grab me from the first page like Elixir (Clea's whining and moping is probably mostly to blame) it got so much better and there were SO MANY freaking plot twists that totally got me.
The whole time reading this: HILARY DUFF WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO MY EMOTIONS?!?!
And the freaking END OH GOD. I need a third one THIS SECOND. Oh my God, I just want to see Rayna's reaction, crap...
Yeah. Once again cliffhanger ending.
And another thing. While the cover is gorgeous, I have NEVER seen anyone make one cover in a series so different from the previous. I mean, at least make them match a LITTLE, use the same font or something. That really really irked me haha. Series are supposed to look unified.
Once again, I could not put this down. Especially toward the end, I was screaming and felt like throwing it against the wall (but that's always a good thing for me haha).
However, I liked Clea even less in this one than in Elixir. She is so whiny, stupid, and slutty. Sage also got on my bad side; why on EARTH would you get with someone else when you know your freaking LITERAL SOULMATE is trying to find you?? I just found it unfathomable. Not only does he not seem like the type, it was just really, really odd to me... Maybe he WAS acting for Clea's sake, that wasn't really clear, but because of Sage's stupidity Clea got even more stupid and RUINED EVERYTHING. And I understood Clea's side completely, but she could have picked someone who was NOT her best friend that is still in love with her and has a girlfriend (who I also don't like. She doesn't seem like Ben's type and she seems super uppity and annoying) to fool around with. Anyway, rant over.
At first I thought the addition of so many new characters took away from the charisma of the first book and I was like Oh, God. Then, to find out half was written in Amelia's point of view... Obviously this one didn't grab me from the first page like Elixir (Clea's whining and moping is probably mostly to blame) it got so much better and there were SO MANY freaking plot twists that totally got me.
The whole time reading this: HILARY DUFF WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO MY EMOTIONS?!?!
And the freaking END OH GOD. I need a third one THIS SECOND. Oh my God, I just want to see Rayna's reaction, crap...
Yeah. Once again cliffhanger ending.
And another thing. While the cover is gorgeous, I have NEVER seen anyone make one cover in a series so different from the previous. I mean, at least make them match a LITTLE, use the same font or something. That really really irked me haha. Series are supposed to look unified.
May 20, 2012
This one is a little hard for me to rate, I did enjoy Elixir, and definitely enjoyed Devoted, however I was disappointed with the turn the story took. While Hilary Duff’s writing and creativity definitely shines in this book and has greatly improved, I was completely disappointed that her search for her father which was the main focus of Elixir, completely took the back burner in this novel, as she is utterly devoted to finding Sage. As much as I understand the need for romance and wanting her soul mate, this neglected thread in the story really affected my final opinion of the book. I was also a little annoyed that Clea became depressed and obsessed about Sage, it reminded me a little too much about the 500 pages of Bella (Twilight series) constant whining. On a more positive note; the addition of the new characters, such as Amelia’s family and Cursed Vengeance created a more complex universe affected by the Elixir and offered the reader more options to relate to characters and feel for them. The end was slightly disappointing, but in a good way, as it finishes with a slight cliff-hanger (if cliff-hanger is the term to use) for the third book which will follow.
While my rating is low on this book for many reasons, I still enjoyed the series so far and will read the third when it comes out.
Quote p.222: “He knew me so well. Even better than Sage, in some ways. He knew details—like my favorite brand of energy bar, my favorite tea, my favorite place to sit on an airplane, and a million other favorites. They were the kinds of things anyone who spent enough time around me would know, if they cared enough to pay attention, and Ben had. Sage wouldn’t know any of those details, but he knew me. He knew my darkest places and deepest flaws, and he loved me not despite them but for them.”
Elixir Series:
1. Elixir
2. Devoted
While my rating is low on this book for many reasons, I still enjoyed the series so far and will read the third when it comes out.
Quote p.222: “He knew me so well. Even better than Sage, in some ways. He knew details—like my favorite brand of energy bar, my favorite tea, my favorite place to sit on an airplane, and a million other favorites. They were the kinds of things anyone who spent enough time around me would know, if they cared enough to pay attention, and Ben had. Sage wouldn’t know any of those details, but he knew me. He knew my darkest places and deepest flaws, and he loved me not despite them but for them.”
Elixir Series:
1. Elixir
2. Devoted
April 18, 2012
After reading this book, I felt like Obi-Wan Kenobi after Grand Moff Tarkin blasted the planet of Alderaan, killing billions of people, in order to demonstrate the might of the Death Star. In this case, I felt like thousands of talented writers who can't get published cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
Hilary used her name to get a book deal. She wrote a terrible novel called Elixir that, because of her name, sold well enough to warrant this sequel. I wish I could say that her "writing" (I use quotes since her books have been ghostwritten) improved with this novel, but sadly I cannot. In fact, it's even worse. The first book at least had a sequence of events, a plot if you will, that carried the story forward. This one doesn't even have that. Nothing really happens until the very end, when Deus Ex Machinas rain from the sky and litter the countryside. I'm not sure if I can pluralize that phrase, but what do you call it when, in the last few pages, she introduces a large number of gimmicks that each resolve various conflicts? Ms. Duff may have broken new ground with that one.
Devoted is quite simply one of the worst things I've ever read. It makes me sorry that our species is capable of written language. Physical abuse of anyone is almost universally wrong. Almost. But in this case, Hilary needs to pay the price of pain for the atrocity that she has committed.
Hilary used her name to get a book deal. She wrote a terrible novel called Elixir that, because of her name, sold well enough to warrant this sequel. I wish I could say that her "writing" (I use quotes since her books have been ghostwritten) improved with this novel, but sadly I cannot. In fact, it's even worse. The first book at least had a sequence of events, a plot if you will, that carried the story forward. This one doesn't even have that. Nothing really happens until the very end, when Deus Ex Machinas rain from the sky and litter the countryside. I'm not sure if I can pluralize that phrase, but what do you call it when, in the last few pages, she introduces a large number of gimmicks that each resolve various conflicts? Ms. Duff may have broken new ground with that one.
Devoted is quite simply one of the worst things I've ever read. It makes me sorry that our species is capable of written language. Physical abuse of anyone is almost universally wrong. Almost. But in this case, Hilary needs to pay the price of pain for the atrocity that she has committed.
November 24, 2011
I read the first book of this series and thought it was alright. The story line kept me intrigued, so I decided to give this one a go. Especially since the first one left you hanging. While reading this second book, it really hit me just how much I didn't care about the characters at all. I tried to feel bad for Clea as she tried to find Sage, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Absolutely nothing within the book convinced me that these two loved one another other than the constant talk about how they were soul mates, which didn't help with the convincing at all. I finished the book (and was left hanging AGAIN), but when I was flipping that last page, it really didn't do much for me. It was bland and I could not have cared less about Clea or Sage.
January 5, 2012
I was dying to read Devoted after Elixir, it was good in a different way. I liked the suspense the story built throughout the whole book. I was a little annoyed with Clea being mad at Ben but thinking from her perspective I couldn't blame her. However I expected Clea to worry a little more about her father like she did in the last book with the hopes of him being alive. Instead of just being soul mates in the past I wished it showed more of their affection in the present before splitting them up. At times the love doesn't feel as believable because she barely experienced much during her current life time, despite being soul mates. However, I really loved this book and definatley would love to read more.
May 18, 2012
soooooo I have NO idea why, but I remember Hilary Duff's first book, Elixir, to be pretty okay. At least I think I remember. OMG, what is wrong with me? Did I black out a year ago when reading her book? Did she change editors? It reads like something I could have thrown together when I was fifteen. I guess it's aimed at that age group. Wait, it's kind of like Twilight. Damn, sucked in again! No pun intended.
I bought Devoted straight out, you know, I didn't get the kindle sample first to make sure I was spending my monies wisely. I can't even give her first book a rating, I mean, I finished it and I think I liked it, that would have deserved a few stars if I had gotten to updating Goodreads earlier ... then I started reading Devoted.
- fin -
I bought Devoted straight out, you know, I didn't get the kindle sample first to make sure I was spending my monies wisely. I can't even give her first book a rating, I mean, I finished it and I think I liked it, that would have deserved a few stars if I had gotten to updating Goodreads earlier ... then I started reading Devoted.
- fin -
October 28, 2016
[Thursday, March 24, 2011] I'm dying to get my hands on this book!! I love Hilary Duff a lot. And Elixir was such a great book with a cliff-hanger ending!
[Thursday, September 8, 2016] I started reading this book right after I finished Elixir the other reread day but I got so busy and sick and couldn't continue, almost 100 pages in one setting. So good and so weird. The whole mind power, elixir, Cursed Vengeance, Alissa Grande, crazy Ben, flirty Rayna and her suspicious crush, Saviors of Eternal Life, The Dark Lady, and Sage the babe are such a great mix.
[Thursday, September 8, 2016] I started reading this book right after I finished Elixir the other reread day but I got so busy and sick and couldn't continue, almost 100 pages in one setting. So good and so weird. The whole mind power, elixir, Cursed Vengeance, Alissa Grande, crazy Ben, flirty Rayna and her suspicious crush, Saviors of Eternal Life, The Dark Lady, and Sage the babe are such a great mix.
March 13, 2014
Okay... confession time. I purposely keep reading this book series because it IS so bad. (Nothing against you Ms. Duff, after all, you're probably a much better person than me. Writer? We'll discuss that later...)
So this book did move along a plot line better than most 2nd books in trilogies, but good gravy, dude, this thing was RIDICULOUS in the verb-age of how much she loved this guy who she has NO chemistry with and how much she hated this much more realistic romantic interest guy who always gets in the way. (Haha, speaking of writing flaws.... run on sentence anyone?)
Anyway, will read the last one. After all, one must keep the criticism for a book that is WAY too over the top.
So this book did move along a plot line better than most 2nd books in trilogies, but good gravy, dude, this thing was RIDICULOUS in the verb-age of how much she loved this guy who she has NO chemistry with and how much she hated this much more realistic romantic interest guy who always gets in the way. (Haha, speaking of writing flaws.... run on sentence anyone?)
Anyway, will read the last one. After all, one must keep the criticism for a book that is WAY too over the top.
November 12, 2015
I thought that this book was better than Elixir. The plot was predictable in parts, but was more interesting and was able to hold my attention.
The introduction of the new family of characters added something to the storyline, but with the exception of one character , I hated the other three.
The introduction of the new family of characters added something to the storyline, but with the exception of one character , I hated the other three.
February 4, 2013
I just don't know about this book... I was excited to read it. I was liking the new characters that were brought in. The weird spirit people, I thought they were a cool idea. I feel like this could have been made to be a better book if more time was spent on it, maybe? I don't know..
I was fine with this book until the last couple of pages when I guessed what was most likely going to happen. I was (am) incredible angry at how it ended. Just why????? Grr.. I would go into it more but I just want to forget... Please...
I was fine with this book until the last couple of pages when I guessed what was most likely going to happen. I was (am) incredible angry at how it ended. Just why????? Grr.. I would go into it more but I just want to forget... Please...
December 11, 2016
Once upon a time I was a huge hopeless romantic who probably would have jumped into this book and never looked back until I finished. Nowadays though it has to be one hell of a love story.
I made it to the half way point in this and was more or less pretty into it but still kind of hesitant. Then I decided to read the description for the next book and am in no way intrigued to see what happens to get there.
I had also forgotten that when I finished the first I said it should have just ended there, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
I made it to the half way point in this and was more or less pretty into it but still kind of hesitant. Then I decided to read the description for the next book and am in no way intrigued to see what happens to get there.
I had also forgotten that when I finished the first I said it should have just ended there, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
October 19, 2013
I mean, this book was interesting and exiting at some points, but the overall plot seemed bland to me besides the parts with Amanda. I especially hated the ending. This book was a huge disappointment compared to elixir.
March 4, 2012
OMG!!!!! worst ending EVER
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