- Ebook: 125 pages
- Published: July 14, 2011
- Source: copy from the author
- My rating: 4.5/5
- Find the author online: Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads~ Official page
Summary: Summertime for Blair Reynolds and her friends had always been carefree and fun. Until one summer when they came upon something that was not human. As they band together in a fight for their lives, Blair's true love becomes something more than human. Something unnatural...And their entire existence relies on their ability to keep a secret.
Some books just feel like they were written for you only. That's how Cicada felt for me.You don't believe that in the course of one summer aliens can change everything, don't you? That this one summer before college or high school your life can be thrown off a previously established route? Well, it happened to me.
When I was 13, I was obsessed with the TV show Roswell. I was just about to start high school when it came on. I loved the show so much, I decided I wanted to study English, never having had a single English class before. Well, 10 years later, here I am, months away from my MA in English and German.
Naturally, the dormant UFO-freak in me rejoiced when I learned that Cicada featured a different kind of paranormal. My kind of paranormal.
Cicada is a wonderfully constructed story about changes and the end of childhood. After summer ends, four out of five characters are going to college, but a different kind of "change" will send them on different paths. Cicada is quite a short read, but by the end, it feels like you're reading a completely different book. Everything and everyone has changed. As summer moves on, secrets and mysteries come up one after another, and the tone grows darker and heavy with the looming danger and unanswered questions. Characters unfold and grow until you barely recognize them anymore. The superstar of Cicada is Everett, the "bug-boy". Going into details would spoil most of the book, but in short, he's the hottest nerdy ever!
As for reasons why it's not a shiny five stars...The beginning of the story seemed a bit forced, I couldn't "feel" it and the first encounter with the characters was not impressionable. It takes a few chapters, some build-up and action to start seeing them as individuals and the purpose each of them fulfills.
I loved how the romance between Everett and Blair developed. It grows out of true, lifelong friendship. It shows in face of adversity and grows stronger in hard times. That's true love.
I all but exploded with joy when I saw the songs Belle mentions in Cicada. Muse and Fireflies by Owl City. My music. My book. My precious!
Anyway. I hereby pledge my undying love for Belle for not only contacting me and letting me read the book, but also for having written it in first place. I'm really fed up with vampires and werewolves, and I can't even tell you how happy I am that I've come across a few YA novels about the extraterrestrial lately. Hooray for new horizons, new ideas, new worlds, new creatures, new books to pine for.
Watch out for an interview with Belle tomorrow!
