GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Book Review: Veiled (Ada Palomino #1) by Karina Halle | I Smell Sheep

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Book Review: Veiled (Ada Palomino #1) by Karina Halle

by Karina Halle
July 28th 2016
by Metal Blonde Books
Death.

It’s something that Ada Palomino has always known so well, having grown up in a house of horrors, surrounded by a family plagued by ghosts and demons and things that go bump in the night.

But after the sudden and tragic death of her mother two years ago, death has never felt so personal.

Or so close.

Now eighteen, Ada is trying to move on with her life and the last month of summer holds nothing but sunshine and promises with her first year at a Portland design school just around the bend.

That is until her increasingly violent and realistic dreams, dreams of other worlds, of portals and veils where her mother is tortured and souls bleed for mercy, start to blend into reality. Ada has to lean on her older sister, Perry, to try and make sense of it all but even then, she’s never felt more alone.

Then there’s Jay. Tall, handsome and deeply mysterious, Jay would be just another stranger, a familiar face on the bus, if it wasn’t for the fact that Ada has met him before.

Every night.

In every single dream.

And the more that Ada is drawn to him in both worlds, the more she’s in danger of losing everything.

Including her heart.

And her very soul.

***Veiled is a new adult paranormal romance/urban fantasy with sex, bad language and violence. It is a spinoff of the EIT series, however it can be read as a standalone. You do NOT need to have read EIT to enjoy Veiled***


You can read some of it on Wattpad: http://my.w.tt/UiNb/6AwIH6ISou 


Veiled, a standalone paranormal tale, combines the best of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and horror in one powerhouse novel. Granted, I’ve been a Karina Halle fan for years, but this book has easily become my single favourite read of 2016. I first fell in love with this author’s writing while reading her Experiment in Terror (EIT) series. Veiled has crossover elements in that it combines new characters with familiar favourites from EIT and Halle’s The Devils Duology. If you haven’t read the EIT series, put it on your TBR list. So that’s a significant score. While Veiled is a standalone, I found my reading experience enhanced having read the entire EIT series.

Ada Palomino is simply extraordinary; she sees dead people and has a dangerous connection with death and demons. Ada’s older sister Perry is much the same, however, Ada is adamant she is her own person embroiled in her own fight for independence, love, and sanity. Ada is united in her fight against the demonic realm by a supernatural guide of sorts, Jay. Together they struggle to unravel the diabolical plot in place to capture and control Ada and in the process forge an explosively intense, life-altering connection.

I make it standard practice to avoid YA fiction like the proverbial plague. Ada is 18. Initially, this was problematic for me. But, as a reader, I trust Halle and I’d read that Veiled was, indeed, written for the adult reader. My concerns were quickly quelled when I was reminded Ada is an old soul. She’s smart, creative, and beautiful and not at all like her peers. She’s written with an authentic, confident, engaging voice that is immediately captivating.

Halle’s writing is an effortless pleasure to read. She is the queen of natural dialogue, organic relationships and ordinary realism set against the eerie undercurrent of paranormal horror. She effectively weaves popular culture and wry humour into her work in a way that’s relevant and comforting only to turn our comfort of the known into absolute discomfort at what could be lurking in the unknown, beyond the veil. Any author who can deftly drop a reference to the Simpsons Monorail episode is certainly a master in my mind. In a word, Halle’s work is, quite simply, “cool.”

For a reading experience that runs the gamut of hot, hilarious, and horrific, grab Veiled. Set aside some time. It will haunt you until the finale. While the potential of an Ada Palomino series appears uncertain, the overwhelmingly positive response this book seems to be garnering may just seal the deal.

5 Best Book of the Year Sheep




Bianca Greenwood

About the Author:
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.



Halle is represented by the Waxman Leavell Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.


Sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.

4 comments:

  1. Sorry Folks! The sale on the EIT has ended ... but they're still a good deal :) And well worth the purchase price.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow - with a recommendation like that, I HAVE to check out this book!

    ReplyDelete
  3. As a long time fan of Halle's books, both PNR and contemporary, Veiled is her best book to date! Fingers crossed that there is more Ada and Jay to come��

    ReplyDelete