Book Review: Indelible by Lani Woodland.

Product details:
Publisher: Pendrell Publishing.
Hardcover, 416 pages.
Release date: September 27th 2011.
Rating: 2½ out of 5.
Ages: YA.
Series: The Yara Silva Trilogy.
Other Books in Series: Intrinsical.
Source: Received from publisher for review.

Yara is beginning to understand just how much her life has changed now that she is a full-fledged Waker. After narrowly escaping death during her junior year, all she wants is a ghost-free senior year at Pendrell Academy with her boyfriend Brent and her best friend Cherie. But Yara soon discovers that there are more dark secrets in her school’s history than just the curse she broke last year. While an angry ghost makes Yara question everything she thought she knew about spirits, she and Brent learn that they might not have escaped last year as unscathed as they thought. Yara finds herself in the center of another deadly mystery, and this time all of her enemies might not be dead.

 With the same blend of ghostly mystery, intrigue and romance that made its predecessor Intrinsical such an enjoyable read, Indelible the second book in Lani Woodland’s Yara Silver trilogy invites us back into the mysterious world of Pendrell Prep where dark forces are at work and danger looms around every corner.  In Intrinsical Yara discovered her Waker abilities, and now she must utilize this newfound power that allows her to communicate with ghosts in order to solve an age old mystery, or risk losing her one true love forever…

We catch up with Yara just as she’s returning to Pendrell Prep after a summer spent in Brazil with her Waker grandmother learning the secrets of the Waker way of life. While Yara is busy catching up with her boyfriend Brent and best friend Cherie it soon emerges that dark forces are at work behind the scenes at Pendrell Prep. Yara is pulled into a new mystery which involves a disgruntled ghost, a secret society, a shady newcomer with some secrets of his own, and a boyfriend who is suffering most of all.  Things turn pretty frightening as Yara faces a race against time to figure out the latest Pendrell mystery. If you thought that things were dark and scary in Intrinsical, it soon becomes clear that Yara is dealing with a whole other level of baddie in Indelible.

While I enjoy this series for its original premise and its well drawn characters, for me this book lacked the page-turning qualities of its predecessor. While the synopsis of Indelible grabbed me from the get go, seeming to offer lots of great mystery, I felt that overall things were a little too predictable here at times. The plot slow moving and sometimes repetitive, and the writing, while sometimes beautifully descriptive was a little long-winded in places for my tastes.

The characters in this book, though, are a joy to read.  Yara and Brent’s relationship has progressed from the first book, and takes center stage here, in favour of Yara and Cherie’s friendship which was so integral to Intrinsical. Like any love match Yara and Brent’s has its ups and downs, especially when mysterious new boy DJ makes his entrance and begins referring to Yara as his ‘cupcake’ right from the start. Thankfully Yara finds this just as inappropriate as you just did, and so thankfully her and Brent remain untouched by the dreaded love triangle for now, although it’s fair to say that these two have much bigger things to worry about than another guy making a play for Yara’s heart.

While I didn’t lose myself in the mystery of Indelible, I found myself totally invested in the lives of the characters in this book. With that in mind, and with a lot of questions still unanswered, I’ll be checking out Inevitable, the final book in this trilogy, when it releases in 2012.  I’m looking forward to finding out how things work out for Yara, Brent and Co. as their story draws to a close.