Chameleon by Kelly Oram

Synopsis:
For small-town rebel Dani Webber magic and monsters are no more real than the Easter Bunny… until the day she accidentally stops time. Dani quickly discovers that not only do supernaturals exist, but she herself is one of them. This is great news for her life-long best friend Russ, who can finally come clean about his own supernatural status and his undying love for her. Before the two can start to enjoy the long overdue relationship, Dani is taken by a powerful council of supernaturals who believe she is the Chosen One destined to save them from extinction.

As if being kidnapped and expected to save the world isn’t bad enough, an ancient prophecy warns of the Chosen One’s dark nature: “Only the truest love will keep her an agent for good.” The council believes they know who this “true love” is and, unfortunately, that person isn’t Russ. The mysterious, powerful and devastatingly handsome Seer is the last person Dani wants in her life, but when she starts having visions of a horrific future, she has no one else to turn to for help.

Soon Dani finds herself torn between two very different boys with two very different opinions of whom she can trust. With the visions getting worse and time running out, Dani is forced to put aside her feelings and work with both the Seer and Russ before an ancient evil is unleashed upon the earth.

    

My Review:
3.5 stars — OK, so here’s the thing: I’m actually not a fan of love triangles.  Now that’s not to say I won’t love a book that has a love triangle, b/c one of my favourite authors unfortunately LOVES them and has a major one in one of my favourite series of hers.  I guess it just has to be done right, or there has to be enough other stuff surrounding the story to push down my inherit dislike of love triangles.  And this book failed to do that for me.  What’s weird is that I knew going in that there was a love triangle (uh duh, it’s in the blurb), and quite frankly being a huge fan of Ms. Oram and being a part of her fan club, other readers inevitably even spoiled it for me (because people forget about that when they get excited and start fangirling), and so I even knew which boy probably won out in the end.  Although, I guess that kind of ruined my read of this book a bit as well (kind of like More Than Jamie Baker being a bit spoiled for me ruined it a bit).  People are so well meaning, but it really is hard to avoid spoilers once you join a fan club.  So my advice?  Don’t join the fan club until you’ve read it all.  Seriously.

OK, that was a stupid tangent to get off on.  ANYWAYS.  Right.  Love triangles.  So we start this book with Russ and Dani.  And even though Russ could be kind of a prick at times, I kind of fell for the two of them together.  I mean come on, they were hilarious and the bantering was funny and I really did feel chemistry.  And a small part of me that hadn’t reread the blurb before diving in hoped I had been wrong about the existence of a love triangle, b/c best friends to lovers stories??  Who doesn’t love those?  And OMG the paranormal stuff was so fun and exciting and intriguing, and I really was loving most of that!!  (though her reactions to the cravings bothered me here and there, but I could deal with it)  And then the council comes and takes her away (not a spoiler, this is all implied by the blurb for the book, so I figured I could mention it).  And we meet book boy 2.  And from that point on I just never really got back my verve for the story except in pieces here and there.  You see, not only was I only meh on Gabriel (he was ok, just nothing spectacular IMO), I really didn’t feel Gabriel and Dani’s connection at all (no matter how many times we’re told it’s there).  And when Russ comes back into the picture, he’s an even bigger dick, and quite frankly I couldn’t have cared less who Dani ended up with.  I wasn’t feeling either anymore.  I refused to invest in either relationship b/c I honestly didn’t know how it was going to pan out, b/c I didn’t ever feel that great love that I was expecting that would show who the true love was supposed to be.  So for me, this book was an epic romance fail.

Now on the supernatural side it was kind of intriguing.  I LOVED that moment when I understood the title of this book.  Dani’s powers were quite cool, and I enjoyed the “fight” type scenes throughout this book.  I will say that I went back and forth a GAGILLION times over who the bad guy was going to be.  And sometimes I felt like Dani, Russ, and Gabriel were freaking idiots for not being a bit more cautious all around with all the powerful warlocks that they could encounter, but apparently I’m just paranoid that way.  I always had it narrowed down to 2 suspects, and a part of me was mildly disappointed that it wasn’t who I wanted it to be, but in the end it made the most sense.  So fantastic mystery element.  And I will say that the climax was quite emotionally impactful for me.  I really hope we get to learn a bit more about the Supernaturals as a whole, b/c it felt like a lot of backstory was missing at times.  I guess b/c we were really only dealing with a few types in this particular story.  I’m actually very excited to see what else we’ll learn in the future stories, and how the world will unfold.

And I totes agree with other readers, Duncan is da bomb.  He disappointed me here and there, but he was one of the better characters in the story, particularly for such a minor one.

So I am definitely reading the next book in the series.  Especially since it’s from a different character’s POV and so we’ll get a fresh chance at a good romance.  I will say that while I LOVE LOVE LOVE the covers for these books (and the interior formatting), I don’t yet get the significance of the cool sun thingie.  Have you read this book?  Did I miss something?