The Wanderers

PARANORMAL:  For someone who doesn’t know her, Ella’s life might seem ideal-coming from a wealthy family, good friends, good grades, a good relationship with her siblings. And that assumption would’ve been correct if not for two things: the death of Ella’s boyfriend in a car accident and those strange dreams and coincidences which seem to follow her everywhere. Now, she is starting university, and with the help of the annoying, yet charming Tristan and the quiet Jack, who both want her, she’s starting to move on. Those dreams never stop, though, and when a girl is killed on campus, it’s becoming clear there’s more to them than imagination.

With the way the New Adult genre is exploding and the way YA PNR once used to be, Ms. Miller does an excellent job of combining the two!  However, isn’t enough to overcome the huge problems in editing. With spelling mistakes, commas missing, word order gone wonky - there were so many mistakes in this novel that a headache is inevitable for any reader who isn’t willing to ignore it all. Also, on a content level, more editing could’ve helped cut down the many, many unnecessary scenes and make the book flow better. This would have done much for making the plot tidier and the actions of characters more consistent. Barring all that, the thing that makes or breaks this book is Tristan.  Is he a charming, tortured goofball or an obsessive jerk? Could go both ways, really. In any case, with more work this book might yet become all it promises to be.

Mimi Smith