Review & Interview: Runes By Ednah Walters

Runes

By: Ednah Walters 

Series: Runes 1

Publisher: Firetrail Publishing

Author info: Goodreads, Facebook, Website, Blog

My Rating

Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her. 

Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run. 

Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about him. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only is she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life.

Paranormal romance, fantasy, young adult, teens, mythology, supernatural, new adult. 

I really loved this book. I could not stop reading because it caught my attention from the beginning to the last page.  Many events happened in this book, they were well written and organized. Raine was so curious as to what Torin was because there were some things he wouldn't explain to her, but she eventually found out. She knew that he wasn't human, that he was something else but she didn't know what. I found it a little odd that Torin all of a sudden  flipped a switch and started complementing Raine, I liked it and I thought "finally!" but it caught me off guard. I am a sucker for love and a good romance story, so when Raine had uncontrollable feelings for Torin, I was like "Ha, there it is, just what I've been waiting for." They did not get along in the beginning at all, she hated him because he was a smart ass. She was infatuated by his physique but he messed it all up when he started talking. 

Quotes:

He yanked the door open. "Can't stay away from me, can you, Freckles?"

"Don't flatter..." My voice trailed off when I found myself staring at his bare chest. Not that I was complaining, but did he have something against shirts? "Yourself," I finished weakly.

He chuckled, drawing my attention upwards, past the water droplets on his chest to the wet hair caressing his shoulders. 

That part reminded me of a certain werewolf that also never wore shirts and we all loved it and didn't dare to complain. I liked how she tried to stay strong on not liking him, although it didn't work out very well. Her mind was telling her something, but her eyes were all over him. Torin wasn't flattered because he knew exactly how hot he was. I'd like to thank Ednah for writing such a delicious character, can I say that? Because that's how I would describe him.   

The characters were so much fun, Torin was my favorite. I liked his witty and just plain ol' rude attitude at times, he was unpredictable. I liked that he was mysterious because he kept me on my toes, but I didn't like it because I barely knew anything about him, I was very intrigued. I did love how he knew things about her that nobody else did.

Raine was so confused the whole book and I thought that was hilarious. I was also confused and I hated it cause I wanted to know everything about him and I didn't figure it out. Raine always asked Torin questions but he never answered the good ones. So much happened to this poor girl, it's never fun to experience a girlfriend's wrath. 

Eirik: Raine's best friend/boyfriend (sometimes). What a beautiful friendship they had. He was the 'safe' route she didn't want to let go of.

I also loved Andris, his I don't give a *beep* attitude was really awesome. He didn't care who he pissed off or what rules he broke and also didn't care about the consequences.  

I really loved this story, I am familiar with what runes are and how they work from The Mortal Instruments books and this book definitely reminded me of them. I really liked that it was something I've seen before. I enjoyed everything unraveling in the end; secrets being revealed and finding out people aren't always who they say they are. The ending was epic! I did not see that coming at all. I was in total shock! To put it lightly...This story did not have a happy ending because of the huge cliffhanger, you are going to want to read the next book to see what happened.

This book had no flaws for me, I loved it and can't wait to read the next one.  

My Interview With Ednah:

Q: How long did it take you to write Runes?

5 weeks. I wrote it during Nano month in November, got sick during the last week and ended up finishing it a week later.

Q: Where did you get the idea to write this book?

I love Thor, the movie. Anyway, I got into Norse mythology after the movie came out and the more I read the more I wondered why there are no books out there with Norse mythology. So I decided to ease into the mythology. Runes started it and readers will learn more in Immortals and subsequent books.

Q: Are any of the characters based on people you know or yourself?

Oh yeah! Cora is a mixture of my ten and eight-year olds.

Raine is like my sixteen year old. She’s snarky and sarcastic, but is very loving. They both swim and play oboe.

Torin is the dream high school boyfriend I never had. I close my eyes and see him.

Q: Who is your favorite character?

TORIN!!!!! How can you not love that guy?

Hmm, Eirik is not so bad either and Andris grows on you.

Wait until you get to know him better in Immortals.

THANKS FOR featuring me.

Ednah is the author of The Guardian Legacy series, a YA fantasy series about children of the fallen angels, who fight demons and protect mankind. AWAKENED, the prequel was released in September 2010 with rave reviews. BETRAYED, book one in the series was released by her new publisher Spencer Hill Press in June 2012 and HUNTED, the third installment, will be released April 2013. She's working on the next book in the series, FORGOTTEN. Ednah also writes New Adult paranormal romance. RUNES is the first book in her new series. She is presently working on book 2, IMMORTALS. Under the pseudonym E. B. Walters, Ednah writes contemporary romance. SLOW BURN, the first contemporary romance with suspense, was released in April 2011. It is the first book in the Fitzgerald family series. Since then she has published four more books in this series. She's presently working on book six. 

**I would like to thank Ednah for writing such an awesome book and for doing an interview with me despite her busy schedule and I can't wait to read more of her books.