Fifteen-year-old Alora has visions.
Only while in the shower. And only of one stranger: a handsome boy with long brown hair, intense green eyes, and the oddest clothes. A boy who vanishes whenever she opens her eyes.
And then one day, he doesn’t…
Alora’s safe world is soon turned upside-down as she’s thrust into another realm where her soulmate waits, magic abounds, and unfathomable evil … magic abounds, and unfathomable evil seeks to claim her.
Coming August 2015, Alora: The Portal, Book Two of the Alora Series!
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This was one outstanding read. I loved it from beginning to end. A nice easy paced read that will spark your imagination and transport you to another world. What a fantastic start to a series.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would like Fantasy or not, this is a good place to start. The author combines our world with a fantasy world. By doing that, it gives the reader something to relate to and more easily make the transition to the fantasy world. The book takes ordinary (except for Alora) teenagers and transports them to a time a place not like their own. In this different world, they each become special agents of justice using their own unique gifts. I appreciated the fact that the author provided a glossery and list of main characters in the back of the book. Many times, when the names are so unusual, it’s hard to keep the characters straight and remember the relationship between them. I look forward to reading the next book, “Alora: The Portal”. This book is marketed to Young Adults, but anyone who wants to escape to another world will enjoy it.
I received a free copy for an honest review.
I read “Alora: The Wander-Jewel” two times and enjoyed it just as much the second time as I did the first time. I read it once on my own and then again as part of the June 2017 Fellowship of Fantasy Indie Book Club.
The main characters in Alora are teen-agers (Alora is 15 and Kaevin is 17) but they are faced with adult-sized problems and they aren’t just wrapped up in teen angst and lust so as an adult I was able to thoroughly enjoy this story. There wasn’t any love triangle either!
Alora and Kaevin are drawn to each other from two different worlds first in visions and then physically via a power that Alora has but doesn’t know she has nor does she know how to control. Unfortunately just as Kaevin and his clan are learning about Alora so is her bad-guy dad Vindrake and thus the race is on to see whether the good guys or the bad guys will get to Alora first.
This is indeed an action packed story with several battles, some really nasty baddies (both creatures and people) and lots for Alora and Kaevin to learn. It is also a story of relationships with many wonderful characters who are well developed and care for each other very much.
The relationship between Alora and Kaevin is very clean and sweet. It could have easily gotten lustful and ‘nasty’ but the author took care and did it perfectly. In this story, Alora and Kaevin HAVE to hold hands and eventually kiss each other due to a soulmate bond but it is all handled/described in a way that is very cute and clean. Alora was embarrassed about being seen kissing. Kaevin was shocked that Alora’s world (Earth) would consider having sex outside of marriage. Yes, they both seemed to be in love and liked the physical relationship but it was not the primary focus of the story and I liked the statement after awhile that kissing wasn’t all that fun when you HAD to do it. There are lots of other great relationships as well. Caring adults who fight for their families/clans and a number of friends who stand alongside Alora and Kaevin and help in a number of different ways.
I highly recommend “Alora: The Wander-Jewel” and I myself am eagerly moving on to read book 2 in the series.
Sex: There is a lot of hand holding and then kissing when hand holding is not sufficient to restore the soulmate bond but the kissing is not described in any detail – just sweet kisses. No sex. The first time that Kaevin appears physically in Alora’s world, Alora is taking a bath so she is pretty freaked out but nothing about her nudity is described and she starts showering in a bathing suit so being naked never happens again.
Language: No profanity or foul language. There are a couple words that I believe are ‘fantasy’ swearing (supposed to be swear words in the language used on Tanavae, Kaevin’s home land.)
Violence: Several battles take place with injuries and deaths; torture scene
Religion: A couple references are made to God/faith but very minimal