Poison Princess by Kresley Cole Review

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
(Arcana Chronicles, #1)
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 384 pages

Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.

But she can’t do either alone.

With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can’t totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?

Who can Evie trust?

As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side….

I am so emotional after finishing this book. You don’t even understand; it’s not good emotions either. I went from absolutely loving Jackson to being extremely livid with him to wanting to throw my book across the room in exchange for wanting to strangle him. I have never, ever gone through such powerful emotions while reading a book. Sure, a few books here or there I wanted to throw my book…but I was on the verge of tears during one chapter because I was so hurt by his actions. I couldn’t imagine what Evie was feeling.

But let’s go back a bit…shall we? This was another book I managed to snag while at BEA and to be honest, I hadn’t really heard of it but I had seen the cover before. We passed by it after it was put out and I picked up a copy thinking, what the hell? I heard lots of other bloggers talking about the book so obviously, it was something I would probably be interested in, especially since these were other YA bloggers.

This book is insane. I don’t know how else to put it. Insane but the greatest kind of insanity a person can come across. It starts out from the point of view of this weird guy, Arthur, when we’re first introduced to Evie. This is after the Flash that has killed most people and left the land barren and without much water. Then a few chapters in, we’re taken back in time to the first day of school and it’s from Evie’s point of view. Of her life, what happened to her during the summer when she was sent away and how her life has changed now that she’s back. Not to mention a group of new guys that are so different from everyone at Evie’s ‘rich’ school. They are juveniles, poor, French speaking thugs, if you will. But good looking thugs, of course. We know that Jackson is going to play a huge role in this book and seriously, I just cannot wait for it. He’s dark, mysterious but you know there’s so much more to him than what he shows.

I have never read a book that is intertwined with Tarot cards. This was absolutely amazing and extremely interesting. I need more, I really do. The Poison Princess scares the shit out of me but yet, there’s just something so appealing and attractive about her that just draws you in. I want to know more; I need to know more. This entire book had me sucked in from the beginning to the end. I know I say this a lot and you probably hear it a lot but seriously, if you’re looking for something different, I believe this just might be the book for you. I’m completely serious this time, too. Come on, people based on Tarot cards, have you read anything similar to that? I didn’t think so. Plus, Jackson is so addicting he’s like a drug. For an entire chapter I was holding off tears…they were tears of anger and frustration but I’ve never had that. I literally wanted to climb in to the story and strangle him. Such powerful emotions came from reading this story. The end, I felt myself smiling for Evie – I have never seen such a character transformation as you see with her. I am proud of her. Hopefully you will be too. Highly recommend getting this book, I know I’ll be buying it in hardcover when it’s released!