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Review: Hurricane by Jenna-Lynne Duncan

Title: Hurricane
Author: Jenna-Lynne Duncan
Series: Hurricane # 1
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: E-book
Source: Bewitching Tours
Pub. Year: 2011
Purchase: Amz/B&N
I received this book for Bewitching Tours in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb from Amazon:
Adriana couldn’t decide what was worse—that Hurricane Katrina was heading for New Orleans, or that she might not survive her kidnapping to see its potential effects. She had trusted Hayden, even fallen for him, and now he and his brother Luke were taking her deeper and deeper into the Bayou. Why had two of her classmates, the mysterious Boudreaux brothers, kidnapped her? Why had Adriana’s dreams started predicting the future? Most importantly, would she make it out of the Bayou alive…
Please note that a portion of the sales from ‘Hurricane’ will be going to the New Orleans Area Habitat Humanity for Humanity.

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Random Thoughts: One of the few who is giving a bad review and it pains me because the book donates to Habitat for Humanity.

I honestly really wanted to like this book because I’ve heard great things about it but maybe it was just too much. This book just left me in the dust.

Let’s talk about what is good with this novel. The writing is fantastic. It is very detailed and descriptive. The start of the novel was highly intriguing and helped maintain suspense in the beginning of the book until the kidnapping happens. After the kidnapping, the book tends to go downhill for me. There was one bit of sunray in the novel and it was the complex and failed relationship between the main character, Ana (Adriana), and her father. It was a little heartbreaking to read the strain relationship between them.

The novel had great potential. It’s a kidnapping during hurricane Katrina. There are supernatural elements that should make the novel interesting but it just collapses on itself. The brothers, Hayden and Luke, who kidnapped Ana, well, their reasoning isn’t quite clear. They have to kill her to break the curse but why her, what is so special about her? Plus, what are they really? The brothers are not vampires but they are not completely human either. The supernatural is thrown in without explanation. What makes Ana special is never revealed until one of the bad guys claims she is a “Mixer.” What that is, I have no idea but I’m a guessing a half-blood.

I liked Ana before her kidnaping. She was fascinated by Hayden and then he kidnaps her so she declares her undying love for him. It’s like ‘Oh.” Actually, I don’t think I liked Ana very much. She was a little stuck-up with her condescending attitude but I sympathize with her because she came from a broken home. After her kidnapping, she gladly accepts to live with the brother’s family (not that she has any place to go…) and never questions why Luke wanted to kill her. She does have moments of brilliance where she is strong and tries to save Luke from being killed. She is willing to sacrifice herself to protect the brothers. Her bravery in those few moments is not enough for me to think of her as an independent female but Ana, you are on your way.

I really really dislike the love triangle between Ana, Hayden, and Luke. First off, what love triangle? Luke decides he loves Ana towards the end of the novel (never mind the fact that he wanted to kill her in the first place) and has has spent the entire length of the novel making her feel inferior. Bear in mind, this is after Hayden and Ana have been together for awhile now. I just don’t get these types of romances. Let’s be honest, Luke has no chance with Ana because he was a jerk to her and no matter what anyone says, first impressions count. There is no second chance to correct the behavior especially if the word includes “I love you even though I acted horribly to you.” There is no point to them because as readers, we tend to know Ana is going to pick Hayden (unless he dies then Luke has a real chance) because Hayden was her first love.

Besides the love triangle, the one thing that really hurt the book (in my opinion) was the villain being Madame Delphine LaLaurie. She is important to the history of New Orleans and Duncan portrayed her as Scooby-Doo villain or a villain in a bad James Bond movie. The Madame reveals everything to Ana without Ana having any interest in knowing why she was being targeted. It is a bit disappointing considering the horror Madame Delphine inflicted when she was alive. It just reduced her character to a caricature. She is not as vicious in death as she was alive. Yes, she caused damaged but not to the extent where she was a worthy antagonist.

Will I read the second novel in the series? Uh, probably. The writing is really great but the characters are lacking in character. Not really looking forward to the love triangle. However, the second novel will probably provide an in-depth look at the new world that Ana is living in and what her role is. I really want to know what a “Mixer” so yeah, I’ll probably pick it up.