Devoted

Hilary Duff was my absolute childhood idol growing up.  She was my inspiration.  Lizzie McGuire was my absolute favorite show, I cried during that last episode when Lizzie finally kissed Gordo in their class picture; and Metamorphosis, Hilary Duff, and Dignity were my absolute favorite CDs.  I know I'm weird for admitting this, and yes, it is quite embarrassing, but I did cry when I heard her sing Someone's Watching Over Me during her August 15th Dignity Concert Tour Show at Gibson Theater in Los Angeles, California in 2007; and when I got to go to her signing last November for her Elixir book tour.  IT WAS EMBARRASSING!! I had dreamed about talking to Hilary for years and years, and when I finally got to...I burst into tears right in front of her! It was horrible! I had so many questions I wanted to ask her, and I couldn't because I was crying! Anyway...(luckily I will most likely never meet any of you, so I don't feel to bad for telling you that story, because believe me...it's NOT one I am proud of! :)

Anyway, last Friday I got my highly awaited copy of Devoted in the mail!  It's Hilary Duff's second novel in her Elixir series.  And let me just say...I was NOT disappointed! This series has such interesting, intense story, something...I have to be honest here...surprised me.  Hilary Duff (co-written with Elise Allen) is such a refreshing story, because unlike a lot of celebrity books that are released every week, this isn't an autobiography (even though, I would totally buy Hilary's if she ever came out with one :)), and it isn't a novel loosely based on her real life events (unless she has the key to Eternal Life, haha) which I noticed has seemed to be a thing going on now-a-days with books by Lauren Conrad (who wrote about the life of some rich reality show girls...) and Tara Banks' new book Modelland (which has a title which is pretty self-explanatory).  I mean I'm not saying these books aren't any good, I personally haven't read any of them myself, but all I'm saying is that it's definitely refreshing to find a book by a celebrity that has nothing to do with their life.

This book is nothing like that.   The series started of with Clea Raymond, a teenager whose father has gone missing unexpectedly on a mission in Brazil, and who is trying anything to find out what happened.  Than she finds out that her father was doing some top secret research on something called The Elixir of Life, which will give anyone who drinks it Eternal life...immortality.  Being a photographer, she travels the world, and one day as she is going through her photographs she finds a mysterious man lurking in shadows in every single one of her pictures, even the ones of her when she was a young child.

She finds out this man is Sage, aka...The Eternal life.  Sage is the Elixir, she soon finds out, and he is bound to Clea in a way almost impossible otherwise...they are soul mates.

At the end of the first novel, Elixir, Sage was captured by a group out to destroy him, so they can have the Elixir and become immortal.  Devoted starts off right where Elixir ended.  Everyday Clea wakes up not knowing if Sage is still alive, she takes pictures and searches for him the background looking for clues.

 When she given clues to finding Sage, and getting another mixed message from some stranger woman to stay away from him, she doesn't give up and pursues everything that might lead to the love of her life.

This book is filled with action, friendship, hatred, love, and the power of true love.

As I'm sitting here, listening to Someone's Watching Over Me (the song Hilary sang in Raise Your Voice) I can't help up looking forward to her, hopefully soon to be released, third novel in this riveting series!

Overall rating:

Devoted hits the shelves tomorrow, so go out and get it!  I was fortunate enough to receive my copy early from Barnes and Noble, which had me jumping up and down when I opened my mailbox last Friday :).

I hope everyone has a great week!

The Romance Bookie :)