A Review for The Alchemy of Forever (Incarnation #1) by Avery Williams

Posted by Donna
Expected Published Date: April 26th, 2012
Finished Date: February 6th, 2012
Publishers: Simon & Schuster 
Source: For Review
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
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The Blurb from Goodreads: After spending six hundred years on Earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world's riches but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to take the bodies of other humans from jumping from one vessel to the next, ending the human's life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she's done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again. Then sixteen-year old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body while trying to save her. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she's inhabiting--and falling in love with the boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she's his again, and every moment she stays, she's putting herself and the people she's grown to care about in danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that's eluded her for centuries: true love?
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The Review: Firstly, how gorgeous is the UK cover for this book? So, so pretty!
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I was really excited to start this book when I received it for review because I had heard so many good things about it and overall, it was a very enjoyable read.

Seraphina has spent the last six hundred years on Earth after drinking an elixir that gave her eternal life. Every few years she needs to jump into a new body but in doing so, it means taking the life of an innocent. Not being able to bare the guilt any longer Seraphina vows to make her current body her last - with the intention of killing herself. But when Kailey Morgan is seriously injured in a car accident, Seraphina accidently takes over her body – while trying to save her. Soon Seraphina finds herself posing as Kailey but more shockingly enjoying it because she soon starts to fall in love with Noah; the boy next door. But with Cyrus stopping at nothing to find Seraphina, can she really risk all the people she is growing to love? Or should she do the right thing and leave?
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The Alchemy of Forever is a fast paced and enjoyable novel – one that I really liked. I felt the back story to Seraphina and Cyrus was explained very well and I found myself enthralled by the Alchemy history. However, I have to admit I didn’t enjoy the general story as much as I was hoping...there wasn't much excitement to the story but it was still good nonetheless.
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Sera is an amazing character – one that I instantly liked. She’s head strong, determined and loveable. Even through out all her struggles to try and do the right thing, she remains herself and if anything, grows as a character. Her past is her past but she really does try to make up for it. But what I really loved about Sera was that she ended up loving Kailey’s life and caring about the people Kailey loved  - it was sweet. Maybe that’s what she needed all along, people to genuinely care about her….not like Cyrus trying to control her. And then of course we have Noah, I loved him! He’s such a sweet character and what touched me more than anything is, he knows deep down that something isn’t right with Kailey/Sera…he realises that Kailey is a different person and I can’t wait for him to find out the truth.

Now the ending, be prepared for one hell of a cliff-hanger. Talk about evil! Avery Williams definitely knows how to keep us readers in suspense and I’m praying that everything works out as I hope.

Overall, The Alchemy of Forever was a good debut novel and one I look forward to continuing with the next book. I would highly recommend this book to fans of Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan  and Mercy by Rebecca Lim. 

A huge thank you to Simon and Schuster UK for providing me with a copy for review.