Eyes Ever to the Sky Review

Eyes Ever to the Sky by Katie French
Series: The Sky Trilogy #1
Published by Self-published on April 9, 2013
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley, Provided by author for honest review
Goodreads

When Hugh wakes up in a smoldering crater—no memory, no clothes—a single thought echoes in his head…trust no one. Frightened and alone, with no memory of who he is, he stumbles upon a grisly murder scene and is fatally shot.  He wakes, only to find he can heal himself. He has superpowers, and he’s going to need them.

Desperate and bleeding, Hugh stumbles upon fifteen-year-old Cece, who’s got enough troubles of her own. Between caring for her bipolar mother and trying not to get evicted from her run-down trailer, Cece may be the only person struggling as much as Hugh. Drawn to Hugh, Cece finds a love she’s never known. But when the real killer—a man-hunting beast—chooses another victim, Hugh and Cece realize they must unlock the clues to their past if they have any chance at a future.

 

    Julie’s Review       

I really liked the premise of this book. I thought it was unique and mysterious.  It starts out with Hugh waking up in a crater completely naked and not having any clue what happened. Then we have Cece who is dealing with her bi-polar hoarder mother and is trying to make ends meet with a job of her own and stay under the radar so she doesn’t end up in foster care. Boy meets girl, sparks fly. Even though the book isn’t very long, the romance between them is believable. Cece is used to having someone to take care of, so when Hugh shows up scared and homeless, she helps him out. Hugh doesn’t know if he can trust anyone since he lost his memory, so when Cece helps him out and isn’t afraid of him, he falls for her. I thought the romance between Hugh and Cece was cute and sweet, but I would have liked more detail. I felt like there were some scenes that could have used more emotion and description. I did like the alternating POV between the characters.

I thought the sci-fi aspects of this book were really neat with Hugh slowly learning about his identity and what happened to him. His abilities were quite awesome as well. The beast thing that was killing people was creepy and the big reveal at the end about the creature’s identity was an interesting surprise. I did feel that we were left with some unanswered questions but I do understand that this is planned to be a series so some of the secrets were probably saved for later. It did make me feel like something was missing though.  I didn’t understand the beast’s purpose, other than being the big bad of the book. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the extra POV chapters – they just seemed a bit out of place since the rest of the narration was from Hugh and Cece. I understand that these POV chapters served a purpose, but they just didn’t fit smoothly into the story line.

Overall it was a pretty quick and enjoyable read. The main characters were interesting and believable, and the plot moved quickly with some interesting twists. I would have enjoyed it more if there were more explanation and more emotion.

   Rose’s Review      

This book is something slightly different than what I normally read. I read the description on good reads and since it was on Netgalley, I thought, why not?  Although this was an enjoyable and somewhat “cute” read, It felt unfinished to me.  I felt like I was reading only part of a novel. I think I am beginning to get annoyed at authors who PLAN series. To me, a series should be unexpected, like, oops, this book is turning into more than I thought, I need to break it down into smaller parts.  That being said, I did like a lot of what this book had going on.  I like Cece and Hugh and thought that this particular book did well in alternating POVs.  It was not just fun to hear from the other character’s POV, but actually necessary to move the plot along.  I guess another thing that is beginning to annoy me is author writing from alternating POV when the story doesn’t really call for it.  Most books tend to do better with a limited narration.  While the love happened fast, it did not feel like insta-love to me.  I found that the author was able to convince me that it was a need to be known and trusted that drew Cece and Hugh together.  Cece was a likable young female protag that had a lot on her plate to deal with.  She lived in a run down trailer with her bipolar mother.  Her mother doesn’t take her meds and hordes and Cece is left taking care of her mother, working to try to afford the bills, rent and her mother’s medication.  Hugh doesn’t know what or who he is.  He simply wakes up in a crater with no memory and no clothing.  I wish there had been further character develop on Cece and Hugh. I wish the book was longer and the author had taken a few more pages to tell this story.  Overall, an enjoyable read.  While there did seem to be some plot holes, it did succeed in making me want to read other books by Katie French.

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