Novella Review: The Lovers by Karen Amanda Hooper

Synopsis:

In a faraway future, Kelsey Zellar is starting her senior year at yet another school thanks to her twin sister’s troublesome obsession with outlawed virtual reality games.

Every school they’ve ever attended is pretty much the same: lunchroom drama, rich kids binging on enhancement candies, and classmates rallying for or against the government’s strict control over everything from entertainment privileges to caffeine consumption.

Unlike her sister, Kelsey follows the rules and keeps her nose out of trouble and politics while sniffing out her next flavored latte and favorite novel. But when Kelsey meets a charming book connoisseur, and accepts his offering of a tarot card, she takes the first step toward two new addictions: the guy of her dreams, and his illegal dealing of virtual escapes into her beloved storybooks.

Kelsey straddles the worlds of fiction and reality, but is she a fool for believing in her own happy ending?

Today is an awesome day for The Virtual Arcana series! Not only are we celebrating the release of the last installment, The Lovers, but we’re having a two-day Facebook Party, which you can join HERE. The hosts, an awesome group of authors and bloggers (myself included), for the party are giving away a ton of cool prizes! I’m giving away a $10 ebook of the winner’s choice, so head over to the Facebook party and join the fun!!

 The Fool Review (#0) | The Magician Review (#1) | The High Priestess Review (#2) | The Empress Review (#3) | The Emperor Review (#4) | The Hierophant Review (#5)

So we’ve finally come to the end of Season 1 of The Virtual Arcana. I’ve been a huge fan of this series since the beginning, and this installment was no exception.

Karen Amanda Hooper made us wait for answers, and the wait is worth it. We get all kinds of explanations in The Lovers that were satisfying and clever. Although, of course, more questions arose as those answers were given. The world of the Virtual Arcana is still a mystifying place.

After reading The Lovers, I have a new appreciation for Kelsey. While still not my favorite heroine, everything makes a bit more sense now, and her character is a little less annoying to me. I also find myself loving Xander even more, and even Devlin rose a little in my esteem.

Most of The Lovers is spent explaining the insanity that has been the past five installments. Thank goodness. Oh, and if you’ve read Hooper’s other books, you may see some familiar faces in this episode.

I cannot wait to see what Hooper has in store for us in Season 2, and I seriously hope we don’t have to wait too long. With the answers in The Lovers, the world and the scope of The Virtual Arcana multiplied exponentially, and I can’t wait to see how that’s handled later on.