Review: Grasping at Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper

Grasping at Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book from the author, Karen Amanda Hooper, in turn for an honest review.
This was truly a totally different story than I have ever read before. At first, I was very confused, I have to say. But once the story really started to unfold, it was like a roller coaster. It completely took me on a ride that was scary, exhilarating and joyous. I really enjoyed that the book was written from two different points of view. It was nice to see the contrast between the male and female characters and how they interpreted situation so differently. This book tugged a my heart strings so much. I was laughing, crying, frustrated, annoyed, happy, sad, and all of the above at once!
Maryah is the main female character. She has had her memories erased. This would not be such an issue, if it weren't memories from all her past life times. She doesn't remember who she was, who she loved, who was part of her family. She only remembers this life. When her parents and brother are murdered, she moves from Maryland to Sedona, Arizona to live with her G-dmother and her G-dmother's family, all of who remember her from past lives. They are her Kindrily. This is the story of how she slowly comes to remember her past and our introduction to those who want to destroy all those like her. I have to say that Maryah was an interesting character. There were so many times in the book I wanted to grab her and just smack her around. She was totally and completely clueless as to things that are going on around her. And several of the characters blatantly point this out to her, yet she still does not get it. And then there were the times when she just knew something was different with her "family" and didn't bother to say anything to any of them! I have to say that it got a bit frustrating.
Nathaniel's character was perfect. You could see that he was wise well beyond his teenage years, due to having come from the last life with all his memories. His range of emotions from Maryah not remembering him are all over the place. He is happy to see her, but is worried that she will not ever remember who he is. He has great love for her, but is frustrated that he cannot show her how he feels because she does not remember him. He is convinced that there has to be a way for Maryah to remember her past.
There are a lot of ancillary characters in this book. It took me a while to be able to sort them out. At first it was a bit frustrating. I couldn't keep them all straight. There are so may members of the Kinderly. By half way through the book, I was able to really pull together who was who and it made it easier to read and also much more interesting.
I loved all the different powers the characters had: freezing time, influencing people's thoughts, reading minds, teleporting, seeing people's auras. It was so different than anything I had ever seen before. And Hooper's writing is really perfect. The words flowed well and the explanations were perfect. I could truly see the places that were described, in vivid detail.
Of course events unfurl during the book that help Maryah to start remembering her past. First are the dreams that she has about Nathaniel. But they are not dreams at all, they are her aesterally traversing (having out of body experiences). But she does not tell anyone about these dreams, so they never know that she is actually using her powers that she had before her memories were erased.
One thing I loved about the end of this book is that you really don't have to move on to the next one if you don't want to. It really read as a great stand alone. However, I am happy there will be another installment and will certainly be reading it when it comes out.
Thank you so much, Karen, for the opportunity to read your wonderful book.
A solid 4/5 stars!

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