Book Review: The Healer (The Healer Book 1) by C.J. Anaya

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Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book by the author, C.J. Anaya, for an honest review

Genre: Fiction/Romance/YA/Fantasy

Plot: Hope hides a dangerous secret; a gift powerful enough to heal the breach between the living and the dead. With two warring gods vying for her love, and a fallen deity determined to take her for his own evil purposes, she must either accept her destiny or take matters into her own hands.

Embark upon a journey of heart-stopping adventure in this young adult romantic fantasy filled with supernatural creatures, ancient prophecies, immortal gods, and divine magical healing powers. This romantic coming of age series is filled with love, loss, and second chances while blending together urban fantasy, adventure, traditional myths and legends, and paranormal themes to create a thrilling story readers are sure to enjoy.

Opinion:

Here it is my loves, the first of many YA/Fantasy/Romance stories of 2018!

The Healer, a young girl with the ability to…What?! Heal?!? NO! Plus, two what vying for her love?? GODS?!? We might as well call this a “Heaven Sandwich”, with extra healer jelly filling just OOZING with tummy butterflies and heartbreak!

Oh, my word…it’s positively swoon worthy already! *insert dainty hand to forehead movement*

When Hope was just seven years old, she learned of her ability to heal people. By connecting with someone’s life force, Hope is able to command and feed instructions to a body’s cells in order to repair it. But Hopes miraculous ability could put her in danger, so it is her duty to keep anyone from finding out what she can do. Now ten years later, two new guys show up at her Northern California high school, and everything changes. Somehow they know what Hope can do, and to make matters worse, someone is throwing fireballs at her and trying to kill her. But with the help of these mysterious boys, Tie and Victor, Hope will realize that there is much more to her life than just an ability to heal.

Woooo! Guys, this series is turning out to be a wild one. I am hooked and I may have already started book 3, because I can’t help but devour these books! Okay, let’s begin with the basics. Our shining star of a female role in this series is Hope, and she has the ability to heal someone by connecting with their life force…or spirt/soul/inner alien (whatever you want to call it). Hope and her father have kept her secret quiet for 10 long years, but that suddenly changes. A new student arrives at Hope’s high school named Tie, and Hope feels an instant connection to him. To make things even weirder, Tie begins hinting at knowing about hope’s healing abilities. RED ALERT! Then, not an hour later, ANOTHER new guy shows up at her high school. His name is Victor, and he ALSO seems to know about Hope’s ability.

But wait guys, it gets even better!

These two handsome and mysterious boys turn out to be gods who have been searching for Hope for HUNDREDS of years, and have come to keep her safe from a fallen deity who wants her dead. You see…there’s this prophecy…

I really can’t go on much further without spilling the entire book to you guys, which is SO hard not to do. But I will give you a little more insight into the characters and what to expect.

There is a lot of great things happening in this story, and the author keeps the reader hooked throughout. I read this in one sitting, and immediately jumped to book 2! I am glad the author created such a strong and caring female lead for this story. Hope feels a bit older than her years, but she has the right amount of youth and inexperience in life to make her character feel believable. Her best friend Angie had me DYING and laughing my ass off. She is such an instigator and puts Hope in some very amusing situations, with only the best intentions. C.J. Anaya really did do a great job of putting some comical aspects in this book, and I found myself literally laughing out loud throughout.

I didn’t get to know the characters of Tie and Victor that well in book 1, but the reader REALLY gets to know them in the following books. Tie is the “bad boy” of our story, while Victor seems to be slightly more mature and kind. Honestly, Victor sounds a little boring in this book…and he is. BUT, the reader will really get to know these guys in the books following. Trust me when I say, these guys have a LOT happening with them.

Though The Healer did feel a little cheesy to me at times, I can ensure you that by book 2 the cheesiness has gone. Don’t get me wrong, it’s written well and developed thoughtfully. It just definitely has those “YA high school” undertones in it. What is interesting to me is that the main part of this story takes place in just 1 or 2 days. This sounds like it might be a little daunting, but the author really made it work. I didn’t feel like anything was rushed over or left unexplained, and there was still so much happening. She made it work!

The ending is going to leave you on a sad note, but also a hopeful one. I suggest getting the entire series at once, and preparing yourself to have a weekend of doing nothing but reading. I am currently on book 3 (I know, I’m behind on my reviews) and I am showing NO signs of slowing down. I don’t want to get to the final book, but I need it in my life. GO GET THIS SERIES! It is something a little different from the normal YA/Fantasy stories out there, and if you’re like me, you are always looking for something different.