Aria by M.D. Luis // An exciting, paranormal who ‘dun it

Item: Aria (The Aria Trilogy #1)
Rating: 4.5
Author: Molly's Book Nook

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Aria by M.D. Luis // An exciting, paranormal who ‘dun it

Aria (The Aria Trilogy #1) by M.D. Luis
Genres: Contemporary (YA), Fantasy (YA), Romance (YA)
Pages: 316
Goodreads

Aria is a paranormal romance/mystery aimed at Young Adult and New Adult audiences.
Summary:
Nineteen year old Nya Reed never thought her simple life could get so complicated so quickly, until one horrifying night with friends she won’t ever forget, or remember...
Nya awakens in the ER, bruised, bloodied and has little memory of the night prior. Her new friend, Matt, is dead and the police are baffled when they have no leads in the case. Nya struggles to piece together any fragments of broken memory she can salvage. Her only clue? A gold pendant in her pocket she’s never touched or seen before.
Worried that Matt’s killers will surface, Nya seeks comfort from her neighbor, Jack. He is the only person that can reign in Nya’s ever racing mind and bring some peace to her troubled and chaotic world. But Jack has issues of his own. His past is shrouded in mystery, his whereabouts are unknown and there are things about him that Nya cannot explain. As the romance blossoms, she begins to question if this new found love is truly her friend or her foe and is determined, now more than ever, to find out exactly who…or what…Jack truly is.
With her safety in danger, her very life on the line, Nya struggles with an unknown fate and a decision she knows she cannot make. Everything in her head tells her to flee from Jack and never look back. Everything in her heart tells her otherwise...

This is a book where the story kind of sneaks up on you. You think you know where it is going, but then it throws you a plot twist and you realize you were wrong.

It is just a romance for a long time. Does Jack like Nya? Why is Jack so mysterious? It reminded me of Fifty Shades of Grey a bit – a mysterious businessman who is super attractive and successful likes the awkward student, minus the sexual preferences, of course. It turns out to be so much more. I don’t want to give too much away, so all I’ll say is that there is a group of bad guys and lots of action scenes.

Jack’s character is very hot and cold, the majority of the time you just don’t understand what he wants. He’s sweet, is always there when Nya needs him and is some sort of successful businessman. The cloud of mystery around him is what kept me reading – I was trying to solve the puzzle the whole time.

On the other hand, there is Nya, who is not one of my favorite female characters. She repeatedly talks about how she is strong, doesn’t like to let people in, doesn’t need people’s help… but if it wasn’t for all the people who helped her (her roommate, her group of friends, Jack himself), she’d probably be dead. She spends a lot of time sleeping, complaining about pain, being depressed – it was frustrating, I just wanted to yell “GET UP AND DO SOMETHING, YOUR LIFE IS NOT THAT BAD.” So her character was not very easy to relate to.

The other characters aren’t too developed in the story, but I didn’t mind that, it would have been too much for such insignificant characters.

The beginning of this book is slow going. It spends a lot of time focusing on Nya’s day-to-day activities and her thoughts. I would say that the first 100 pages are like that, so it was hard for me to get super consumed in the story at first. Once Jack enters the story as a prominent character, the story picks up. It begins to revolve around their whirlwind romance filled with awkward conversations, flirty smirks and lots of lip biting.

There are many scenes that would get a little redundant (refer to the sleeping rant). However, once you truck through those parts, the story really develops and your questions get answered (sort of, because there’s a sequel).

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. I only took off a star because the pacing was a tad off for me and I really disliked Nya so it was hard to relate to. This is the first installment to a trilogy, so that may be why the story started off so slow. I would recommend this to people who enjoy romance with a dash of the paranormal.

*Fun side note: The story takes place in Orange County/Los Angeles, California. I found that to be a unique setting since I have never seen any books that take place in Orange County. It was also fun for me to read because I live in that area! So thumbs up to a unique setting! ?