The Temptation by Alisa Valdes doesn’t feature the vampires or werewolves of a Maggie Stiefvater or Stephanie Meyer novel, but the character list does include shape shifters and a ridiculously handsome, courageous, and devoted male protagonist. The plot also revolves around a paranormal romance with sequels to follow.
This first installment of the trilogy—a magical and mystical romance set in Albuquerque, New Mexico—tracks the story of sixteen year old Shane Clark and her love interest, Travis Hartwell, a revenant who alternates between human and ghost forms. Shane drives a fancy car, attends a fancy school, owns a fancy dog, and listens to fancy music until her fanciful life comes to an abrupt halt on Highway 550. Although the evil Victor in coyote form orchestrated the crash with fatal intent, Travis uses his energy to restore Shane’s life. The attraction between the two is not only immediate but also eerily electric, powerful, and exquisitely pleasurable—leading them to wonder if they are kindreds, souls that vibrate in harmony. The laws of nature prevent the two from intimacy unless they are kindred spirits, and there is no simple, safe test that won’t damn their souls if they’re wrong.
When Shane returns to Albuquerque distracted by vivid nightmares and talking of miracle healing, the Vortex, and ghosts, her mother, Dr. Romero, is convinced that her daughter has received trauma to her occipital lobe. Eventually, even Shane’s best friend Kelsey breaks confidence and believes Shane is mentally imbalanced until the two are kidnapped and tortured by a gang in monastic disguises. To save them, Travis succumbs to temptation and lands in a Dark Place from which only Shane and the clairvoyant Minerva Montoya can rescue him.
With this book—rich for its intricate craft—readers can study imagery, using the text as a mentor for their own artistic writing. The book also intrigues the reader with interesting paradoxes, philosophy, and scientific what-ifs. Early on, Valdes invites readers to recognize the confusing awareness that we live in a dreadful world, “with the constant potential for horrendous suffering and misery” (62). Yet, that same world is also extraordinary, “filled with infinite music, kindness, love, and beauty” (63). When she carries that wondering to the idea of a universe with “equal parts creation and destruction, all of it in some crazy balance” (197), readers speculate about good and evil, the power of choice, and love’s ability to conquer hate. Valdes extends the wondering with mention of purgatory, second chances, life as a journey, dark forces, and the multiple forms of temptation. She also waxes scientific with allusions to parallel universes, the physics of music and radio waves, cross dimensionality, earth energy lines, and the potential for harnessing energy fields. Math-minded readers will likely appreciate Valdes’ character, AP physics teacher Clyde Hedges, who resembles Charlie Eppes from the television series Numb3rs, with his affinity for golden ratios, the Fibonacci series, and perfecting the calculations that might make dimensional travel possible. These layers, as well as allusions to legends that include La Llorona, provide appeal potential for a variety of reading interests.
- Posted by Donna