The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams

Seraphina Ames  is living an eternal life with the consequence provides her with the world's riches but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to take the bodies of other humans from jumping from one vessel to the next, ending the human's life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she's done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again. 

Then sixteen-year old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body while trying to save her. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she's inhabiting--and falling in love with the boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she's his again, and every moment she stays, she's putting herself and the people she's grown to care about in danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that's eluded her for centuries: true love?

(Synopsis provided by GoodReads)

The cover is beautiful. The shadows are a perfect way to show that Sera lived in many lives as the same person.

Yesterday I reviewed my favorite book with the similar plot devise of having a character pretend to be another character. This book is a definite runner-up.

This is a brilliant book. It starts out fast and keeps getting more and more interesting from there. The prologue is one of the most exciting prologues I have read in a long time. Cyrus's magic is amazing. Sera seeing her mother for the last time was heartbreaking. I felt connected to Sera from the first page; it is rare for me to become connected to characters early on. She is smart and a tragic hero who lives in regret for her life as an incarnate.

The novel gradually got more addicting. William's magnificent writing flowed well and the plot was constantly changing. Sera's mistakes were reasonable and understandable. I sometimes am amazed at how idiotic characters can be in tough situations, but Sera always managed stay tough and levelheaded after she survived confrontations and came into contact with the results of her mistakes.

This book lacked action, but it remained engaging. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys paranormal romance YA books. 

Ambiguous Ending

I completely disliked how ambiguous the ending was and how I am not sure exactly what occured. I have a guess but I will not know for sure if I am right till the next book comes out ages. I hope Williams makes her next book's ending more clearer because I always like to know for sure what truly happened in a book.