PM Hernandez is the author of YA Paranormal, Sci-Fi and Fantasy and I was lucky enough to be given a review copy of Earthborn which is Book 1 in the Earthborn Series.
Adelaide is a normal teenage girl growing up with just her mother, having lost her father in a car accident many years before. Whilst never being one for Social acceptance she is strong willed enough to dance to her own tune. She lives a relatively normal life of high school, helping her mother at her gallery and spending time with her best friend.
Brock on the other hand has grown up as an "Earthborn" a mix of both human and alien on a human/Ayezhni compound being schooled in military tactics and labelled "soldier." He is tasked as a collector of other Earthborn children to protect them from being taken to a life of servitude on the home planet of Ayezh.
When Adelaide is given to him as a collection target, nothing from the files would have led him to believe that she would be anything other than a straightforward mission, how wrong can you be! Immediately captivated by Adelaide in a way that no girl has ever come close to, he finds that her street smarts and perceptiveness leave her immune to and suspicious of his usual collection techniques. This leads both he and his mission leader to become more involved with both Adelaide and her unsuspecting mother. Before long it is clear that not everything is as it seems. This is not a normal collection, but why? Brock soon knows that he is no longer the only one tracking Adelaide, but who will get to her first?
How will Adelaide react to the revelation about her heritage? It's not every day that you find out you are half human and half alien! One thing is for certain, her life will never be the same again and in an effort to protect those she loves she takes a leap of faith with Brock to track down the answers as to why so many a searching for her.
It's difficult for me to give a full synopsis of the book as there are lots of twists and revelations throughout the story that I wouldn't want to spoil. However, I think that Adelaide and Brock are placed into an unfamiliar situation to both of them, with the feelings they have grow for each other. Although both instantly attracted to one another, this is in no way an unbelievable "insta-love" story. Both have their own set of frustrating and lovable quirks and walls built up around them, and Adelaide has some genuinely laugh out loud snark and sass about her. For the ages they are the romantic sub-element of this YA read are entirely believable and appropriate, which is refreshing.
I found that the book was very steadily paced to start and there are times where this is needed, as a lot of background information (which i'm sure will be vital in future books in the series) is given at once which needs to be processed. The pace increases in the last third of the book which is less about setting the background for the series and more about the action packed conclusion to Adelaide's cat and mouse with those searching for her. Because we have spent a lot of time really getting to know the characters, I felt that this gave the final scenes far more impact as I was more in tune with the way Adelaide's emotions worked.
This is a YA read that is written from a dual point of view. I love this writing style as it gives such a wider understanding of the characters with ease. As a warning, this ends on a major cliffhanger an I hope PM Hernandez doesn't leave us waiting too long for the next instalment!
You can find out more about PM Hernandez and her other work at her facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/authorpmhernandez/?fref=ts
