Elemental Reality

Elemental Reality (Elemental, 1) by Cesya Cuono, 2011. 251 pages. Published by Revolution Publishing. Source; Publisher for review.

When Callie Pierce was ten, her mother disappeared without a trace. On the eve of her disappearance twelve years later, the earth seemingly comes alive. The elements speak to Callie, and that's only the beginning. Everything she has ever known was a twisted fabrication to protect her. Now the truth is set free. Callie and her sister are more powerful than any Faerie ever born. Now they have to use their powers to save their mother and family from the evil hands of fate that threaten to tear them apart. Welcome to her elemental reality.

First Sentence:

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who loved each other unconditionally.

I must admit that I was quite surprised by the age of the main character, Callie. I totally was not expecting her to be in her early twenties, but I thought that it was a nice touch and definitely gave the story a different perspective. Especially given some of the places she went-like a bar.

Once I got past the first fifty pages of Elemental Reality, I became so swept up in the story and characters that Ms. Cuono created that I did not want to put it down. At all.
What really impressedme while reading Elemental Reality was her writing, it was vivid and her characters were very real in the emotions and the way that they handled the dangerous situations that they found themsleves. What also made my day while reading it was that when the Callie and Lola found out that everything they knew was a lie, that they did not immediately accept it. In fact, Callie, pretty much went off when she found out the truth.

Callie, at first I was not very fond of her. Mainly because when she was first introduced she was moping- sure it was sad that her mother disappeared on her birthday, but I have a tendency to not like characters who are mopey from the beginning of the book.
That being said, I liked how as the book progress and she came up against some pretty tight situations she begin to show what she was made of.
I have a feeling that if I told anything about my thoughts on Callie's sister, Lola, I would give away the vast majority of the book. All I am willing to say is that I was so right about her.
At first I did not care for Oliver very much-blame the insta-attraction between him and Callie- but as I read more about his character I came to like him.

Gosh, favorite part...well that would have to be when Callie finally learned what she was-a fairy. I liked this part most because you could really feel Callie's joy over discovering what she was capable of. I also liked this part because she started to see that she was stronger than she thought and that she could handle things herself.
     My one true complaint about Elemental Reality would have to be the first fifty or so pages. I found them to be extremely slow and I had the hardest time liking Caallie during those pages. I also did not really care for the insta-attraction between Callie and Oliver since I am not big on love at first sight- because you cannot love a person without knowing them.
While the first fifty pages were-to me- agonizingly slow, I further thought I thought that it did a great job of setting the scene for the rest of the book when things start to get quite exciting.

Content rating (may contain spoilers; highlight to see):
The language was realitively minimal in Elemental Reality. It was there, but was mainly only used as an expression of anger, fear, or whatnot and was not used derogatively.
While there was no sex in this book, it was hinted at the Callie and Oliver wanted to-a lot- have sex with each other.
Violence was pretty at times and at others pretty mild.

Final Verdict: Elemental Reality was a little slow out of the gate, but picked up quite nicely.

Elemental Reality earns 4 out of 5 pineapples