Insight by Jamie Magee

Book Summery:
Before that fateful summer night, Willow had balanced the insight of emotion, and the vivid images. That night, the figure in her nightmare marked her wrist with a star, giving her father no choice but to tell Willow a family secret that would abruptly change life, as she knew it, forever. Before Willow had time to absorb the shock of her father's secret, her soul mate that had shared every stunning dream with her, found her, and darkness captured her closest friends. In order to save them, she must weave through broken myths and the undeniable power of the Zodiac. In the end, Willow discovers that at the moment of our birth we are all given a divine gift. -goodreads.com

Book Review:
I am going to to split this review into 2 categories; what I liked and what I didn't like. This has had positive responses in the past, but let me know what you think. I think it's format will work best for this review. On to the review.

What I liked:

*The premise of the story. The love-conquers-all theme is timeless and classic. And who doesn't like a big family secret?! The premise gave me high hopes for the overall story.
*The sense that family and friends are overly important. This is a big theme throughout the book.
*The relationship between Willow and her sister. I LOVE their connection.
*The prophecy. I wont elaborate on this too much, because I don't want to ruin the book if you haven't read it. However, I would have liked to see the prophecy fleshed out a bit more and learned more of Drake and his overall intentions. Perhaps in the next book?

What I didn't like:

*One of my main concerns with this book is information overload. Since this is a bigger category, I'll break it down:
**There are a LOT of characters. I honestly lost track of who was related to who, and what their "gift" was. Pairing the amount of characters down, especially when it came to the two major families might have been helpful. I can appreciate that family is important, but the large amount of characters who play somewhat of an active role was a bit much for me.
**The various dimensions. I feel like their purpose is never really explained. Why are there so many? What is the purpose of their existence?
**The "string" method of traveling. Overall, I just found this perplexing. I didn't quite fully grasp how they work, why only certain people can access them, and what exactly causes the storms? I did, however, grasp their purpose.
*Ok, big category aside, I still had a few issues. The next would be the overall love/soul-mate concept. It would be nice to know that everyone had a soul-mate, but I didn't like that their entire existence depended on it. I really had a hard time with the fact that Willow and Landon had to be close to one another all the time, or their bodies would start to decay. It just didn't settle well with me.
*Last issue is one I already mentioned. I really would have liked to see more fleshed out with Drake and the prophecies. I feel like this darker aspect would have balanced out the storyline a bit better.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Insight, and would recommend it to those who enjoy YA paranormal romance. For me, it was a mixture of A Wrinkle in Time and Twilight. :)

Favorite Quote:

"Being unacknowledged but he people in this place had become normal. They seemed lost in their own personal hell; lines gave definition to their faces, and the world around them was gray. In order to lift the weight from my chest and wake from this horrible hell, I would have to find the one who had called me here, the one I could feel - whom my touch could help." (p. 1)

Cover Art Commentary:
I like the dark setting of the cover. I found the multiple large images a bit overwhelming. There is a lot of symbolism displayed. All of it takes shape in the story.

Overall Rating: