Radiance Review

Riley Bloom left her sister, Ever, in the world of the living and crossed the bridge into the afterlife—a place called Here, where time is always Now. Riley and her dog, Buttercup, have been reunited with her parents and are just settling into a nice, relaxing death when she's summoned before The Council. They let her in on a secret—the afterlife isn't just an eternity of leisure; Riley has to work. She's been assigned a job, Soul Catcher, and a teacher, Bodhi, a curious boy she can't quite figure out.

Riley, Bodhi, and Buttercup return to earth for her first assignment, a Radiant Boy who's been haunting a castle in England for centuries. Many Soul Catchers have tried to get him to cross the bridge and failed. But he's never met Riley...
Taken from GoodReads.

Radiance follows the story of perpetually twelve-year-old Riley Bloom as she enters the afterlife, or Here, after the car crash that only her sister, Ever, walked away from. Reunited in the afterlife with her mother, father, and her her beloved dog Buttercup, Riley learns she must work Here, and she must figure out her place in the Now.

Now, I never read Evermore, or any of that series, for that matter. It just never struck me as the type of read that I just had to push to the top of my pile, so I never did. Radiance, however, intrigued me with the idea of the afterlife being more than just a peaceful place of rest. I also thought Riley was sweet. She was definitely a tween, but she was a sweet main character and, for the most part, I enjoyed her voice.

I do, however, have a few issues with Radiance. First of all, as much as I loved Riley's character, I found that her voice was somewhat inconsistent. For the most part, she had a perfectly middle-grade voice with appropriate phrases, then she would suddenly lapse into what I can only assume is Alyson Noel's voice with words like "vicariously," or phrases way beyond her maturity level. Perhaps I read too much into it, but that was my biggest qualm. For the most part though, Alyson Noel does a great job of creating a likeable and friendly main character that you'll want to get to know.

Radiance is a quick read and uses a lot of fragmented sentences to get into Riley's head, which was a useful tool, though began to weigh on me a bit. It's a sweet and enjoyable book with an original story, but it's definitely more middle-grade than I had expected. I give this book a 3.5 out of 5 simply because I think it's more suited to those who particularly loved Middle-Grade. I would also recommend it to those who enjoy Fantasy and Paranormal.