The Mark and The Vision by Jen Nadol

The Mark
The Mark 1
Author: Jen Nadol
Pages: 228 pgs
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Release Date: January 19th 2010
Review Source: Purchased

After seeing this cool cover and reading the summary, I couldn't wait to read Jen Nadol's debut novel. And I can definitely say that it wasn't what I was expecting at all.

Cassie Renfield has always been able to see the mark, a glowing light around certain people, but never really knew what it mean. That is until she sees a man with the mark die before her eyes, and the awful meaning is all too ingrained in her mind.

But then Cassie suffers an even more devastating loss by the mark, the loss of her grandmother. In an attempt to better understand what it all means, Cassie spends the summer she has with the only family she's got left searching for answers. And she eventually learns that there's more to the mark than she had ever imagined.

Most of Cassie's journey is her own introspection, working out in her head what's right and wrong in regards to the mark. Her struggle with losing her grandmother directly affected how she approached the mark as well. She feared how they would respond and if it would actually do any good to tell them what she saw.

I liked that the story was about so much more than just the glowing light of the mark, but also Cassie as a person. She wanted so much to do that right thing, but wasn't sure what that was.

And I really liked how Jen was able to weave a little bit of Greek Mythology into the story, leaving her readers with a pretty fascinating twist at the end. I don't want to give it away, but that alone ensured that I wanted to continue this series.

The Vision
The Mark2
Author: Jen Nadol
Pages: 240 pgs
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Release Date: September 27th 2011
Review Source: Bloomsbury USA

In this second installment of The Mark series we get a closer look into Cassie's world.

A few months after the end of The Mark, Cassie still wants to better understand just what the mark means and what her part is in it. So she goes on a search to find others like her in hopes of getting some answers.

Cassie thinks she's found one in the hurting Demetria, but doesn't even know where to begin. And when she begins a relationship with the dark and mysterious Zander, her search goes in a direction she never thought possible.

In this sequel, Cassie has definitely grown up a bit. Her journey in the mark changed her and I think you can really tell that in this book. She's really searching to not only understand the ramifications of what she can do, but what it means to others like her, as well.

She also struggles with who to trust with her secret. Especially when her relationship with her friend Jack changes before she leaves town. The only person she'd been able to trust up to this point had been her grandmother, and now she's having to figure it all out on her own.

Jen Nadol's writing is very real and questioning. She likes to ask those difficult questions and have her character's search for the truths that sit right with them.

I'm definitely enjoying this series and am quite interested in what she has in store for the final book.