The Year of the Great Seventh by Teresa Orts

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Book summary:

Sophie has always felt out of step—an outsider, even amongst friends in her high school with all the hype about celebrity culture. Her life in L.A. seems to have been already written for her, but when her junior year starts, it all takes a drastic turn. When she crosses paths with the school's heartthrob, Nate Werner, they fall for each other in a way neither can understand. What they don’t know is that by giving in to their desires, they are unlocking an ancient Egyptian prophecy that threatens to return Earth to the dark ages.

To undo the curse, Nate and Sophie embark on an adventure that takes them across the country. But their quest is not only to save the world as they know it. It is also a fight for their very survival. Behind the scenes, there are those that are counting on them to fail.

        Considering that I've been blogging, reviewing and mostly reading YA stories for a few years now I was really surprised that this has been the first YA book set in Hollywood to me. Which is a surprise but I guess that all that glow is focused on the movie industry. Regardless, it was a nice change. 

       With the change of the setting some other things changed too. I wasn't faced with cheer-leading again (yay) and now I was in company of girls who would want to be a movie stars. You would think it's not a big change but you'd be surprised. Anyhow, yes there are girls that want to have their name on the Walk of Fame one day and there is Sophie, the girl that didn't fit into that picture. Because of that it was easy to connect with her as I assume I'd act the same. Even though at the start both Sophie and Nate seemed kind of plain they grew through the book. You can see them change and you go through their coming of age with them. As characters grown so did the story. What one started as a story about high school students in Hollywood turned into a great mystery. I'm not telling you much about that because it was highly unpredictable for me so it's for the better to discover things on your own. 

      This was one of the rare times when I've actually read a blurb before diving into the book and I was really afraid after few pages as I didn't know how could an ancient Egyptian prophecy fit into all of this. Well surprisingly for me it worked out really good. Good thing is that it wasn't predictable and quite honestly I know close to nothing about ancient Egypt and I was really enjoying my ride. 

      So don't fear at the start that this book is plain and uninteresting because you must be patient with it and then it'll show you all its secrets. After it drags you into the story and you are desperately turning the pages to see what's happening in the end. It leaves you wanting for more even though the story doesn't end with the cliffhanger. 

Rating: 5 stars.

Until the next time,