Vision, Beth Elisa Harris (3.5 stars)

From Amazon: The "Vision" trilogy spans centuries, starting on a remote Scottish island haunted by dark secrets and a violent past. Two loves, Sarah and Jonathan MacPhie are brutally murdered in 1731 by a jealous clan leader out for bloody revenge. The night before Sarah dies, she predicts her death in a letter to a distant relative Layla Stone who will be born in 1994. But that isn't all she predicts.

Three centuries later, Abbey Grace digs up Sarah's letter in her backyard and contacts Layla in Portland, Oregon just as Layla leaves to study in the UK. Coincidence? Not in the life of a Clear.

Once in Cambridge with her host family, Layla meets Stuart Fairchild, a friend of her host family, who seems more than familiar, mysterious and disarming. Layla's once isolated existence turns upside down as she learns there are many things she doesn't know about, including details about her workaholic mother and father.

And what she doesn't know could kill her.

Layla can hear what people are thinking. As if that’s not enough, she’s also having intense dreams about a woman dying. Little does she know that the woman in her dreams is a part of her. As she begins to discover who and what she is, she realizes the people around her know more than they are letting on. Layla is a Clear.

Enter Stuart and Andre. She’s attracted to Stuart right away, but accepts a date from Andre. Too bad Andre’s father, Jasper, is the head of the Bane. Jasper wants a Clear, and threatens the lives of everyone Layla loves in order to sway her to his side.

Just as Layla thinks things are settling down, her mother gives it to her straight, “Oh dear, girl. Now it begins.” And this is how the first book ends.

The premise, the characters, the mixture of past and present… so many things were right about this book. All it needed to go from good to great was better editing. I can look past a few errors, but there were some very distracting grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes in this piece. (One that particularly stood out to me was the author’s reference to Judy Bloom. The inner teenager in me, the one obsessed with Judy Blume, was a bit crushed.)

Thanks to the intriguing story and interesting characters, I’d recommend this book to readers looking for a series with great potential.

Rating: 3.5 stars

For more on the author, please visit her blog. Soul Herder, the second book in the Vision Trilogy, is now available here.

Note: I received a complimentary copy to review from World Literary Café. A positive review was not guaranteed or requested; the views expressed are my own.