Coexist (Keegan's Chronicles) - Julia Crane

Keegan lives like a human being, but she is really an elf. She has the main elf power of invisibility and the inner eye. And she is very excited to meet her life mate when she comes to age. In elf society a life mate is chosen for you but you can not see your life mate until you are the age of 18. Life mates are cloaked from each other till the youngest turns 18 and they know nothing about each other not even there name. But Keegan's situation is special, her brother Thaddeus, a seer, has told Keegan her life mates name: Rourk. Now she constantly thinks of Rourk's name.

Every time Keegan thinks of Rourk's name, he gets a mental picture of where Keegan is. At first it was easy for him to ignore it but now every time she thinks of his name he must go and find her and see what she is doing. He knows what she looks like, but he doesn't know her name. And she doesn't know what he looks like all she knows is his name.

Everything seems simple and everyday for Keegan until her and her friends go to a new age fair and Keegan encounters a dark elf. When she tells her parents what happens, her parents get all panic stricken and inform Keegan that things have been happening that she hadn't known about, and now it is time for her to know!

The story for me feels a bit off, disjointed. There are paragraphs just placed in places that don't go along with the previous paragraph just so that specific thing can be referenced later on. Things happen too quickly and things that don't need to be described are, when big events are not described enough. The concept is interesting and different but it doesn't fully flow well in my opinion.

****May be spoilers below****

There are many things that bothered me in this novel to make me give it three stars. When Keegan tells her parents about the dark elf she sees at the new age fair they get all scared. They inform her about the war that has been going on since the beginning of time shielded from human eyes and her father is the chosen one. And now the time is growing near and her family must prepare all because she saw a dark elf at a fair. No other back story other than that. No reason why the father is the chosen one. Also, the parents get all mad that she went to the new age fair because that is where you run into dark fairies. Well...later on it is known that there are creatures everywhere. So, why couldn't she had seen a dark fairy at starbucks?

Thaddeus, Keegan's brother, is this big important seer/warrior. And he is not allowed to interfere with fate. So he doesn't tell his sister about something bad that happens but it is okay for him to interfere and tell Keegan Rourks name so he could help her in a time of need? It is also told he is the prophecy child, but there is no backstory to that. How did he become the prophecy child what is the prophecy?

Thing don't go together well, don't seem to mesh well. There is a point where she just learns about the war that is happening, her father is the chosen one, and she goes up to her room to read text messages and swoon over guys. Or Keegan can walk briskly to her favorite starbucks or think about walking to a party with her friends from her house. But at the same time she lives on a 70 acre lot with farmland everywhere and a long windy driveway.

There are conversations not needed, for instant she talks to a friend about helping with english later and then that is all it isn't talked about again, just that bit of conversation for no reason. Then there are paragraphs that are just placed there that don't go with the rest of the page. There is a brief paragraph where Donald is talking to Keegan but she was too busy thinking of Ireland and he bolts...the only reason that is there is to set up a scene later on where he is in Ireland helping with the fight. But the paragraph just seems to float there disjointed from the rest of the story.

The romance is rushed and annoying. Before they even say hi or one word to each other they are lip locked and everyone is cheering and clapping. They don't even know each other, they have barely met before and just because they are chosen for each other it is okay to kiss right away? And everyone cheering? Why would they care? There is so much emphasis put on Keegan like she is a Queen or something but no reason why. Everyone is dying but everything still goes on, but when it happens to her the world stops and no one can move except her loved ones. Or no on talks until she wakes up. How is she any different than anyone else?

Things conflict as well. It is mentioned many times that partners are cloaked from each other till 18 but Keegan's mother tells a story about how Keegan's mother and father met before they were 18 and destined to be together.

Small things that bother me: Rourk kills a human just because he is foddling Keegan after she was crowd surfing. The battle scenes are very rushed and there is this sentence where Keegan decides to check out the battle for the first time, sees a friend get hurt, runs to rescue him, and "kills a couple men before she made it" like no biggie it is an everyday thing. Or Keegan wants know know why they don't telport and her mom says "your father likes to get frequent flyer points" well that doesn't make sense because you only need frequent flyer points to get free mileage...which you don't need if you are telporting it is a weak answer that doesn't really answer the question.

This book just needed to be thought out better, more details where needed to help the story line and plot. Places felt rushed and disjointed. Didn't run together smoothly. But, it was a very interesting concept. I enjoyed the connection between Rourk and Keegan how she thought of his name and he could see her that was neat.