2.5 stars 
 This book must have been written at the height of Twilightdom. 
 In the immortal words of Georgia Nicolson, this is a facsimile of a sham. I've read a lot of YA books copying the Twilight playbook, but Carrier of the Mark is the most blatant Twilight clone of them all. I won't get started on specifics because I would exceed the word count allowed for this review, but trust me on this one--just change some names and you've got Twilight (minus that addictive, guilty-pleasure-inducing quality Stephenie Meyer's writing has). I was forgiving at first because a fluffy instalove story is a nice respite at times, but by the time this book went all Breaking Dawn talking about what crazy babies our two just-met-you-a-few-weeks-ago-and-we're-already-talking-kids-and-forever lovebirds would have, I'd had enough. 
 And you know, this book would be a thousand times better if it stopped trying to ride on the coattails of the Twilight magic and came up with it's own characters and plot. The mythology is brimming with potential (although Fallon makes it a bit of a convoluted mess at times with all this gene nonsense) and the setting is IRELAND with all that gorgeous scenery, history, and magic to tap. There is so much possibility here, folks, but the author goes all Twilight with it and ruins what she has. 
 I will say, though, that's a gorgeous cover, and this book is highly readable. I breezed through it in just a few hours. 
 P.S. And for the record, I like Twilight. But it's been done. Enough with the Twilight clones already.