Actual Rating: 2.5 stars. 
 So this is the second book I've read in 2013, after Hunting Lila, which I gave four stars. This one gets two point five, so I guess the start of this year has been pretty decent, book-wise. I picked up Incarnate at the library on an impulse, mainly because the cover is so beautiful and I couldn't resist. I saw a lot of mixed reviews for it on goodreads, but I decided to give it a shot. 
 This story is about a newsoul named Ana. As a heroine, I guess I didn't mind her. She wasn't terrible, but there was nothing particularly charming about her, either. I can see myself forgetting about her easily in the next few days or so. I understood her frustration with being the only new person in thousands of years, but it got repetitive after a while. 
 As for the love interest, Sam, he too, is very forgettable. I liked him to some degree; I could appreciate his genuine kindness and compassion. I guess there aren't a lot of love interests in YA books I can name off the top of my head that are just nice without being broody, jerky, or at least sometimes mean. The problem with this niceness, however, is that it makes a person seem a little too perfect. Sam was like this shining beacon of light that could do no wrong, and it made him feel less real to me. It also seems like he should be one of the first people in line to hate Ana, what with her replacing someone who he was supposedly close with. 
 I didn't mind the sweetness of Ana and Sam's relationship, but - and you can sense a pattern here - there was nothing exciting about it. It didn't feel like there was . . . passion? I'm not sure what word I'm looking for exactly. Also, the summary is somewhat deceiving. It makes it sound like Ana is on this mission to find out information about herself, which she is, but she rarely spends any time doing this. This book is mostly geared toward her relationship with Sam and trying to not get herself killed in Heart between the dragons and the sylph. 
 I thought about comparing this to Matched by Ally Condie, another book that disappointed me. But that doesn't seem fair, because I actually enjoyed Incarnate a good deal more than Matched. The reason I was considering it, though, was the pacing of both. Nothing really happens for a good chuck in the middle. The beginning is interesting, and so is the ending, but the middle is one big snooze fest. 
 As for the writing, I have no complaints. Jodi Meadows has a lovely writing style, one of the redeeming qualities of this book that made me want to finish it. So, overall, I'd have to say I liked Incarnate, enough to round up to 3 stars. For example, I really liked the comparison between Ana's short life and a butterfly, and how this is portrayed on the cover.