If you're like me and have liked Hilary Duff since Lizzie McGuire, you were probably looking forward to this book. You were also probably a bit apprehensive, as well. While I did enjoy the story just as a whole, the writing and the characters fall flat, so it's pretty much a disappointment. 
 Clea is a seventeen year old photojournalist whose father disappeared a while ago on a humanitarian trip. She has two best friends: Rayna and Ben. Being a photojournalist, she is constantly taking photographs, and after she returns home from a trip overseas with Rayna, she discovers a mysterious shadow in the photographs she took. This shadow turns out to be a man close to Clea's age. His soul has been "following" her around since she was born, but he only shows up in her photographs...hence him being her soulmate. She starts having dreams about this man, and wonders what it all means. When she talks to Ben, he knows more about her father and the man in the photographs than she ever knew. Then, when Clea and this man, Sage, finally meet, the two of them, along with Ben, set out on this sort-of quest to find out what happened to Clea's father, and Clea learns how she is connected to Sage. 
 Does that sound all over the place? Well, the story is kind of all over the place. I think the idea is really good, it has a lot of potential, but it's not executed very well. First of all, let me just say that I don't really like it when books have a "contributor" or a "ghostwriter" or whatever you want to call it, because I find myself wondering how much Hilary actually wrote of this book. Like is she that poor of a writer that she had to search someone out to help her? Why couldn't she write it herself? That just bugs me. Anyway, while I was reading, it started to feel like Hilary actually wrote a lot of this book, because, while I am in no way familiar with Elise Allen's writing, the writing in this book is pretty amateur. 
 I have read a lot of great stories written by amazing authors, and the writing here is not up to par. As I stated above, the word I'm looking for is flat. None of the characters really stand out; they are just like words on a page that fail to come to life. It doesn't seem like they were well thought-out; they don't have distinct qualities that set them apart from other characters in literature, and that is depressing. None of them are really memorable, and the romance between Clea (I keep wanting to type Clean) and Sage...I didn't really feel it. I felt more of something between Clea and Ben, and I actually prefer Ben. 
 Even though the plot is suppose to be complex, the writing is very simple. There's not a lot of details. I'm not a reader who enjoys reading an incessant amount of description, but there really isn't much description here, especially in the places I would have liked to have more detail. There's a lot of telling instead of showing. I had to use my own imagination throughout a lot of the book. Many things are also glossed over. It's like Hilary/Elise was in a hurry. I'd read of something happening somewhere and then within the same paragraph something else is happening somewhere else. I'm thinking wait, weren't they just talking about/doing that?! It was kind of awkward. The dialogue doesn't have a lot of emotion involved, either. Most things are "he said," "she said," "I agreed," etc. Well, that's fine, but not when it's pretty much through the entire book. I'd like to know how someone says something/how they're behaving, because that's what really helps to bring characters to life, which probably explains why these ones are lacking in life. 
 Some parts did creep me out, in a good way. When Clea first discovers of Sage's soul appearing in her photographs, that is actually described pretty well, because I kept looking around the room to make sure nothing was hiding or something. I was also tempted to take some pictures! I also like the plot twist with one of the characters. Some may have saw it coming, but I did not, so it was a nice surprise. 
 I have to admit that I'll most likely read the second book (from the library) just because the plot does have so much potential and I just want it to get better! I'm crossing my fingers for more mature writing, better character development, and more exciting chain of events.