Transcend (The Transcend Duet Book 1)
I KNEW IT!!!!!!!! Oooooooh boy what an ending!!!! I need to hurry up and finish this review so I can jump into book #2. THANK GOD FOR COMPLETED DUETS!!!!!
Oh my what a 5-STAR READ full of intrigue, emotion, intensity, and heartache, and love-triangley delight. And best of all. I love that this author explored something (is exploring something) that absolutely fascinates me and always has.
This is my JAM!!!! And apparently it’s OUR jam!!! 
Maryse: Okay I have to say I’m so utterly hooked on Transcend. I’m 3/4′s of the way through it and will devour and finish the rest within the next couple of hours and move right on to Epoch. What I have to say is I BELIEVE everything (relationship-wise, fight-wise, jealous-wise) that I’m reading. SUCH REALITY in these scenes.
OMG OMG OMG I havent read this kind of intensity in a LONG time. For me it really picked up properly at the 50% mark. It is ALL good, and I didn’t think of squirreling or anything, I was into it, but it’s when I hit that 50% that my heart was in my throat and hasn’t left… I AM SO ON EDGE!!! AND I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amy: Yes…just YES to everything Maryse said about Transcend. I have 10% left and then on to Epoch. I’m going to be so hungover after this duet…
Cait: O holy shut I’m 40% into Transcend and wow I’m scared, excited, nervous and the butterflies are doubling in quantity!!! Oh goly…… love it when this happens!
Cheryl: Loving the writing and have “ideas” where this is going. … I have to say I did a mental double take when Nate by the way said *** about Daisy to the other professor and the scar guy- yeh have a feeling that’s a biggie. Back to Transcend. Maryse, I’m like you trying to skim comments because want to stay in the dark about Transcend.
Amy: GAH! Almost made myself late to work this morning because I couldn’t stay away from Transcend.
MichelleS: After reading Transcend & Epoch, I needed more Jewel E. Ann, so I read book one in the series. Blown away. Jillian is vulnerable, but not weak. The opposite of weak!
Robyn: OMG! I finished Epoch at 2AM! I just could not stop. So be forewarned….you must have lots of uninterrupted time to do both books back to back. Jewel Ann, you are such an amazing writer! The stories you can weave. The feelings and emotions you bring to life. What a gift to all of us! Anyways girls, watch out for 69% in Epoch. My heart will never get over that. Gah!
Grey: Loved Transcend and am loving this one so far too… Am very cautious about continuing gah, I just know it’s gonna hurt. *swipes Manny and heads back into the fort with my Godiva, no Moscato, it’s not even 10am*
D.G. Read Transcend AND Epoch…totally in a book fog! I abso-freaking-lutely LOVED both of them! Amazing how you can feel the connection between soulmates, it is that well written. LOVED Griff, LOVED Nate and ADORED Swayze…
See that? SEEEEEEEE? There’re SO many more comments where those came from. We’re buddy reading and we’re obsessed, and apparently book #2 is just as good or even better, and takes us THERE. Where? Who knows? But I’m heading there now. YAY ME!!!!
But first!!!
What’s it about?
Okay so… Swayze (pronounced SWAY-ZIE) has always been gifted… to an extent. Being an only child, her parents have been utterly focused on finding out about these special skills she seems to have. Inherent knowledge of things a child or teen shouldn’t particularly know, and yet… she surprises everyone constantly. She’s advanced, but the testing and therapists haven’t found her to be a genius per se. Just… interesting. Special.
Nobody knows. And she doesn’t really care. She just seems to “know” things about people… as if she knows them personally, and yet has never met them before. Not everyone. Just… some.
In fact, this “skill” pops up when she sees “Nate” in a waiting room. She actually thinks he’s an old friend of hers, (knows his name, and has all these memories with him… he feels like he’s her very best friend) but he has no clue who she is.
“Nate Hunt, how can you not remember me, we …” I tuck my shoulder-length hair behind my ears and sigh. “We …”
He’s my captive audience; even the older lady sitting two chairs to his right, pretending to read a magazine, gives me a curious glance. This is ridiculous. It’s clearly been years; he has a few wrinkles by his eyes to prove it, but … I know him.
“How old are you?” he asks, breaking my stuttering that’s doing little to formulate words that explain how I know him.
“Twenty-one.”
“Well, I got this scar when I was fourteen. That was twenty-two years ago. You must know someone who knew me when I was a child.”
I return a single nod, not really agreeing with anything.
She’s so sure of herself and confused by his reaction (but… then again, he makes a good point).
So she lets it go (her “skill“). That is, until the day she interviews to be a Professor’s nanny to his infant daughter (his wife just died) and her potential new boss is HIM! Handsome, distinguished and OH SO FAMILIAR… HIM.
Those eyes, they feel like an intimate embrace, so damn familiar. How can he look at me with such detachment? What happened to him that he doesn’t remember me?
That old feeling is alive and kicking, and their dynamic is perplexing to say the least.
And then there’s her gorgeous, sexy, alpha-male new boyfriend (Griffin) that is her absolute dream man.
“You make me feel like I belong.” My breaths race to catch up to my pulse.
“You belong with me.”
WOWOWOW their intensity (HIS intensity) is off the charts. Her dream man? NO. MY DREAM MAN!!!!!!! *snort* 
Anyway, all that to say, there’s so much adrenaline coursing through this book, and the intense love scenes (and jealous-fight scenes)…
It’s crazy to think of the big things that couples weather together and the little things that can undermine everything over time. These little things multiply like cancer and ruin even the strongest relationships.
…will have you flooded in all those feel-good chemicals that hook us hard on love. You will be addicted to this one. I was. Still am. Can’t wait to start the sequel!!!
5 STARS!!!
I am happily addicted to reading but I need to expend my book energy (especially when one puts me in an emotional frenzy - SO fun!). So, I release my feelings about the stories, by writing them down here. It's my book therapy. 
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, I finished this.
And???
This one felt so different, but real. Loved it!!!
Sorry. I was just basking in the delight of finishing a book. The little things
I liked it, but not loved.
Flash backs are a hit or miss for me and these were a miss. I think they could of been cut out and not changed the story and they interrupted the momentum of the story.
The end was a bit too rushed. I felt like the foreshadowing wasn’t evenly distributed throughout the story. Or I could of just been being obtuse.
However, I like the characters alot.
I was surprised that a certain thing was revealed so soon, but then really appreciated it. So many times reveals are dragged out so long it bogs down the story and the anticipation dims. Being in the know, for me, really added to the anticipation.
You know what’s funny though? I was thinking of two more recent favorites of mine that, to me were really great, but if I step back I can see where others could nitpick like I just did. I can see where it might drag or plot holes etc. But for me they just worked and gave me joy as a reader.
I really love that this worked for so many of you and you all got so happy. And I got to read (and finish!) a good story.
YAY! Maryse loved it!!! YAY Bev!!!!
I finished it yesterday, and I’m starting Epoch today…I just needed some time to bask in the incredible FEELS from Transcend before I possibly have my heart battered in Epoch. I have no idea how it couldn’t be with having both of those men in her life.
Woo-hoo bev!!!!! I don’t even care you didn’t love it, I’m just happy you’re READING it with us.
I’ll be using doing laundry upstairs as a guise while reading Epoch this afternoon…
I finished both books. I loved the story and was a little apprehensive going in because I had heard there was a pnr element to it and I’m usually not a big pnr lover. Have to say I bought into the story and believed it.
I agree Bev about the “reveal” and how it was just casually tossed out there, but it ultimately did not detract from the story.
This was one of those stories that my brain just wouldn’t turn off from when I went to sleep and I felt like I dreamed about the characters all night.
Great review Maryse! I’m still kinda in a book fog from this duet! And Griffin ……sigh….loved him so, so much!