Fated by Alyson Noël (2012)

This is the first book in a series called Soul Seekers and is about Daire Santos, the last in a line of soul seekers. Of course she doesn't understand what is happening to her when she starts seeing things and has crows talk to her to the point where they want to institutionalize her. As a last resort, her mother takes her to her father's mother in New Mexico (I kept imagining the Four Corners and Shiprock, where I met an Indian medicine man). Her grandmother starts to teach her about her powers, but of course she is a disbelieving teen. I understand this is a young adult book, but the heavy dose of teen angst and rudeness got in the way of my enjoyment. I know a bit about Native American spirituality and though the book tried to connect with some of it, it did not feel authentic to me. It also seemed like things happened too quickly - in a matter of days Daire had to become well versed in her powers. I do not think it would have hurt the plot to lengthen the time frame, have Daire learn more gradually from her grandmother. Then, though I am well aware of the dark side of power, the dark side seemed too dark, too evil. Reminded me of those Halloweentown movies on TV that I used to watch with my kid. Then there are the twin brothers Cole and Dace - each raised by a separate parent and different as night and day. There were things I liked - the unusual upbringing of Daire as the daughter of a makeup artist for films, who traveled around the world with her mom to different film locations and learned to make each film cast her family. I also liked the grandmother.