Book Review: A Chance for Charity by SL Baum

Being a senior at a new school isn't easy, especially if it's the sixth time you've capitulated to too long days of calculus, social studies and the endless barrage of mindless, teenage gossip.
Charity, AKA Emily Johnston doesn't seem to mind. It sort of comes with the territory of being immortal. Blending in and moving from one small town to the next is all part of the process of keeping her unusual longevity and that of her two closest friends/family a secret.
Hunted for centuries, Charity is forced to constantly hide who she really is, lie to everyone she meets and avoid emotional connections. It isn't until she moves to the snow capped town of Telluride, Colorado and meets the handsome and strangely familiar Lincoln that she begins to question his existence, her past, and uncover a rather uncertain future.
A Chance for Charity spends most of the novel exploring Charity's cautious nature and inability to trust as well as the slowly evolving romance with Lincoln that tends to illicit much yawning. Quickly in love and physically sedate, there isn't a whole lot of excitement on the romantic front.
Well written and teamed with some angst ridden moments, I wanted to fall in love with the clearly defined characters and allotted roles. I wanted to immerse myself in Charity's conflict and be compelled to scream at her to take risk and live in the moment, but sadly, I was left wanting.
Perhaps the purpose of this novel was to warm the heart with an old fashioned romance and add just a touch of supernatural action as set up for future novels. 
The intrigue developed via additional characters seated in the last half of the novel, and did ramp up the plot to a suitable conclusion, but again, it was not entirely unexpected - a show down between immortal and hunter always on the cards.
Imagery was sufficient but not efficient in enticement. I wanted action, I wanted detail - I wanted ... more. A chance for Charity is an easy read, suitably pleasant and recommended for those that like to keep the darkness locked in their closets rather than head on in with a flashlight and baseball bat.
I rate this novel two and half fangs out of five.

Synopsis:

A new family has just arrived in the isolated mountain town of Telluride, Colorado. Welcome the Johnstons - Jason (a doctor), Rachel (a designer), and their niece Emily (a current High School Senior).
Emily has lived the life of a quiet loner in the past, trying to go unnoticed. But with Telluride being such a small and welcoming town, she finds a group of friends at school almost immediately. When Emily meets Link (another new transplant in town) her world turns upside down. She doesn't understand why she feels a magnetic pull toward him, or why she unknowingly lets her guard down around him. Link is just as confused by his own need to be with her.
Emily knows she is playing with fire. She should be doing whatever she can to keep herself isolated, to keep Link from getting too close. Danger has a way of finding Emily's family - that is what keeps them on the move. They arrive in a new town every few years - it is safer that way.
Because... Emily isn't really Emily... her real name is Charity - and Charity has an even bigger secret. Charity and her family are not like other people, they have "skills" that mere mortals cannot begin to comprehend.
Before long, Charity is struggling with the reality that her two lives are coming closer to each other with each passing day. Soon Link will find himself wrapped in a supernatural world that he never knew existed - and discover that mortals are not the only beings that walk this earth.