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Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

Posted on July 17, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • I can’t seem to stay away from Angel stories.  It’s an addiction.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L..A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip – and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

They’re out for your soul . . . and they don’t have heaven in mind.

My Review:

I have rated Angel Burn right dead center of a 1-5 rating system. If I could, I’d rate the first half a good, solid 4 and the second half would waver between a 1 and a 2.

The first half of Angel Burn is filled with action, interesting characters, a really unique twist on “angel lore”, and is fast-paced and just downright fun reading. It’s not great literature, but it was fun and it had me reaching to pick up my book whenever I had a few spare minutes to read (and actually, it kept me up until a good two hours after when I should have been asleep last night).

But then, about halfway through the book – just about when the love interest really takes over the relationship between Alex and Willow, the book started to lose its edge. Between the realization that these two teenagers “love” each other, the convenient placement of skills and money (who rides around with that much money, seriously), the overuse of the term “half angel” (I think I counted it five times in two paragraphs), the “you” “no you” “no you” back and forth between Willow and Alex in their lovesickness moments… it all got to be too much. I felt as if Weatherly went from creating what could have been a very kickass story and fell in love with her own characters so much that she went into some daydream world and wrote out a story that, in all honesty, should have been kept in her own mind.

The result? A very unsatisfactory ending and one that really disappointed me. Even the climax, the moment we were all waiting for, was flooded with regrets, teenage angst and moments that had me rolling my eyes so violently that I gave myself a headache.

In short – great idea, great beginning, really crappy ending. I’d hoped for better.

Check out these reviews!

There’s a Book

Good Books and Good Wine

 

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Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Posted on December 26, 2010
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Reason(s) for Reading:
  • Neat cover – in fact, it reminded me of another favorite book of mine, Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin
I  also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers – monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell – she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie’s powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her – an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie’s soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian’s most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives – including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

My Review:

This book reminded me a lot of My Name is Memory by Ann Brasheres – although when I actually start to think about it, the only truly common theme they have is reincarnation.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Just a few reviews ago I had said I was giving up books dealing with Angels and I meant it – but I didn’t expect this book to actually include angels in it (silly, huh? I mean, the name IS Angelfire).  I think I was just being stupidly naive!  However, that said, I didn’t have as much of an issue with Moulton’s angels as I did with some angels in other beautifully covered, sadly lacking in plot books out there.

Ellie is a spitfire of a character.  She’s confused (She’s 17, of course she is confused), she has a habit of having bad luck with her cars and she is someone that she never in a million years expected to be.

There is lots and lots of action in this book – lots of flashbacks, lots of romance, lots of good, solid high school moments (I admit to rolling my eyes at the drama and thinking that Moulton has the high school girl psyche down to an artform).  It made for interesting airplane reading, kept me distracted and entertained me – and that’s what a book is supposed to do.

However, there were some drawbacks.  The flashbacks had pages of italicized story (which is admittedly a pet peeve of mine, does anyone else find it hard to read?) and really didn’t contribute that much to the story for me.  There was so much action in Ellie’s actual life that the addition of even more in past lives seemed a bit.. overdone.  Still, that was a minority of the book and I expect there will be lots and lots of squealing from high school girls over Will after Angelfire is released.

Check out these review(s):

Tattooed Books

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Posted on December 10, 2010
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Reason(s) for Reading:
  • In spite of saying I was swearing off Angels.. I couldn’t resist (plus, I’d already requested this from NetGalley)
I  also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

In the beginning, there’s a boy standing in the trees. . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she’s part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what it is, though, isn’t easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place–and out of place, at the same time. Because there’s another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara’s less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she’d have to make–between honesty and deciet, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

My Review (Spoiler Free):

I’m on a roll with picking up really decent YA literature these days.  Despite having sworn off Angel stories after a few.. really bad ones, I picked this up fully expecting to be disgusted with it within the first fifty pages.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Cynthia Hand’s treatment of angels doesn’t stem out of any sort of religion, necessarily.  She seems to take her information from mythology and refrains from putting any sort of religious slant on the book – which works.  A lot of the issues I had with other books dealing with angelic beings stem from their connection to God (or a god of sorts) and usually involved a bunch of breaking of the rules in order for the story to “work”.  And then the story didn’t work for me, no matter what the ending said was supposed to be happening.

So with just mythology backing up these angelic beings and a “purpose” being their reason for being on Earth, this story worked – and it worked well.  Plus, there’s a nice little twist in there that I didn’t see coming and couldn’t figure out how exactly it would work out.  I’ll be putting Unearthly on my list to watch for the sequel for and Cynthia Hand on my list of debut authors to watch.

Check out these review(s):

Good Choice Reading

Tales of Whimsy

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Posted on November 6, 2010
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Reason(s) for Reading:
  • Beautiful cover, I mean.. just beautiful.
  • I’ve been seeing buzz about this title in the book blog world.
I recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Venus Cove. But everything changes when three angels are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. They work hard to conceal their true identity and, most of all, their wings.

But the mission is threatened when the youngest angel, Bethany, is sent to high school and falls in love with the handsome school captain, Xavier Woods. Will she defy the laws of Heaven by loving him? Things come to a head when the angels realize they are not the only supernatural power in Venus Cove. There′s a new kid in town and he′s charming, seductive and deadly. Worst of all, he′s after Beth.

My Review:

Oh Self, why do you do this to yourself?  Why do you continue to pick up books on angels hoping against hope to be surprised and love them?

I’ll admit to liking a spare few books about angels, Archangel by Sharon Shinn being the most “liked” out of the bunch, but there have been others, Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick for example, which have left me feeling disappointed.  Halo has fallen on the latter side.

I feel like I should have possibly expected less, I mean -this is a teenage author here, Adornetto being a mere 18 years old.  That said, she already has at least one other book published and, as a teenager, should understand the workings of the teenage mind – you would think?  Instead, she treats the teenagers in this book with a condescending sort of attitude, making them appear shallow and mindless.

Caution – Spoilers Ahead

In Halo Bethany is an Angel, sent to earth with her Heavenly Brother and Sister, Gabriel and Ivy, to counter-act some of the dark madness taking over.  Terrorists, Bombings, Murders and … abuse of the elderly are listed as some of the things occurring.  In Bethany we are given a female lead character who is so incredibly naive who, while at first was easy to handle, about 1/3rd of the way through the book I wanted to smack some sense into.  And of course – she has to fall in love with the very first beautiful, untouchable boy she lays her eyes on.

I make no secret of being a Christian – but I do love fantasy and urban-fantasy literature and try to keep an open mind.  That said, I do have an issue with the ease with which these angels lied, rebelled and did otherwise not-normal-angelic things.  Adornetto tries to state that they are now “human”, but their human forms are able to glow, possess wings and are without a navel.  Not to mention they are downright gorgeous, are blessed with a perfect knowledge of .. well, everything but common sense it appears, and are able to attract everyone to themselves.

But still, that wasn’t the straw the broke the camels back for me.  I ended up being just..bored through the story because it was one that was oh-so-familiar.  Toss a few characters around here or there, substitute werewolves and vampires for angels and demons and the story starts to take a very familiar slant.  Think.. Twilight‘s gone religious.

I hate writing negative reviews without any positive points so I will say this – the ending scene in the book was filled with excitement and finally caught my interest.  I just wish my interest had been caught hundreds of pages before (as this book is nearly 500 pages), and not in the final 20 or so.

Check out these review(s):

Good Books and Good Wine

Bookworming in the 21st Century

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