Angelfall by Susan Ee [REVIEW]

TITLE: Angelfall
           (Penryn & the End of Days #1)
AUTHOR: Susan Ee
PUBLISHER: Feral Dream
PUB DATE: Jan 1 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

"It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again."

Rating:

*Sigh* Where do I even begin?

I’ve been rather picky when it comes to books about angels nowadays, unlike when I was a newbie over these kinds of stories; I gobbled them up once I hear about them. If you’ve been in the loop of the books in this genre, sometimes the details seem to blur into one another and turn out just the same as always. I guess that’s probably why I only picked up Angelfall just recently. I thought it was just another one of those forbidden love stories. And if my bookish buddy, Maria @ Bookchilla hadn’t pushed me to read this I would have read it even later. Heck I even complained to her that the font of the texts was too small, and I feared it might turn out to be a much longer read. When I finally started reading Angelfall I wanted to slap myself for all the things I said beforehand!

The moment I was greeted with an epic action scene from the beginning, I knew I was going to have the time of my life reading Angelfall. Oh yeah! This was terrific!

Do not be fooled by that simple synopsis that Penryn and Raffe, our protagonists, are just in for a sure-fire, struggling journey to wherever. There’s more to it than that. While other books go for the Nephilim-are-heroes kind of tale, here you find them dangerous, gruesome and downright bad monstrous creatures. And if you think guardian angels are there to keep you safe, think again. In this book, they are your worst nightmare. Not to mention that if politicians in our world are blatantly ruthless and power hungry, wait until you see how angel politics go. Now is that unique or what?

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins [REVIEW]

TITLE: Sweet Evil (Sweet Trilogy #1)
AUTHOR: Wendy Higgins
PUBLISHER: HarperTeen
PUB DATE: May 1 2012

Summary from Goodreads:

"Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?"

Rating:

When Sweet Evil was released back in May 2012, it didn’t really catch my attention, even in spite of all the raving about it. I guess I felt that after reading the synopsis, it just wasn’t my kind of story. But then came all the craziness again once the cover of Sweet Peril surfaced around the blogosphere. So maybe it was a sign that I get to this book already? Why not?

As soon as I grabbed a copy and posted a photo on Instagram, the lovely ladies who have read this book pushed me to start on it. Supposedly I was to meet a new book boyfriend by the name of Kaidan.

So how was my experience with Sweet Evil you may ask? It was great! At first I was skeptical about the “good girl-bad boy” image going on because honestly, who hasn’t seen that before? I even have qualms about Kaidan’s personality. He’s every bit of the image of a guy that would less likely catch my attention. But something about the way he was created by Wendy Higgins that makes all the elements work for me, fictionally of course, that’ll never work in the real world. LOL.

Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton [REVIEW]

Wings of the Wicked
(Angelfire #2)
by Courtney Allison Moulton

Summary from Goodreads:

"Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined.
Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven’s warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell’s strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night.

She’s been warned.
Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian’s new plan to destroy Ellie’s soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian’s schemes , the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything—including herself.

She’ll be betrayed.
Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be hell to pay."

Rating:

A tension-building book; that’s pretty much all there is to Wings of the Wicked.

Wings of the Wicked, the second installment to the Angelfire series, started where the first book left off. Ellie is trying in vain to balance her normal human life with the responsibility of being the Preliator. She goes to school during the day, hangs out with her friends after, and by sundown she’s out hunting demonic creatures that are reeking havoc all over. But evil has grown more lethal and things are starting to get worse for Ellie. Demonic reapers are getting stronger, and each battle Ellie fights leaves her more and more vulnerable, plus hearing that Bastian has finally found a sure way of destroying Ellie’s soul for good, things just won’t be getting better anytime soon.

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand [REVIEW]

Hallowed (Unearthly #2)
by Cynthia Hand

Summary from Goodreads:

"For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning."

Rating:

I was completely heartbroken over this whole thing. Damn! My dear, dear Tucker... *sniff* *slow steady breath* (desperately trying to stop myself from crying).

*Pausing for a few minutes*

Okay... I just finished giving myself a little pep talk. I’m trying to pull myself together to do this and then I’ll cry some more afterwards. *sniff*

Spirit Fighter by Jerel Law [ARC REVIEW]

      

Spirit Fighter
by Jerel Law

Summary from Goodreads:

"Percy Jackson, move over Jonah Stone is here!

What if Nephilim-the children of angels and men-still walked the earth? And their very presence put the entire world in danger? In "Spirit Fighter," Jonah and Eliza Stone learn that their mother is a Nephilim and that they have special powers as quarter-angels. When their mom is kidnapped by fallen angels, they must use those powers to save her. Along the way, they discover that there is a very real and dangerous war going on between good and evil and that God has a big part for them to play in that war.

Parents today are looking for fiction that makes Christianity and the Bible exciting for their kids. This series is the Christian answer to "Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, The Secret Series" and other middle-grade series packed with adventure, action, and supernatural fights. "Son of Angels, Jonah Stone" will be the first series in the market to explore this topic from a biblical perspective with content that is appropriate and exciting for middle-grade readers."

Rating:

Never underestimate the power of prayer…

That’s one of the first things that pop into my head after reading the Spirit Fighter.

I rarely read middle grade books, but when I saw the cover of Spirit Fighter on Netgalley, I couldn’t help myself from requesting for a copy.  And after reading it, I felt touched. It may have not been a book I imagined myself reading, but I really appreciate the chance that I was able to do so.

I do admit that at my age (which is obviously not in the middle grade range), I didn’t quite connect with the characters and I felt that several times I encountered scenes that were quite repetitive. But I do understand why the author has done so and the message behind it.

If I were still in the middle grade age range, Spirit Fighter would be one of the books that I’d see my parents buying for me. It’s age appropriate, it’s fun and adventurous… and most of all, it teaches us about faith.

 It’s not everyday you get to encounter a book that takes the teachings of the Bible and gives it a twist that’ll make kids feel like they are watching a really cool movie. What kid wouldn’t think having superpowers is awesome?

This Christian-based novel is a book that I would recommend to parents looking for a way to enlighten their children’s minds about God and faith. It’s short yet entertaining and filled with valuable lessons. 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

         

Daughter of Smoke and Bone
(Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1)
by Laini Taylor

Summary from Goodreads:

"Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?"

Rating:

I think my impatience has gotten the better of me while reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

I had to pause after the first part of it and read another book because I felt like the book wasn’t getting anywhere. Karou’s life just felt so plain and uneventful then comes Akiva talking about a girl named Madrigal where I just found him to be a grieving-and-now-heartless, dark angel-ish guy, since his stance didn’t seem so angelic to me. I don’t find anything interesting with their lives except the inhuman creatures that raised Karou. And that didn’t even suffice to let me find this a gripping book.

So when I finally picked it up again, that’s when I realized that the good parts begin in the middle. So I regretted the fact that I thought this was boring and I managed to breeze off through the pages since then.

But then I got to the part where Madrigal came into picture. It was a touching story and it sums up all the things that happened with Karou and Akiva, but again, it was just too long. Yes I cried a bit and empathized but the story could’ve been contained into a few pages or so but not THAT much pages to nearly eat up the rest of the book so close to the ending. It was just too many pages wasted for a… flashback (sorry for the spoiler but I couldn’t find any other word for it).

I’m a little disappointed about not exactly finding this book as awesome as I thought it would be from how others raved off about it. I just feel like the writing has gone over the top. The story was simple enough to understand, and I think there were just too many stopovers before it got to the point of it all.

But I’d have say that the story is praiseworthy. Its otherworldly-ness (for the lack of a better word) is fascinating; and the idea of a never-ending war between two worlds and how deeply Karou and Akiva have been tangled within it feels like an ethereal Romeo and Juliet tragedy with an even deeper twist and misfortune.

Meridian by Amber Kizer

        

Meridian
(Fenestra #1)
by Amber Kizer

Summary from Goodreads:

"Half-human, half-angel, Meridian Sozu has a dark responsibility.

Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmate’s tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family home—and Meridian’s body explodes in pain. 

Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she’s a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt’s house in Revelation, Colorado. It’s there that she learns that she is a Fenestra—the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos."

Rating:

This book has its perks: the premise sounds so intriguing, it has a great cover, and the story itself was catchy. However I felt that it wasn’t fully developed.

I guess it needed more work. Let’s set aside the issue of Christianity and/or religious beliefs because in Meridian’s world, it has a different perspective so I totally understand that. But I think the flow of the book might have been overlooked. The establishment of the characters’ lives was an okay phase for me; the training of Meridian’s Fenestra powers was a little unevenly set. And the climax was way too fast and not as eventful as I thought it would be.

The characters also needed improving. As much as I like Meridian and Tens, they were underdeveloped, and there are things I do not understand about them. I also feel like I didn’t get to know them that well. Although I do like seeing them together and I kind of get giddy whenever they get all sweet and lovey-dovey. LOL.

I also felt that some of the conversations where either non-essential to the story or when cut-off midway to establish intrigue, isn’t continued again at all. That’s kind of a bummer.

Still, I was hooked to this book; I really love the romance between Meridian and Tens. I think the whole Fenestra thing was great and the history created for it was very well thought of.

I will read the next book and I hope it gets better. I have faith in the Fenestra series! 

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

        

Unearthly
(Unearthly #1)
by Cynthia Hand

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 that 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 deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart."

Rating:

A surprisingly gripping book! 

This is the first angel book I’ve read. I was kind of skeptical about reading books with angel themes since I’ve heard a lot of negative feedback towards the earlier books written with this kind of genre. Fortunately, Unearthly did not disappoint me. 

I admire the way the author was able to make this book an easy read. It’s still engaging and a total page-turner but isn’t hard to understand and you can effortlessly grasp on what’s happening. 

I loved the development of the Clara-Tucker-Christian love triangle. Finally, a book that gives the characters actual romance development, and not the swoon over at first sight kind of love. It’s nice to see that their relationships showed tangible maturity. At this point, I am definitely Team Tucker. 

I like that this book has shown a balance between reality and otherworldly. You get a fair share of Clara’s life as a normal teen dealing with school and boys, and then you get Clara’s unearthly side where she needs to fulfill her purpose as an angel-blood. The right mix of it has made this book a really interesting read. 

The only thing that bothered me was the ending. Not that it’s an awful ending, it’s just not how I expected it to be and I’ve always been sore of being left with another mystery to solve and being left confused. Unearthly ended with more questions than answers which usually pisses me off, but this book has given me a good perspective of how things are going and showing me how vast this world Clara is still on the verge of discovering that I totally empathize with her, which has led me to be more patient and eager to read the next book.