Forgiven by Jana Oliver

For Father's Day I review the latest book in my favorite father-daughter relationship series.

Jana Oliver's third spellbinding Demon Trappers novel - following The Demon Trapper's Daughter and Soul Thief - brings all new thrills, as Riley Blackthorne takes on demons, love... and the future of the human race.

The days are growing darker for 17-year-old demon trapper Riley Blackthorne. With her father’s reanimated body back safely, Beck barely speaking to her because of a certain hunky Fallen angel, and a freshly-made deal with Lucifer, she has enough on her hands to last a normal teenage lifetime. Though she bargained with Heaven to save his life, her ex-boyfriend Simon has told the Vatican’s Demon Hunters that she’s working with Hell. So now she’s in hiding, at the top of everyone’s most-wanted list.

But it’s becoming clear that this is bigger than Riley, and rapidly getting out of control: something sinister is happening in Atlanta… or someone. The demons are working together for the first time ever and refusing to die, putting civilians in harm’s way. Riley thinks she might know who’s behind it all, but who’s going to believe her? Caught between her bargain with Heaven and her promise to Lucifer, Riley fears the final war is coming – and it may be closer than anyone thinks…

Oh, Riley! Break my heart again why don’t you!?! When I said that book 1 was a love story, not of romance but of the love between a father and a daughter, I didn’t know that it would rip my heart out and stomp on it a bit after. This book really had me feeling for Riley and her grief over losing her father. Riley has a great character arc and follows a realistic grieving process while still dealing with other plot points, and her friends are supportive without being crutches or pure plot devices. Riley’s relationship with Beck is nice, solid and grounded in something other than lust, but also realistic and only as perfect as the two people in it (which is to say: not very). Throughout everything Riley and Beck have to deal with a doozy of a plot. Things in this book go at breakneck pace, which makes the character development even more remarkable because it uses so few introspective lulls. I like how the plot ties up things from previous books and yet opens even more questions for the future. It always seemed natural and yet unexpected which is very hard to do. I burned through this book very quickly due to the pace, and now I can’t wait for book 4!

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

For months Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn't prepared for the choice she had to make that day. And in the aftermath, she discovered that nothing about being part angel is as straightforward as she thought. Now, torn between her love for Tucker and her complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves 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. In this compelling sequel to "Unearthly," Cynthia Hand captures the joy of first love, the anguish of loss, and the confusion of becoming who you are.

Review of Unearthly. 

I loved Unearthly and I couldn’t wait for this book.  It did not disappoint either.  Although I’m not usually one for love triangles I really like how this one is developing.  Both Tucker and Christian are good choices with no bad traits.  Their differences really lie in the parts of Clara that they appeal to and the good traits they bring out in her.  It really seems as if Christian appeals to Clara’s angelic side while Tucker helps her to cultivate her humanity, and since both are a part of her the conflict is exciting to watch as a reader. 

It is also interesting watching the characters in the book try to deal with the results of their actions in <u>Unearthly</u>.  I especially liked getting to know Jeffrey.  When he reveals the truth about his purpose my heart broke right along with Clara’s (and, actually, I thought Clara’s should have broke a little more with what he has to say).  Angela has developed into a quite intriguing character as well, and it is great that we really get to see the better side of Christian. 

My only fault with this book really was how Clara’s mother developed.  Although it may propel the plot I have a large difficulty with the woman actually saying the words “my purpose in life was to give birth to you.”  Way to reduce a strong female character and role model into a stereotype.  I could have forgiven it if Maggie’s purpose was a little different, for example, if her purpose was to protect Clara and Jeffrey from Samjeeza.  I know that this book presented Maggie at her worst, however, it really bugged me to see her accomplishments minimized even while they are only being discovered.

In all, though, this was a solid sequel and a very good book.  I can’t wait to read more in this series, so much in fact that I kinda hope this is not a trilogy and there is more than one book to come.

Angelfall by Susan Ee

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.

Angel books, they are so difficult to review. This one is especially hard. It had great pacing. It’s the kind of book that picks you up in the first chapter and you just can’t put it down until you get to the end and even then you want more. I loved how the plot slowed at just the right points to keep the reader wanting more, and sped up when it needed to but not so much that it left the reader behind. The climax is particularly well paced, with a series of mini-climaxes that hit at just the right spots. Even the cliffhanger ending is so well done that I’m not as mad about it as I am about some books. There is obvious resolution and yet also an obvious need for the characters to continue the story. The character development works well, too. I identified with Penryn almost immediately. She is resourceful, tough, and loyal to her sister. It is a little hard to contrast with her relationship to her mother, but I can see how her mother’s illness and history with Paige has made their relationship more strained. However, my major issue with this book is with the angels. Raffe is fully fleshed out as a character, but he doesn’t fit into the angel mythology. It’s very hard for me to believe that beings who are without sin can curse or be agnostic or be as aimless as the angels in the story. Even without the voice of God to tell them what to do I can’t believe that angels would go on a killing spree. And it is with the angel mythos that the worldbuilding fell apart for me. The angels just seemed too human, with human motivations and politics and pettiness. It’s as Penryn thinks in the book "The thought of superhuman beings with human temptations and flaws sent a chill through me." But angels are supposed to be different from humans. They’re not supposed to have human temptations and flaws. If Ee had claimed the angels were actually alien beings directed as an army and their communication with their home planet was cut off I think the story would have worked out. However, Ee takes all the angel mythology as it is and just takes out the part where angels cannot commit sin. For me, taking all the mythology as true except for one part and never mentioning why that one part is untrue just doesn’t work. If something is discarded from myth then it needs to be explained somehow. I’m sad that it wasn’t, because this was a really, really good book but that flaw ruined it for me. However, I will pick up anything that Ee writes and devour it because her writing is so superb, but it may be me over in the corner pouting and grumbling about angel mythos.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Can Cameron find what he’s looking for? All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school—and life in general—with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Which totally sucks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure—if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most.

In a book less dark than her X series, Libba Bray creates a psychologically deep book that is also a very entertaining read. Going Bovine is full of the fantastic: a fairy/angel character as well as a talking yard gnome, and yet it could also be read as an entirely realistic contemporary fiction book. All these doubts in what is going on center around the narrator, Cameron. Cameron is a normal boy when he starts getting hallucinations. He finds out he has a rare form of Mad Cow disease and sets off to find someone who can cure him before he dies. Cameron is an (understandably) driven character in the book, a kid who still has some sarcasm left in him but is also overcome at many times with fear and longing for a normal life. His “imaginary” friends Dulcie and Balder, are well developed as well and you feel they are along for the ride for a purpose and have good reason to help Cameron. The plot moves well, with a few slow spots for exposition but mostly moving along nicely thanks to Cameron’s drive and softened by his sense of humor. The ending, though, is amazing. It feels like you have been watching a semi truck come towards you for what seems like ages only to be hit from the side by a bus right as you’re bracing for the semi’s impact. And it is a hell of a bus, too. Bray has us questioning what of Cameron’s quest was real and what was fake, and does it really matter what the difference is in the end? This is a great stand-alone book that deserves a thorough reading.

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone—especially herself—from the Dark Forces.

Is love a great enough power against evil?

This was an incredibly difficult read. I will readily admit this was an impulse buy based on the amazing cover. Unfortunately the inside of the book just doesn’t measure up to it, or even to a mediocre cover. It falls into the all-too-common difficulty with angel books: angels are perfect beings with no emotions and no free will, and that makes personal conflict and inner turmoil a hard thing to introduce because, by definition, an angel experiencing those is a renunciation of everything they are. I know, I know, it’s my constant refrain with angel books and why I don’t like them. However there is much more wrong with this book than just a mischaracterization of a legendary being. The plot is so slow it’s pretty much non-existent until the last hundred pages. There are the bare bones of an angels-working-on-earth idea but it’s completely covered up by Bethany’s ultra-scary relationship with a mortal. As soon as Bethany falls in love the entire plot is about her obsessing, clinging, and whining over her ultra-love. The end of the book tries to redeem things with a battle scene between ultimate good and evil, but it falls very flat because the set-up is so scant. In all I would recommend that anyone who’s not a die-hard Twilight fan to pass on this book.

The Mephisto Covenant by Trinity Faegen

Sasha is desperate to find out who murdered her father. When getting the answer means pledging her soul to Eryx, she unlocks a secret that puts her in grave danger—Sasha is Anabo, a daughter of Eve, and Eryx’s biggest threat.

A son of Hell, immortal, and bound to Earth forever, Jax looks for redemption in the Mephisto Covenant—God’s promise he will find peace in the love of an Anabo. After a thousand years, he’s finally found the girl he’s been searching for: Sasha.

With the threat of Eryx looming, Jax has to keep Sasha safe and win her over. But can he? Will Sasha love him and give up her mortal life?

This book didn’t really work for me. It was bugging me from the beginning. The first chapter is nearly all exposition of the lead male’s back story in a very read-out manner, and at the end of the chapter the lead male makes the lead female forget the whole story so we have to read it again in chapter 3. Chapter 2 is a similar exposition dump on the back story of the lead female. There is more of the same exposition stated again and again in the book whenever it comes up again. I can’t tell if the author is reveling in her own cleverness or thinks the reader needs to be told things seven times before they understand them, but it’s very annoying either way. Once you get past the complicated and unnecessarily tangled back plot the story is pretty straightforward and rather frightening. The girl is destined to fall in love with the guy because “he smelled her first”. She realizes she loves him after he punches a guy friend of hers for greeting her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. His rages and attempts to control her behavior are 'only because he cares about her'. This is not the only issue I had with the book, though. I really couldn’t find an example of a healthy relationship in the whole thing. Even the relationships you think are stable end up being selfish and scarred. Add on the fact that the lead character is “without sin” and presented as perfection incarnate and the whole book really became rather blah. I’ll be passing on the sequel.

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

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.

Angel books, why do I keep reading you even though I'm usually disappointed? Perhaps one of these days I will learn my lesson. Books like Angelfire make it hard to learn, though. There was a lot to like in this book. The plot and idea were fresh and new, and I was excited to see how the mythology was woven into the book in exciting ways. I liked the strong female fighter angle, although it did seem like she was still weaker than Will and Nathaniel, but that can be excused away by the fact that she's not fully aware yet of who she is and how to work what she's got. It's also not like she had much training prior to starting to fight monsters. Will and Nathaniel both seem like rounded characters, and although Will comes off a little Edward-esque his angles and issues are fresh and more rounded and modern and I like him for them. The relationship between Ellie and Will was the best aspect of this book. It was understandable, age-appropriate, and felt very realistic to me. I thought that the Logan-love-triangle was weak, but I don't think I would have wanted him in any more of the book, so I count that as a good aspect as well.

On the other hand, although I liked the plot and Will the human characterization felt off to me. Ellie reads as ageless even before she is *awakened*. Yet she also reads as reckless. Perhaps this is a result of the author trying to interweave Ellie's young age with her immortality, but it just didn't work for me. I also didn't get the point of Ellie's father being characterized as an abuser. It really seemed like a plot point in the making, but it ended up going nowhere. I did like Ellie's mother, although in the last chapter of the book she seemed rather preachy. Then again, she had a lot to be preachy about, which is my main problem with this book. Ellie does a lot of things that are, in my opinion, wrong. She lies. She drinks. She runs away to other countries without telling her parents. And yet there's really no consequences for any of these actions. I'd expect the author to at least address that drinking would slow a fighter's reaction time, but although Ellie is portrayed as plastered in the scene she still manages to fight unhindered. I found these things both unrealistic and disturbing, especially considering the big reveal at the end and what Ellie really is. However, even if Ellie was completely human I wouldn't approve, either. I didn't like Kate and her issues with these either. However I'm not sure that issue is enough that I'd not recommend this book to an adult or a mature teen. If there are more books in the series I will be sure to get them.

I was provided with a free copy of this book through NetGalley, but I also went out and purchased a hard copy for my library.

Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell

Heaven-sent?

Ellie was never particularly good at talking to boys—or anyone other than her best friend and fellow outcast, Ruth. Then she met Michael.

Michael is handsome, charming, sweet. And totally into Ellie. It’s no wonder she is instantly drawn to him. But Michael has a secret. And he knows Ellie is hiding something, too. They’ve both discovered they have powers beyond their imagining. Powers that are otherworldly.

Ellie and Michael are determined to uncover what they are, and how they got this way . . . together. But the truth has repercussions neither could have imagined. Soon they find themselves center stage in an ancient conflict that threatens to destroy everything they love. And it is no longer clear whether Ellie and Michael will choose the same side.

In this electrifying novel, Heather Terrell spins a gripping supernatural tale about true love, destiny, and the battle of good versus evil.

I didn't really like this book much. First, I should probably know better than to keep reading angel books when so many of them annoy me. Yet, for some reason I do. Perhaps I am hoping for gems, which is entirely possible since I decided to read this immediately after Unearthly, which was deifinately a gem. Fallen Angel wasn't really one of them, though. It fell kinda flat and predictable. The story is the same as a lot: a girl finds out she has crazy powers and, over the book, discovers she's an angel with the help of her (also discovering) boyfriend. By the end of the book she also discovers she's (unfortunately) the Mary-Sue Angel who's born to bring about the apocalypse. Meanwhile her parents, who are also (suprise, suprise) angels, aren't telling her anything about who or what she is, so, other than the fact that they wouldn't be around to ground her, it really wouldn't harm the book at all if they weren't even there. Even if all of the Mary-Sue tendencies of the main character were forgiveable (she can fly! she can read minds! she has the popular new boyfriend! she's pretty and envied by the popular girls even though she doesn't see it!) the book has other problems. I dislike the boyfriend character, Michael, and his constant insistence that Ellie disobey her parents and other authorities without consequence (and, often, with reward) and his mysogonistic protection of Ellie. I dislike the stale, almost formulaic pace and direction of the plot: girl finds new boy, girl finds powers, boy shows her he has powers too, girl finds out a bit about powers, girl gets grounded, girl finds out a lot about powers, powers are confirmed by bad guy, girl runs away to protect boy, boy pops up at climax to protect girl, happy makeup denoument. Also, the book reads rather like an adult romance novel. The sex scenes are cheesy and over-descriptive, and, frankly, gross because they always include someone biting someone so the couple can drink eachothers' blood. In all, I'm not too pleased with this read, it seemed too much like an adult romance stuffed into a stale paranormal shell, and I'll probably pass on any more by this author.

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

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.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Angels are still a sore point with me, but this book dealt with them well. I liked how Clara already knew she was an angel, and had for a while, and how she not only had her mom around but had her guidance. It's strange to say, but parents seem scarce in YA lit today, and good, responsible, helpful parents are even rarer. Clara does experience times when she doesn't understand what's going on around her and parts of her new life, but the explanation for why she wasn't told is a good one, and, by the end of the book, proven right. The love triangle in this book is beautifully handled and ends better than a lot of romance stories. The struggle between fate, duty, and love is handled even better, and is refreshing and inspiring at the same time. The ending came out a little strange because of this, but overall I think it was an okay way of dealing with things if you want to have a sequel to the book, so I'll give it a pass.