Book Review: Darkness Becomes Her (Gods & Monsters #1) by Kelly Keaton

Title: Darkness Becomes Her (Gods & Monsters #1)

Author: Kelly Keaton

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publishing Date: February 22^nd 2011

Length: 288 pages

Genre: YA, paranormal romance, fantasy

3/5 *** Darkness Becomes Her- An eerily good debut novel 2011 about mythology, voodoo and love! 

~ The Author ~

Kelly loves ancient history, fantasy, and mythology. She dreams of one day attaining magical powers, discovering the secret to immortality, ridding her home of pet hair, and being crowned Mardi-Gras queen. She likes pre-Raphaelite art, moonlight on snow, and MMORPGs. She lives in NC with her family, one Great Dane, and two incredibly hairy cats. DARKNESS BECOMES HER is her first Young Adult novel. She is published in adult fiction as Kelly Gay.

Author profile by Goodreads 

For further information visit http://kellykeaton.net/ 

~ The Novel ~

Darkness Becomes Her was released February 22^nd 2011 by Simon Pulse. The second novel in the Gods & Monsters series, expected to come out 2012, is still untitled.

~ The Story ~

Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is. 

Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued. 

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her. 

Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

Summary by Goodreads

~ The Review ~

When I started Darkness Becomes Her as part of my Debut Author Challenge 2011 I didn’t expect to like this novel that much, because it sounded so sinister. In the end I was surprised of the artistic interaction between mythology, voodoo and aspects of friendship and love.

Darkness Becomes Her is set in a dystopian world in future New Orleans. Real events are mixed with fictitious, so Keaton explains the flood’s origin with supernatural powers and gives the whole scenario a very interesting new turn.

Most of the landmarks do exist in reality, but are slightly adapted to the dystopian setting if needed. Former New Orleans is now called New 2, a vast place ruled by supernatural powers and inhabited by exceptional creatures.

This novel features a wide range of different character types, starting with humans, going over animal like creatures like griffins and ending with the greatest powers of all ,the gods.

There is also a scale of hybrids that can be for example half human, vampire or witch. Keaton created so many different possibilities of character types, but the revelation of what Ari our heroine really is still surprised me. 

Ari is beautiful, strong and new to the world of New 2 and develops an interesting relationship with Sebastian who has always lived among the exceptionally gifted kids of New 2.

What I missed in this novel was depth in character relationships. Ari and our male protagonist meet each other for the first time and are head over heels after just two days. Keaton should grant her two main characters more time to adjust to their feelings for each other, especially when there is happening so much around them.

The beginning of Darkness Becomes Her is about Ari visiting the psychiatric hospital her mother died, trying to find out what happened, learn more about her past and the mother she never had. She grew up with foster parents, but she can’t just forget about her real parents. Ari wants to know why she is different to other young women. I like her persistence and thirst for knowledge.

There was so much left to learn about Ari, the beginning was confusing because we don’t immediately get clear information about setting and background. We are thrown into a conversation between Ari and a doctor, wondering what this is all about.

And it was that beginning and the writing style combined with interesting plot turns that kept me involved all the time and drew me into the story around Ari 

This novel features some voodoo elements that really grossed me out and largely contributed to the sinister atmosphere of Keaton’s debut novel. Don't be surprised to be confronted with several creepy scenes.

Keaton's debut is not following any expected or mainstream lines of actions, but creates its own.

Personal aspects of Ari’s mysterious curse play together with the constitution of society and form an intriguing new debut novel in the wide dystopian range, unfortunately with lacking depth of relationships and emotional bonds between the characters.

~ We love this book because… ~

1) mail vans are our rescue

2) we are always prepared for a spontaneous masked ball
3) searching for your past means searching for yourself
4) of a well constructed future New Orleans
5) men playing the drums are so sexy

~ The Verdict ~

Darkness Becomes Her is an unusual YA fantasy debut novel. Keaton creates an eerie dystopian voodoo scenario I never expected to coexist with a love story so smoothly. Definitely a recommendable read for fans of mythology, voodoo and dystopian novels!

New Releases Feb 28th– March 6th

Let's have a look at the wonderful books being released this week!

March 1^st

Recovery Road by Blake Nelson (Goodreads ~ Amazon)

Demonglass (Hex Hall #2) by Rachel Hawkins (Goodreads ~ Amazon)

Clarity by Kim Harrington (Goodreads ~ Amazon)

Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan (Goodreads ~ Amazon)

Falling Under by Gwen Hayes (Goodreads ~ Amazon) 


Clarity, Demonglass and Falling Under are on my wishlist. On yours, too? 

In My Mailbox #21

The idea of In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren and is to bring books to the attention of our blog readers and to encourage interaction with other blogs.

E-ARCs 

Angelburn by L.A. Weatherly 

The Poison Eaters by Holly Black

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han

* Thanks to  Simon&Schuster and their Galley Grab programme I got The Poison Eaters and We'll Always Have Summer
* Thank you Harlequin and NetGalley for giving me access to the The Goddess Test eARC

* Thank you Candlewick Press and NetGalley for giving me access to the A Long, Long Sleep and Angelburn eARCs

 Gifted

The Mortal Instruments Boxed Set: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

 * Thanks to mum and dad I now got the English edition aswell, only read the German books so far.

 Won

A Match  Made in High School  by Kristin Walker

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

* Thanks to Holly @ Good Golly Miss Holly ! I won her All-Time Favourites Giveaway and chose Forget You and A Match Made in High School out of ten awesome suggestions.

Entangled by Cat Clarke (signed)

* @QuercusKids had a twitter anagram competition and I became 4th place winner with my anagram Crank Lactate Legend = Cat Clarke Entangled. Thanks for sending me a signed copy of Entangled!

Bought

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Coveresque feat. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (US vs. UK vs. German)

Tell me, which Uglies cover do you like best?  US on the left, we've got the UK cover in the middle and the German one on the right side.

 

Interview: Kristi Cook

Hello Kristi,

welcome to Miss Page-Turner’s City of Books. My interest in HAVEN was captured by a little bookmark sent to me by a fellow blogger friend. Now after reading HAVEN, I am happy to have you here and get the chance to present your debut novel to my readers.

Would you like to introduce yourself to Miss Page-Turner's City of Books' readers first? Give us five facts characterizing you best!

1) I'm a voracious reader. I read a lot, and I talk about books a lot. 

2) I love movies, and often get obsessed about a particular movie/actor. 

3) The only thing I love more than being a writer?! Being a mom! My kids rock! 

4) I love the color lavender. Everything about it is peaceful and comforting to me. 

5) I am still recovering from the absence of LOST on TV, but Hawaii Five-O is doing a good job filling the gap!

Make sure to visit www.kristi-cook.com

Your debut novel HAVEN is published on February 22nd 2011. How would you describe the whole process between the day you first had the idea for HAVEN and today?

It's been a very long process-I started the book a long time ago (2005, I think), and then mostly finished it a couple (or a few?) years ago. I feel like the story's been in my head for a long, long time, and I'm so happy to finally get to share it.

What's HAVEN about? Describe it in five words.

Psychic Powers. Secret Destinies. Love.

How did you come up with the idea for it?

A scene just popped into my head one day--a scene that later became the beginning on Chapter Two. It intrigued me, and I wanted to figure out who these people were, and what their story was. Why had she come to a new school? Who was this guy with the awesome eyes? What was their connection? What was with his British accent? Once I figured those things out, I had an entire plot on my hands!

What do you like most about being a writer?

Working at home in my PJs! That, and sharing the crazy stories in my head with other people.

Do you have any food/ drink/music/special something that supports you during your writing process and what is your rewarding after a successful day of writing?

Chocolate helps! Sometimes I can listen to music while I write, and sometimes I can't. I think it depends on how focused I am at any given time. After a successful day of writing, my favorite reward is to curl up in bed with a good book!

If you could have dinner with one literary character of your choice, who would it be?

Jane Austen! 

The setting of HAVEN is the boarding school Winterhaven which accommodates students with special psychic talents. Which psychic gift would you like to have?

Definitely astral projection, like the character Cece. It's something I've been totally fascinated about ever since reading Lois Duncan's STRANGER WITH MY FACE when I was about 12. 

If your book was an ice cream flavour, what would its name be?

Oh, man…I am NOT clever enough for this! Let's call it “Winterhaven Whorls.” You don't know what it is, exactly, but you're drawn to it, anyway!

Do you have any book recommendations for our life after HAVEN?

I have two! DIE FOR ME by Amy Plum, and DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth. I read ARCs of both and loved them!!

You love your readers because…?

They are so amazingly supportive and warm and funny and nice! I feel like I have this wonderful “book family” out there that goes far beyond anything to do with HAVEN-it's more about a shared love of YA fiction!

Is there anything you always wanted to say in an interview but never have? Now is the time

Hmmm, not really. I am SO boring!

Nah you aren't ;) Thank you so much for this interview! I cannot wait for the sequel to HAVEN and I am sure this series will be loved by readers from all countries.

Thanks so much for having me!

:o) Kristi

( Kristi always posts that smiley, isn't it cute? I couldn't help but post it in here)

Want to know what I think about HAVEN? Read my review of it here !

Book Review: Haven by Kristi Cook

Title: Haven

Author: Kristi Cook

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publishing Date: February 22^nd 2011

Length: 416 pages

Genre: YA, fantasy, paranormal romance

5/5 ***** Aiden’s the new Mr. Big! Haven  is not only a must-read for Sex and the City fans, but for fans of friendship, paranormalcy and an exciting forbidden love story! 

~ The Author ~

As a child, Kristi Cook took her nose out of a book only long enough to take a ballet class (or five) each week.  Not much has changed since then, except she’s added motherhood to the mix and enjoys penning her own novels as much as reading everybody else’s.  A transplanted southern gal, Kristi lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.

Author profile by www.kristi-cook.com

For further information visit http://kristi-cook.com/ or Kristi’s blog http://kristi-cook.livejournal.com/

~ The Novel ~

Haven is published on February 22^nd 2011 by Simon Pulse and is the first novel in a trilogy.

~ The Story ~

One month into her junior year, sixteen-year-old Violet McKenna transfers to the Winterhaven School in New York’s Hudson Valley, inexplicably drawn to the boarding school with high hopes. Leaving Atlanta behind, she’s looking forward to a fresh start--a new school, and new classmates who will not know her deepest, darkest secret, the one she’s tried to hide all her life: strange, foreboding visions of the future.

But Winterhaven has secrets of its own, secrets that run far deeper than Violet’s. Everyone there--every student, every teacher--has psychic abilities, 'gifts and talents,' they like to call them. Once the initial shock of discovery wears off, Violet realizes that the school is a safe haven for people like her. Soon, Violet has a new circle of friends, a new life, and maybe even a boyfriend--Aidan Gray, perhaps the smartest, hottest guy at Winterhaven.

Only there’s more to Aidan than meets the eye--much, much more. And once she learns the horrible truth, there’s no turning back from her destiny. Their destiny. Together, Violet and Aidan must face a common enemy--if only they can do so without destroying each other first.

Summary by Goodreads 

Interested? You can read an excerpt here! 

~ The Review ~

In honour of Kristi and her lovely Facebook speech to bloggers, I’ll start my review with: "OMG!  I *loved* this book!  It was awesome!" and I am not making fun of her, I mean it!

Without much talking and explaining Kristi Cook let’s Violet, our protagonist, arrive at her new boarding school Winterhaven. As Violet adjusts to her new school, we learn more about her character and past. She is a very likeable character and I easily made friends with her. Unlike other heroines she is a very reasonable character. 

Her love interest and male protagonist Aiden introduces himself as the anti I-better-stay-away-before-I-hurt-her supernatural and continues showing up at every possible occasion to meet Violet.

Just as much as our heroine I enjoyed the regular contact with him and appreciated the very short time spans between their meetings.

Where other novels take place in a time span of maybe two weeks with the first day the lover’s meeting each other, day fourteen them being through every possible conflict, Haven skips time periods without further interest in their relationship and continues the story at relevant points. Haven covers a time span of several months and so creates a reasonable relationship with believable feelings.Violet and Aiden have their ups and downs, romantic, steamy, sad situations, moments of denial and realization.

At a school of unusual gifted children, they both stick out for another special  ability or characteristic.  I was surprised to find out what they both are, that nature destined them to be enemies. Their love has to fight against a constant fear of loosing their feelings for each other which makes it so exciting. 

I am a fan of an ordinary school setting combined with a good portion of magic and paranormalcy. At Winterhaven school there are plenty of exceptionally gifted children, everyone’s got a psychic talent from telepathy to telekinesis or other spiritual talents. I hope to discover many more talents in the next book.

Although I hadn’t expected to meet certain supernatural creatures in Haven I didn’t get bored by their presence. First I almost felt disappointed by finding out one of the many secrets about Aiden but in the end I pretty much enjoyed the cool new elements Cook invented.

In my opinion, a very good novel is always marked by a very good writing style. Cook applied a writing style that supported the story very well. Although I noticed several word repetitions, I find Cook’s writing just right.

My interest in Haven was rised by a  little bookmark sent by the lovely Loni @ A Casual Reader, so I was very happy to receive an eARC of it later. Haven kept me up all night and in bed reading all next morning. I couldn’t help it, each new chapter lured me even deeper into the magical flow of Haven.

 

~ We love this book because… ~

1) we would love to have our own star loft

2) of a heart touched by the fingers of love

3) intuition leads us to the places where we belong

4) having psychic friends isn’t always the worst

5) we immediately check if we were born on a Saturday

~ The Verdict ~

Haven tells the story of Violet and Aiden, which is romantic, sexy and sad to all extents. You are a fan of the supernatural, difficult love affairs that aren’t destined to exist? Then you should visit the Winterhaven school yourselves to believe its magic! 

~ Thanks to Kristi for sending me an e-copy of Haven!

~ Want to find out what Haven would be named if it was an ice cream flavour? Then visit tomorrow to read my interview with Kristi Cook.

Teaser Tuesday #18

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading and it asks us to...

It's not summer without you by Jenny Han

And then I would go back home, away from him and from everything he reminded me of. I would lay out at the neighborhood pool and I would hang by the snack bar with Taylor, and pretty soon the summer would go by. 

~ p. 131

New Releases Feb 21st – Feb 27th

Let's have a look at the wonderful books being released this week!

Feb 22^nd

The Iron Thorn (Iron Codex #1) by Caitlin Kittredge (Goodreads ~ Amazon)

Darkness Becomes Her (Gods and Monsters #1) by Kelly Keaton (Goodreads ~ Amazon)

Deadly by Julie Chibbaro (Goodreads ~ Amazon)

Haven by Kristi Cook (Goodreads ~ Amazon)            

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford (Goodreads ~ Amazon)

Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely #5) by Melissa Marr (Goodreads ~ Amazon)

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf (Naked Werewolf #1) by Molly Harper (Goodreads ~ Amazon) 

I already read Darkness Becomes Her and Haven for my Debut Author Challenge 2011. A Touch Mortal is still on my wishlist! 

In My Mailbox #20

The idea of In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren and is to bring books to the attention of our blog readers and to encourage interaction with other blogs.

For Review

Griffin Rising by Darby Karchut 

* Thanks to Darby for sending this over the pond, the Griffin has landed successfully;)  


Divergent by Veronica Roth

* Thanks to HarperCollins UK


Bought 


The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

On My Wishlist # 15

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

 

Here is #1 

 

The Duff by Kody Keplinger

 

I have to read this just because of its hilarious title.  

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Summary by Goodreads 

And #2

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson 

 

I should read more novels including roadtrips, so enjoyable! 

Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew—just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road—diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards—this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.

 

Summary by Goodreads

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Title: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Corgi
Publishing Date: August 2007
Length: 560 pages
Genre: A bit of everything

5/5 ***** Zusak is the magician behind a beautifully written The Book Thief, a novel set during World War II, about a single girl and the philosophy of death. A must read, even for people not interested in history! 

~ The Author ~

Markus Zusak (born in 1975 in Sydney) is an Australian author. He is the son of an Austrian father and German mother and he is the youngest of four children.

Zusak is best known for his novels I Am The Messenger and The Book Thief. These have been very successful both in Australia and internationally, and have sold more copies and received more publicity and critical acclaim than his other novels.

Zusak lives in Sydney, with his wife and daughter and has taken up surfing.

Author profile by Goodreads 

~ The Novel ~

What was Zusak’s inspiration for writing The Book Thief? His answer:  

The Book Thief was supposed to be a small book - only a hundred pages or so. When I was growing up, I heard stories at home about Munich and Vienna in war-time, when my parents were children. Two stories my mother told me affected me a lot. The first was about Munich being bombed, and how the sky was on fire, how everything was red. The second was about something else she saw...

One day, there was a terrible noise coming from the main street of town, and when she ran to see it, she saw that Jewish people were being marched to Dachau, the concentration camp. At the back of the line, there was an old man, totally emaciated, who couldn't keep up. When a teenage boy saw this, he ran inside and brought the man a piece of bread. The man fell to his knees and kissed the boy's ankles and thanked him . . . Soon, a soldier noticed and walked over. He tore the bread from the man's hands and whipped him for taking it. Then he chased the boy and whipped him for giving him the bread in the first place. In one moment, there was great kindness and great cruelty, and I saw it as the perfect story of how humans are.

When I remembered those stories, I wanted to build them into a small book, like I said. The result was The Book Thief, and it came to mean much more to me than I could have imagined. No matter what anyone ever says about that book, whether good or bad, I know it was the best I could do, and I don't think a writer can ask for more of himself than that.

Read more about Zusak and The Book Thief in the Q&A with Random House here! 

~ The Story ~

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she discovers something she can't resist- books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found.
With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

Summary by Goodreads 

~ The Review ~

I admit it, The Book Thief and I had a more than slow start. The first one-hundred pages I felt all feelings between anger, confusion and boredom. At that point I was determined to give it one out of five stars when I would ever make it through this novel. I even thought about quitting reading. Now, let me turn this one start into five full stars!

I think I just wasn’t used to the extraordinarily different writing style of Zusak.

The Book Thief was my book for train rides, and with its almost six hundred pages endured one whole semester. I laughed, I cried (a lot, so I am glad that I read the last chapters at home), sometimes I smiled like crazy.

This novel is narrated by death, literally. A narrator I never came across before, but the best for the job of telling the book thief’s story there can be. He is sensitive and human and sometimes almost annoying when “destroying” a later death scene by announcing it several hundred pages before it happens. Sometimes he is silently thinking, other times more talkative, so that my eyes often got teary even when I was pages away from the next victim of war. We get to know a death that sees the world and its transience with a spectrum of colours and magic. I’m in love with Zusak's philosophy and poetry of death.

The Book Thief is divided into ten parts, each one stands for a significant book that was part of Liesel’s life.

Despite the extremely sad and moving happenings and the story, I often couldn’t suppress a grin that Zusak conjured with so much charm and wit. I found scenes, moments that radiated with warmth and happiness, although the burden of the events of war never fully left my reading consciousness.

Furthermore Zusak provides characters that couldn’t be more diverse. Liesel, the book thief and the girl who gives this novel its name, is a touch, young girl with a personality that lets even death linger for a tiny moment to watch her next movement. Rudy is a young man that never lets corruption and power win him over, sticks to his morals and is always there for his best friend Liesel.

Characters like Liesel’s foster parents, the jew Max and various neighbours enrich the story, in the end I cared for every single one of them.

Zusak certainly doesn’t claim to provide a complete account of historical occurrences and display all National Socialist events. The Book Thief is a well founded and authentic novel with several true events and important dates, persons mentioned.  

The applied language is in the true sense of a word terribly beautiful. Frequently I felt a huge admiration for the expression of such an innocent poetry in such a horrible time. In addition many sketches and lovely fables soften the events.

Not only books are stolen, but the heart of each single reader. Liesel Meminger, death and Markus Zusak took my heart after an initial light breeze by storm.

~ We love this book because… ~

1) of its numerous colours describing a pitch black time

2) of “The Word Shaker”

3) of lemon yellow hair

4) of the ten stolen books that give a girl and The Book Thief a personality

5) everyone of us wants to be called a “Saumensch” (“pig”)

~ The Verdict ~

You don’t need to be a history professor to read and love The Book Thief. Zusak invites his readers to take part in the story of Liesel Meminger and her friends and learn new perspectives of life and death. The Book Thief is a standalone novel with the character of a whole library of colourful books.

Coveresque feat. Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz (US vs. UK vs. German)

Tell me, which Blue Bloods cover do you like best?  US on the left, we've got the UK cover in the middle and the German one on the right side.UK and US both play with the blue bloods motive, showing a girl's neck with a pearl necklace and bite marks. The German cover is the total opposite, dark with a raven on it.  

 

Waiting On Wednesday #17

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

What I am waiting for on this Wednesday: A Touch Mortal by  Leah Clifford (February 22nd 2011)

Always interested in reading about the beginning of the end! And Eden sounds like a touch heroine, need to get it soon.

Eden didn't expect Az. Not his saunter down the beach toward her. Not his unbelievable pick-up line. Not the instant, undeniable connection. And not his wings.Yeah. So long, happily-ever-after.

Now trapped between life and death, cursed to spread chaos with her every touch, Eden could be the key in the eternal struggle between heaven and hell. All because she gave her heart to one of the Fallen, an angel cast out of heaven.
She may lose everything she ever had. She may be betrayed by those she loves most. But Eden will not be a pawn in anyone else's game. Her heart is her own. And that's only the beginning of the end. 

Summary by Goodreads 

Book Review: Angelfire (Angelfire #1) by C.A. Moulton

Title: Angelfire (Angelfire #1)

Author: C.A. Moulton

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publishing Date: February 15^th 2011

Length: 464 pages

Genre: YA, fantasy, paranormal romance

5/5 ***** Angelfire is one of the best 2011 debutantes, with a damn hot protagonists and an ass-kicking story. A must-read! 

 ~ The Author ~

Courtney Allison Moulton lives in Michigan, where she is a photographer and spends all her free time riding and showing horses. She has always loved reading about ancient mythologies, dead languages, and telling scary, romantic stories. ANGELFIRE is her debut novel.

Author profile by Goodreads

For further information visit http://www.courtneyallisonmoulton.com/ 

~ The Novel ~

Angelfire is the first novel in a trilogy, published February 15^th 2011. Its two sequels Wings of the Wicked and Hymn to the Fallen will be published by HaperCollins / Katherine Tegen Books in 2012 and 2013.

~ The Story ~

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.

Summary by Goodreads 

~ The Review ~

First I didn’t want to read Angelfire, because I read the summary and somehow confused the word “reaper” with “rapist”. I was shocked and wondered how such a character background could be appropriate for a YA novel. Big announcement: Angelfire is NOT about a rapist, but a special type of ancient warrior called reaper, ha and I know I must be the only one to confuse this.

Beside numerous positive critiques on blogs, a small teaser scene on Moulton’s blog totally drew my attention on Angelfire. It was a fast fighting scene between both protagonists, Will and Ellie, that promised action, but also a slight romance, sexy scenes and witty exchanges of words.

Ellie is a reaper who has the power  of reincarnation. Ellie’s character has many potential left cause she has a past of more than thousand years that need to be or can be discovered.

What is so refreshing about her is that her ancient reaper self, who likes to fight, needs to be reconciled with her human teenager self, who likes her friends, family, dancing, partying.

Moulton also lays a certain accentuation on the relationships between Ellie and her parents. Angelfire does not only feature one grand conflict between heaven and hell, but also daily quarrels and conflicts every teenager can relate to, issues of drinking, partying and school problems are mentioned.

Already having weird nightmares, Ellie’s life turns upside down with Will entering her life. Only talking about him makes me wobbly. Will is my new superhero! He is a warrior, an immortal reaper and brooding, dark, sexy. He remains mysterious over a large sequence of Angelfire and just like Ellie I couldn't wait to discover and get to know him.

In the end I felt like Ellie who has known him for centuries and just remembered piece by piece about him and their relationship. The charm of Angelfire lies not in an excessive and permanent demonstration of love. I love it for its rare signs of affection and because they are not very frequent, they are even more meaningful. I never waited with so much anticipation for a literary couple to kiss. Moulton tortured me all along with tender hugs or slight gestures of affection.

The love story appears natural, not forced. Ellie and Will are teenagers at heart, war mates and lovers. The mistake? Their love is forbidden by the secrets which lie in their very existence.

In the end Moulton made me almost cry, Ellie’s and Will’s love is a sweet and natural but very sad one.

Funny and at the same time exciting is the age difference between Will and Ellie, in modern terms and considering all the past lives of our heroine.

Another dominant aspect of Angelfire are fighting scenes.

As in no other YA novel about battling evil creatures, Angelfire shows many scenes that contain violence. These fight scenes evoke action events and demonstrations of our heroes talents. For a romance fan like me some of the fighting scenes become too raw, but they still support the atmosphere of a strong story, heroine and novel very well.

~ We love this book because… ~

1) we love getting jewellery

2) a nurse must be able to convince the most reluctant patient

3) we love men who never break their promises
4) being a coward can sometimes be the hardest decision
5) we all need holidays in the Caribbean

~ The Verdict ~

Where have the 2011debut authors got their writing skills from? I really appreciate Moulton’s extraordinary writing style. The story has very few slow paced moments, characters are well developed with potential for more, dialogues are comprehensible and entertaining.

Angelfire does not really end with a cliffhanger, still I urgently need to know how Ellie’s and Will’s relationship and the war against reapers continues.