Angelfall by Susan Ee (Penryn & the End of Days #1)

Original title: Angelfall

Year published: 2011/2012

Published by: Skyscape

Number of pages: 288

First sentence: “Ironically, since the attacks, the sunsets have been glorious.”

Plot: It's been six weeks since the angels of the apocalypse destroyed the world as we know it. Only pockets of humanity remain. 

Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. 

When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back...

(From Goodreads)

My thoughts: First thought was, naaah. But as soon as Penryn and her family steps out onto the street and feathers start falling from the sky things get interesting. Although it was a bit obvious that Penryn was going to save Raffe’s life I still liked it. It also felt truly inevitable for her to fall in love with him and the other way around. But he sure doesn’t show it. Not until he thinks she’s dead. He’s a total douche but I can’t help but love him anyway. Gaah. What is it with me and angels?

So anyway, the story is really great and I love the mythology (can I call it mythology when it’s stuff from the bible?) and I found myself going: “Huh. I actually already knew that” and “Hold the phone. An angel called Raffe, could this be the archangel Raphael?”. While trying to figure out the bad guys names I drew on my previous experience of reading neph/angel books and I wasn’t all that surprised to find out that the bad guy was named Beliel. I’ve stumbled upon that name before. Yes, Wendy Higgins is responsible, isn’t she always?

This book is packed with action, there’s not one moment where something’s not happening, much to Penryn’s chagrin. But that’s what I loved about it. I was never bored and I just wanted to keep reading it. That’s what a book should be, don’t ya think?

The thing that drew me to this book was actually the name and the cover and once I’d read what it was about I was sold. This book has two of my favorite things in it. Okay maybe more than two if we count the hot guys. But what I’m talking about is dystopia and angels. It’s like Susan Ee has read my mind and written the exact thing I wanted and needed.

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads, I would’ve given it 5 but despite how much I loved it there was something missing. Maybe the dystopia was too much of just that, dystopia. Too cold, not enough love and human emotions. Not sure. I’m looking forward to reading the next one nonetheless. It’s patiently waiting for me in my Kindle library.

Do I recommend it? Heck yes! If you like I have a thing for either dystopia or angels, or maybe both, then you should definitely read this!

The Zeuorian Awakening by Cindy Zablockis (The Zeuorian #1)

Original title: The Zeuorian Awakening

Year published: 2013

Published by: CZ Publishing, LLC

Number of pages: 254

First sentence: “Everything can change ina blink of an eye, Lexi Greene learned the hard way after her parents had died.”

Plot: Lexi’s no ordinary teenager. She was born with the ability to read minds and sense danger. But on her seventeenth birthday, she realized how different she was after transforming, literally that is. Now she’s developing powers stronger than a superhero. But she’s no superhero. 

Far from it. 

She has no control over her abilities and causes accidents every time she’s nervous or upset, which being a teenager is hard to avoid, especially when the most popular boys in school are fighting to be with her. 

If that isn’t bad enough, a stranger is following her. She doesn't know who he is or what he wants, yet he knows all about her abilities and that she’s developing more. And . . . he’s her only hope of understanding why she’s changing and others are after her. What she learns will send her life into overdrive.

My thoughts: Okay, so this was a very fast read, I think it took about three hours combined from start to finish. At the beginning I thought “no”, mostly because the language was lacking. But I continued with the book anyway because I thought that the story might be interesting. Which it was.

Lexi has had the power to read minds and feel danger since she was a child but on her 17^th birthday she’s “transformed” and suddenly she can move objects with her mind. As if that wasn’t weird enough all the boys suddenly want her. Speaking of those boys, can I just, wow, okay. So at first there’s Tyler, a jock with kind of a soft side. Lexi has liked him since she first move to Brookings two years prior and he’s kind of cute. So when he claims to have saved her from being kidnapped she believes him, ‘cause he always only wanted what was best for her, right? So all is good, until his crush on her turns into like full stalker mode. I was thoroughly creeped out and then when he basically tries to rape her (maybe it was worse in my head than it actually was?) I’d just had about enough of that guy. There’s also Everett, a surfer “ish” dude who’s really nice. He also shares some interests with Lexi, such as cars, horror movies and a dream of studying at MIT. And then there’s this mysterious guy inside Lexi’s head who tells her to stay out of danger, this also happens to be the guy Tyler saved her from and who’s been following her. Hmm. Plot thickens. So who is this Watcher guy? Is it Tyler, yeah could be, until Lexi telepathically tells him not to have sex with her and he sort of doesn’t listen.

There’s also the fact that Lexi has lost her memories of an entire summer, namely the summer before her parents died. Apparently she spent it in Colorado, falling hopelessly in love with a boy, who knew about her powers. So can this boyfriend she can’t remember be her Watcher, maybe who knows?

Okay, so basically what we’ve gathered is that this book is really cliché, or maybe cliché isn’t the right word for it? Hmm. Anyway, it was obvious, sort of anyway. But still I kind of liked it, although there are a lot of unanswered questions lying around. I definitely want to read the next book in the series.

So do I recommend it? Yeah, sure. If you want a fast read that has a somewhat interesting story.

Goodreads rating: 3/5

There You Stand by Christina Lee (Between Breaths #5)

Original title: There You Stand

Year published: 2015

Published by: Penguin/Intermix

Number of pages: - (this is an e-book and a review edition at that)

First sentence: “I swallowed past the lump in my throat and leaned over to pat Chopper, the dog I’d inherited a couple of months ago from Joe, my latest asshole boyfriend.”

Plot: Tattoo artist Cory Easton has worked long enough at Raw Ink to know, just by looking at a dude, what his body art reveals, what makes him tick, what even makes him scared. Until he meets the quiet and remote Jude York—so unreadable, so unreachable, and so unlike anyone else, he can’t help but arouse Cory’s curiosity.

As captivating and complex as his ink, Jude is a mystery—and Cory’s falling fast and hard under his spell. Against his better judgment to steer clear.

The rumors of Jude’s past overshadow him—whispers of prison and an unmentionable secret that’s kept him in the protective shadows of a local motorcycle club. As Cory probes deeper, he wonders how much he really wants to know. Especially since Jude has awakened something inside him that has been buried too long—and has him feeling completely alive for the first time in forever…

(Taken from Goodreads because I’m still reeling)

My thoughts: Holy fucking shit! Pardon the language. This is just too much. Okay so this was my first male/male romance read and I was a bit weary at first and worried that I thought it might not be entirely for me. But holy shit it was! I absolutely loved this. And not just the romance stuff but the story was great, the language was great, it was funny and oh my god, yeah this book has it all!

Both of the guys have these really complicated back stories and you’d think that would be something that scares them. And it sort of does, though Jude is a lot wearier for reasons that become very obvious as you get farther into the book. They get off to a slow start with one of them trying to ignore his feelings for the other (doesn’t that always happen? It pisses me off) but they slowly accept (more or less) that there’s something between them.  They start to build some form of relationship, they connect over their love of dogs and the fact that Jude is getting a tattoo at the place Cory works. Jude is a very quiet person (for reasons, obviously) but Cory manages to draw him out of his shell eventually. Together they share a lot of things, things they’d never shared with anyone before and I just fell in love with their love, does that make sense?

Anyway, I thought for sure I’d be embarrassed when it came to the sexy times, and I was. But I realized I almost always am even if it’s the standard male/female situation. I was embarrassed because it was kind of an embarrassing situation. I mean the things that were said, I’d probably be embarrassed if someone had sad that to me in real life. But still I loved it, I never in my life imagined that two guys together would be that interesting (HOT, yes of course I mean HOT!) but it was.

Christina has a really nice language. It doesn’t feel forced, it felt very natural to read and I could really imagine Cory and Jude’s voices in my head. I even read Jude’s lines with an accent. It was brilliant (said in an English accent of course). There was a sense of humor there that I absolutely adored but there wasn’t so much humor that it took away the seriousness that was ever present in the story which was great because no matter how funny something is we can’t just forget everything bad, right?

So to sum it all up, I loved the book, and if you feel like this would be something for you I think you should definitely read it. Hell, I’m still reeling.

Now I just need to read the rest of the books in the ‘Between Breaths’ series and swoon over some other people.  

There You Stand will be out on April 21^st of this year!

Shadow, Shadow by V.B. Marlowe (The Shadow Pines Trilogy #1)

Original title: Shadow, Shadow

Year published: 2015

Published by: All Night Reads

Number of pages: 208

First sentence: “A girl is trapped in a box, only she doesn’t know that she’s trapped because the box is all she has ever known”

Plot:  "The four of you have been blessed with a great gift. Well, it's a gift for you, but a curse for someone else." Harley receives a mysterious gift on her sixteenth birthday--a shadow box. The box gives her the power to trade someone to the shadows, meaning they will disappear and cease to exist. Harley can't imagine doing such a horrible thing and is warned that using the box comes at a price. Unfortunately, not using the box can be even more costly. Harley must make this life-altering decision as she discovers frightening revelations about the town she calls home.

(From Goodreads)

My thoughts: I got this from NetGalley in exchange for a review. I chose this book because the plot looked interesting. Sure enough, it was. The whole shadows snatching people is really creepy. I’m sure I’ll be scared to be alone with my shadow from now on. So there are these four kids (yes, 16 year olds are kids); Harley, Brock, Teaghan and Gianna and they all share the same birthday. They all receive these Shadow Boxes, with these Shadow Boxes they can give people to the Shadows. Everyone except for Teaghan is reluctant to believe the stories they’ve been told and the powers of the Shadow Boxes. After Teaghan uses it for the first time things start going downhill and it quickly turns into a “kill or be killed” type of scenario. In the midst of all this Harley (who’s kind of the main character) has to deal with a stalker boyfriend and an evil stepmom. And what’s with this quarterly physicals where they’re injected with some sort of “flu” shot? And the shrink? Why is he giving Teaghan and Harley the same medication when one’s suffering from depression and the other headaches?

The scariest thing about this book is that all of the four kids has one family member who’s either missing or dead. Teaghan’s mother was murdered and Harley and Gianna’s mothers both just disappeared one day. Brock’s sister Sierra is also missing.

The writing may not have been the best and at times I thought things were a bit childish, but then again the book is marketed towards kids age 13 and up. Not sure if I qualify. But still the story was good and I want to read the next book which doesn’t even have a date set yet.

Goodreads rating 3/5

Do I recommend it? Yeah, maybe if you’re a younger reader.

Never Forgotten by Kelly Risser (Never Forgotten #1)

Original title: Never Forgotten

Year published: 2014

Published by: Clean Teen Publishing

Number of pages: 328

First sentence: “Meara, where are you?”

Plot: How can one day go so very wrong? One minute Meara Quinn is making plans for how she will spend the summer before her senior year and the next she's finding out that her mother's cancer has returned and they are moving away from the only home she's ever known.

Now every day is a struggle as Meara is trying to cope with her mother's illness, being forced to move to another country to live with grandparents—whom she thought disowned her mother—and having weird visions of a father who was absent her entire life. Top it all off with one whopping secret that everyone seems bent on keeping from her, and Meara has the perfect ingredients for a major melt down.

The only things keeping her from coming unglued are some new friends and Evan—the son of her mother's childhood friend—who seems to know Meara almost better than she knows herself.

Together with Evan and her friends, Meara embarks on a new journey to unlock the secrets that will not only tell Meara who she is, but what she is. How can one day go so very wrong? One minute Meara Quinn is making plans for how she will spend the Summer before her senior year and the next she's finding out that her mother's cancer has returned and they are moving away from the only home she's ever known.

Now every day is a struggle as Meara is trying to cope with her mother's illness, being forced to move to another country to live with grandparents—whom she thought disowned her mother—and having weird visions of a father who was absent her entire life. Top it all off with one whopping secret that everyone seems bent on keeping from her, and Meara has the perfect ingredients for a major melt down.

The only things keeping her from coming unglued are some new friends and Evan—the son of her mother's childhood friend—who seems to know Meara almost better than she knows herself.

Together with Evan and her friends, Meara embarks on a new journey to unlock the secrets that will not only tell Meara who she is, but what she is.

(Plot taken from Goodreads)

My thoughts: Okay, so at first I didn’t like it. I thought the language was a bit weird and the fact that the chapters were really short was a bit annoying. I also didn’t think that you got to know the characters well enough. After a while I learned you didn’t really need to. The story is great all though a bit obvious at some points. Absent dad, scared mom, it all seems like something I’ve read before, hell it even seems like something I’ve written before. Anyway, I was so sure this was going to be another book where the main character finds out she’s a mermaid or a siren or whatever. Meara obviously felt a pull toward the ocean as soon as she arrived in Peggy’s Cove and then there’s the whole deal with her feet. But was she a mermaid? No. She was- wait for it- a freakin’ seal! Or a Selkie as they’re apparently called. How amazing is that? I’m so glad she wasn’t a mermaid, that would have been seriously disappointing. I’ve read so many mermaid books, I mean don’t get me wrong, I love mermaids - one of my favorite book series has mermaids in it – but it just didn’t feel right this time. I was happy to learn she was just a girl who’s dad spent most of his time as a seal.

Okay so let’s talk about Evan for a minute. Such an amazing guy. If Meara doesn’t return for him I’d be more than happy to heal his heart. Hmm, yummy. Husband material that one.

I cried when I read this, yes I cried, seems to be happening a lot lately. There was this part where I just broke down, too many emotions at once. I’m not going to spoil it for you, as I fear I’ve already done with revealing the seal thing, sorry about that. It was just too big a part of the story to leave out.

So do I recommend it? Yeah, sure, it’s a good story even if it’s a bit cliché at times.

Goodreads rating 4/5