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

April Paperback Month + NetGalley Challenge

Hi guys! So I’ve decided to join the April Paperback Month which was created by Suze over at librarianlavender and Sophie at reviewedthebook and we’re supposed to dedicate the month to reading paperbacks. I mostly do read paperbacks but there have been fewer and fewer lately and instead I’ve been reading a lot of books on my Kindle.

Here’s a link to the original post: http://www.reviewedthebook.co.uk/2015/03/aprilpaperbackmonth.html, go check it out if you want to join.

I’ve already read one paperback this month (City of Glass) and I’m currently reading two more. I don’t know if I want to set a goal of how many books I’m going to read because I’m usually really bad at keeping promises. But I’m at least going to finish the ones I’ve started. 

I've also decided to give the NetGalley Challenge a try. I have 12 books waiting for me from NetGalley but I doubt I'll be able to read and review all of them in just one month. I do have a life, school and stuff. I know it sucks, right? But I'll do some. I've already reviewed one NetGalley title this month so I'm well on the way anyway. Should be doable, I think.

I'll try and get a review up on 'City of Glass' but I'm not sure when that's going to be seing that it's Easter and I'm sick. 

So Happy Easter and have a great day!

xx Kayla