Angel Eyes (Angel Eyes Trilogy, #1)

Angel Eyes
Shannon Dittemore
311 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Source: Book Sneeze
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Tragedy has struck, so Brielle is moving back to her small hometown of Stratus, Oregon.  She feels full of guilt and suddenly she's freezing cold all the time, but when she meets Jake she starts to feel warm again.  When she finds out why she's surprised and suddenly she finds herself in a battle of good vs. evil while she tries to figure out what really happened to her best friend.

Angel Eyes is angel lore done right.  I absolutely loved that about this novel.  I'm a big fan of YA paranormals and that seems to include a lot of books about angels.  While I've enjoyed those other books a great deal, they always seems so completely fictionalized to me.  Angel Eyes, on the other hand, read a lot more realistically.  Sure, Brielle meets angels in real life and for most people that probably doesn't happen, but her life and reactions to life were incredibly realistic, which made Angel Eyes that much more lovable.

And I did love this book, so much.  Shannon Dittemore writes beautifully and I found the whole book to be utterly charming.  I loved Brielle's character because she seemed so realistic and I loved following her on her spiritual journey that culminated in an ultimate battle of good vs. evil.  Her relationship with Jake really drew me in and they had a lot of chemistry together - so much so that I cannot wait to read the next book in the series and see what happens to them!  There was a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the novel in regards to their relationship.

Five stars!  I adored this charming, wonderfully written book.  The back cover of the novel categorizes the book as Christian fiction, but I think this book will appeal to a much wider audience, including those YA readers who love a good angel book.  There were some religious undertones because the angel lore is based of Christianity, but the book did not come off preachy at all.  I highly, highly recommend this one for YA angel fans everywhere.

PS: Even though this book was provided to me in exchange for a review via the Book Sneeze program, that did not influence my review.  I genuinely enjoyed this novel.

9/12 complete!

Debut Author Giveaway Hop!

Giveaway time!  I'm giving away a copy of Born Wicked, the YA debut of Jessica Spotswood.  Enter via the Rafflecopter form below and remember - US only, 13+.  Thanks!  And be sure to visit some other giveaways via the Linky below when you're done entering mine.

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What's Next? (2)

What's Next? is a weekly meme hosted by IceyBooks.  It's a chance for you to choose what I read/review next!  Here are this week's options:

Leave me a comment and tell me which you'd like me to read next!

Temptation (Tempatation, #1)

Temptation
Karen Ann Hopkins
382 pages
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Source: NetGalley
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I am a huge fan of Amish fiction, the works of Beverly Lewis in particular, so I was happy to see HarlequinTeen was coming out with an Amish novel!  The description really appealed to me and I was excited to see Temptation on NetGalley.

Temptation is told from two points of views, that of Noah, a young Amish man who is of courting age, and that of Rose, a sixteen-year-old girl who moves in next door to Noah's Amish farming community.  Because Rose's father is a doctor, the families get together for dinner to meet and Noah and Rose have an instant attraction.  Knowing everything about their relationship would be difficult, they still continue to see each other and their feelings grow more serious.

It seems like everything is stacked against Noah and Rose from the beginning, despite their mutual attraction.  Noah has no desire to be "English" and Rose really has no desire to become Amish, either.  Rose is completely ignorant of the Amish lifestyle, focusing more on their "antifeminist rules" rather than their faith; she has plans to go to college and wait to get married until her late twenties.  That was the one thing that really bugged me about Rose.  You cannot view the Amish as "antifeminist" because they are a faith group.  At the heart of the Amish lifestyle is their faith, not a set of rigid rules, and Rose completely failed to see that.  Rose doesn't seem to have any faith at all, so for her to consider turning Amish to be with Noah seemed a little out there to me, like she would be doing it for all the wrong reasons.

But that didn't detract from my reading of the novel at all.  Rose might seem ignorant, but that was probably the point.  There were times during the book that I felt Rose and Noah should just give up, but there were also times where I felt they could overcome anything to be together.  Even now that I'm done with the book, I cannot decide if I want them to make it or not - I'll have to wait until the next book in the series to find out if they do or not!

Despite all that, I found myself really empathizing with Noah and Rose.  Even though it seemed really obvious to me that their relationship was doomed, the chemistry between them was very intense and appealed to me.  Who doesn't want to have feelings like that when it comes to their significant others?  But a part of me felt it was just lust, and that for Noah and Rose to actually be together as man and wife... well it just seemed impossible.  Or maybe not.  I don't know!  I love that this book got me thinking about what was the right thing to do here; it's not black and white at all, it's obviously a hard decision for anyone involved.  While Rose and Noah spent a great deal of time thinking about it seriously, I felt like both sets of their parents didn't give it as much thought, and maybe gave in too easily.

This novel of self-discovery was amazing.  I highly, highly recommend it for fans of YA contemporary romance.  The Amish aspect is a fresh new theme on the YA market and was very enjoyable.  I'm eagerly looking forward to the sequel so I can find out if Rose and Noah will make it!

Temptation will be released June 26th, so preorder now!

8/12 complete

Partials (Partials, #1)

Partials
Dan Wells
468 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: library
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

First I want to say thanks to all who voted on my "What's Next?" post last Thursday.  Partials was the winner so here's my review!  I'd seen a lot of positive blogger buzz for this book and that, combined with the long library hold list and great sound description, made me eager to read this book.

Partials focuses on a post-apocalyptic world where several humans were wiped out by RM, a virus created by the enemy in a terrible act of biological warfare.  Now the human population is smaller and has a major problem - it cannot reproduce.  All infants die within days of being born.  The government's solution is to have teens get pregnant by law, but Kira knows there has to be a better way.  If they could just capture a Partial they could study their immunity.  But Kira's plan soon turns her and her friends into a group of outlaws as both sides of the war resist their efforts.

The most interesting part of the novel for me was the science behind the RM virus and Kira's attempts to solve it.  I really enjoyed reading the sections of the book that focused on her in the lab studying the virus and I was glad to see Kira given that opportunity from the hospital administration.  She'd only been working in the hospital for a short time studying infants and it was clear that wasn't the job for her.  It only goes to show you have to do what you love!

The book loses some points from me however for being very drawn out.  Partials falls victim to "info dumps" where the author goes on for paragraphs describing background information.  I was much more interested in the actual action-packed sections of the novel, which picked up as the book continued on.  There was a particular plot twist on page 409 that really caught my attention and helped me plow through to the end.

Three stars - while I did enjoy this book, there were parts where I was bored and I admit I did skim a lot of the info dump sections.  However, hardcore fans of post-apocalyptic literature and books with medical mysteries will enjoy Partials and I highly recommend it to them.

In My Mailbox (37)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Teeny-tiny week this week!

FOR REVIEW:
Dearly, Beloved (Gone With the Respiration, #2) by Lia Habel

 

Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings (Thanks for sending this, Strange Chemistry!)

Total TBR: 181

May Recap

Ou, May was a slow month for me; I only read sixteen books and one of them was a picture book* that I'm not counting towards my annual total.  Oh my goodness.  But it was a pretty good month blog wise!  I made myself a new blog header and took on a new format in an attempt to make my blog look more professional.  I also acquired a few new followers (*waves*) and joined a new meme, What's Next? hosted by IceyBooks.  In the real world, I joined a book club for adults who love YA - ah people like me!  Anyway, without further ado, here's everything I read in May:

The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George
My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody
Death on Tour by Janice Hamrick
Shadows on the Sand by Gayle Roper
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
The Summer Before by Ann M. Martin
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen
Awakening by Karice Bolton
Everneath by Brodi Ashton
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins
Ruined by Paula Morris
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
*I Am a Pole (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert

Total books read in 2012: 104
Total pages read in 2012: 29,839