Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming
releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
This week's WoW selection is...
Series: Stand alone
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Publisher: Katherine Teegan Books
Publication Date: 5/28/13
Things you earnestly believe will happen while your parents are away:
1. You will remember to water the azaleas. 2. You will take detailed, accurate messages. 3. You will call your older brother, Denny, if even the slightest thing goes wrong. 4. You and your best friend/bandmate Lukas will win Battle of the Bands. 5. Amid the thrill of victory, Lukas will finally realize you are the girl of his dreams.
Things that actually happen:
1. A stranger calls who says he knew your sister. 2. He says he has her stuff. 3. What stuff? Her stuff. 4. You tell him your parents won’t be able to— 5. Sukey died five years ago; can’t he— 6. You pick up a pen. 7. You scribble down the address. 8. You get on your bike and go. 9. Things . . . get a little crazy after that.* *also, you fall in love, but not with Lukas.
Both exhilarating and wrenching, Hilary T. Smith’s debut novel captures the messy glory of being alive, as seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd discovers love, loss, chaos, and murder woven into a summer of music, madness, piercing heartbreak, and intoxicating joy.
Why I'm Waiting ~ Yes. To everything. I love, love, love stories in which the character goes the route of the least expected. I love the lists. I love the cover. Now, somebody go fetch me an ARC, please. I got the eARC this weekend. Holla!
First there are nightmares.
Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.
Then come the memories.
When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.
Now she must hunt.
Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember. ~From GoodReads
Hmmm...I'm not quite sure where to start with this review. That can't be reassuring, right? I went into Angelfire with what I felt were reasonable hopes. I had heard it was an amazing book, but I hear that (and say that) about books every single day. So, I don't think I had unrealistic expectations. To be perfectly honest, I was...disappointed. Initially, I thought the story would be fun. And occasionally, it was. But mostly I was left thinking "Are you freaking kidding me?" Here's why.
At four hundred fifty pages, Angelfire is a fairly long book. To my surprise, though, I was flying through it, even if it wasn't snagging my attention. Then I realized, I was actually skimming a good bit. The writing felt a bit choppy, and lacked a sense of depth or emotion. Sure, I knew Ellie was frightened or angry, but only because the sentence told me she was. I tend to prefer a flowing, melodic style of writing, one that will sweep me away and capture my attention. That could be just be my preference and I'm being nit-picky. In regards to the dialogue, however, I do not think is just me. Some of the exchanges between Ellie and her friends made me cringe. I'm sure I said stupid crap all the time as a teen, I still do, but this just felt awkward.
Ellie was a fairly likable protagonist. She was a little snarky and sarcastic without being over the top. But, really, what was with all the name dropping? BMWs, Jimmy Choo, her best friend eyeing something at Valentino; I guess that's in there to remind you that Ellie is a normal girl who likes to shop. Maybe I have some deep seeded resentment, because all it did was make me roll my eyes. If you're going to write a realistic character, maybe shop at The Gap or even J. Crew (fancy, in my opinion!).
As for the secondary characters, what can I say? I don't think any of them served much of a purpose other than Will, who I did like. He was apparently hot, because Ellie said so, and very kind. He has a special connection to Ellie, one that he values immensely. Will is intense, and quiet and is probably the only character who didn't annoy me at some point. Maybe that's because he has a Westley (from The Princess Bride) vibe, even replying "As you wish" to many of Ellie's requests.
Now on to the rest of the characters. Ellie's parents. Her mom, who was an extremely kind and understanding character, has no backbone. She loves her husband, a huge jerk, so much that she willing puts up with the verbal and emotional abuse he dishes to Ellie and her. I had a hard time holding any respect for her because of that. Her dad is a ginormous jackwad. A mean, mean man who shows no emotion, other than disdain, towards Ellie. BUT, I suspect there is something up with daddy, because Ellie repeatedly states that he is nothing like the father she once knew. Oh, and Will tells her that he (meaning dad) smells like blood. I get it. Daddy has something big brewing. Something that will most likely be revealed in book two. But just come on and tell me so I can stop hating her mom for putting up with him.
Landon and Kate, Ellie's oldest friends, did nothing for me. Kate was funny sometimes, but sort of skanky, too. Landon wants to be with Ellie. But she doesn't reciprocate the feeling, so he possibly moves on with Kate. That whole little subplot almost felt like a filler or an afterthought, and fell flat.
And lastly, the bad guys. I didn't find them scary in the slightest. The were laughable, almost cartoonish. The lines they aimed at Ellie were just comical and accompanied by lots of drooling.
"We meet again, Preliator!" and "And now you are mine."
Not exactly terrifying.
The ending of Angelfire reveals exactly what Ellie is. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read Angelfire, so my hands are tied as to exactly why I didn't like it. I will give credit to the author, I didn't see it coming. But I also didn't buy it. I just didn't get it at all.
Having said all of that, I didn't outright hate Angelfire. I just feel that it could have been so much better. I am going to read book two Wings of the Wicked in a few days. I plan on going into it with as open of a mind as I can. But I certainly hope it's an improvement on Angelfire.
Favorite Quote:
"For the longest two seconds of my life I couldn't breathe or move. My back hurt like hell, and I groaned painfully as I picked myself up, brushing the glass off me. My gashes healed almost instantly and left a few bloody streaks behind on my face and arms.
And my party dress was ruined. I was so pissed."
For an alternate point of view, here is a very positive review I found on GoodReads.
Hardcover, 453 pages
Published February 15th 2011 by HarperCollins / Katherine Tegen Books
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, just do as following:
·Grab your current read ·Open to a random page ·Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page ·Be careful not to include any spoilers so as not to ruin the book for others.
Make sure to share the title and the author so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR piles.
This week's Teaser is from
First there are nightmares.
Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.
Then come the memories.
When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.
Now she must hunt.
Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember. ~From GoodReads
My Teaser:
"If I was to be some kind of hero, how many people would I be unable to save? I couldn't even eat fries without dripping ketchup on myself. How could I be responsible for someone else's life when I couldn't be responsible for my own shirt?" (pg 87)
I'm reading Angelfire in prep to read/review Wings of the Wicked. I'm really enjoying this and will have my review up in a few days.
Hardcover, 453 pages
Published February 15th 2011 by HarperCollins / Katherine Tegen Books
Series: Stand alone
