{Review} Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Title: Angelology
Author: Danielle Trussoni
Genre: Literature & Fiction/ Mystery & Thriller
Publisher: Viking Adult (March 2010)
Hardcover: 464 pages
                                    ISBN: 9780670021475
                                    Source: Library Book
                                    Available on: Amazon
Rating: 4/5

Plot: 17/20
Setting: 18/20
Writing: 18/20
Characters: 15/20
Creativity: 18/20

Total: 86/20 = 4/5 stars

Description from GoodReads:

Sister Evangeline was just a girl when her father entrusted her to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in upstate New York. Now twenty-three‚ her discovery of a 1943 letter from philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller to the late Mother Superior of Saint Rose Convent plunges Evangeline into a secret history that stretches back a thousand years: an ancient conflict between the Society of Angelologists and the monstrously beautiful descendants of angels and humans‚ the Nephilim

Plot: Good: Danielle Trussoni creates a fabulous world where the Nephilim still exist and are evil, selfish, 7 foot beautiful creatures. Angelologist have come together to fight the control of the powerful Nephilim. The ancient battle between good and evil never ceases to exist. We meet Evangeline, a beautiful nun that works in the library of her convent and Verlaine, a young art historian and both have to dig into the past to unravel the mystery of certain correspondence between Abigail Rockefeller and a simple nun and why this information is worthy of killing for to the Grigori family.In their journey they discover that the powerful Grigori family and Evangeline share a past that might change the future of both humans and Nephilim. Bad: It took me about 100 pages to really get into the story. It would have also liked if it explained how study of Angelology began.

Setting: Good: The mountains of Bulgaria were a great setting for the Angelologist's discovery. The author does an incredible job in transporting the reader to it's locations.

Writing: Good: The way Trussoni describes how the Nephilim came to existence was captivating. Bad: The narrative voice was a bit dry. It was also strange how ancient Nephilim, nuns, Angelologist from different times and art historians all read the same.

Characters: Good: I enjoyed reading about Celestine, in my opinion the most developed character in the book. Bad: The main characters are undeveloped and flat.

Creativity: Good: The Nephilim are not a new concept but I found the part of their degenerative disorder refreshing.

Extras

Cover Art: A beautiful cover!
Action: As a thriller is has plenty of action.
Romance: It's there, not a major part but definitely there. I would have liked a romantic ending but it left me wanting to read the next installment.


Overall: This is a must read if you, like me love history, mysteries, theology, and fallen angels with a love story.

View all my reviews

{Review} Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Title: Blue Bloods
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: Hyperion (May 2006)
Paperback: 302 pages
                                                ISBN: 9781423101260
                                    Source: Library Book
                                    Available on: Amazon
Rating: 4/5

Plot: 17/20
Setting: 17/20
Writing:15/20
Characters: 15/20
Creativity: 17/20

Total: 81/20 = 4 out of 5 stars

Description on GoodReads:

"When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires.The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society. The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries.
But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a girl from her school is found dead... drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn't know what to think.
Could those vampire legends really be true? Steeped in vampire lore and set against the heady backdrop of the rich, young, and powerful in the heart of New York City, Blue Bloods will be devoured by Melissa de la Cruz's legion fans."

Plot: Good: This book has fallen angels, vampires and history. To me, this was like a red flag for an amazing book. Bad: Be prepared to get a little annoyed by the awkward pace of the story. In some chapters Melissa  will drag the story and focus on how the jeans look on Schuyler. On other chapters she will speed by and drop all the major twists.

Setting: I like how she incorporates 1620 America into the story. New York is also a great setting for the rest of the story. Where else would Blue Bloods live? :)

Writing: I don't like all the focus on brands and "Gossip Girlesque" style of the story. This wardrobe centric style of writing may work for some but not for me. I also didn't really like the fact that it is narrated by 3 different people, (Mimi, Bliss and Schuyler) but it was bearable.

Characters: I don't like Mimi at all and Bliss sounds so weak minded to me. The only one I kind of like is Schuyler but I need to learn more about her. So far, I am not in-love with any of the characters

Creativity: I like how this book brought together angels and vampires.

Extras

Cover Art: The cover leaves it clear that this book is about Vampires. I like the pearls on the bitten girl's neck she could be any of the blue blood children that attend Duschesne.

Romance: Jack and Schuyler have their moments. Just like any other YA fiction, they can't explain why they love each other they just do.

Overall: I recommend this book if you like reading books with the above mentioned elements (fallen angels, vampires, and history) and if you can read a few pages describing how amazing a pair of jeans look.

View all my reviews

{Review} Captivate (Need #2)

Captivate by Carrie Jones

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Title: Captivate
Author: Carrie Jones
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books (December 2010)
                                  Hardcover: 304 pages
                                  ISBN: 9781599905235
                                  Source: Library Book
                                  Available on: Amazon
Rating: 3 of 5

Description on GoodReads: 

Zara and her friends knew they hadn't solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it. The king's needs grow deeper every day he's stuck in captivity, while his control over his people gets weaker. It's made him vulnerable. And now there's a new king in town. 
A turf war is imminent, since the new pixie king, Astley, is moving in quickly. Nick nearly killed him in the woods on day one, but Zara came to his rescue. Astley swears that he and Zara are destined to be together, that he's one of the good guys. Nick isn't buying it, though Zara isn't as sure -- despite herself, she wants to trust the new king. But it's a lot more than her relationship with Nick that is at stake. It's her life -- and his.

Review:

In the continuation of Need we expect more lovey moments between Nick and Zara. This books delivers with the love moments but has a strange ending. I liked this book but it left me with a lot of questions and left me wanting to read the 3rd book. I guess as part of a series this is a good book but as a stand alone it is not.

I am sure (or at least hoping) that the next book leaves me without this empty feeling.

View all my reviews

{Review:} The Dark Divine

Title: The Dark Divine
Author: Bree Despain
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: Egmont USA (Dec 2009)
Hardcover: 372
ISBN: 9781606841549
Source: Library
Available on: Amazon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description on GoodReads:

Grace Divine—daughter of the local pastor—always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared and her brother Jude came home covered in his own blood.

Now that Daniel's returned, Grace must choose between her growing attraction to him and her loyalty to her brother.

As Grace gets closer to Daniel, she learns the truth about that mysterious night and how to save the ones she loves, but it might cost her the one thing she cherishes most: her soul.

Review:

This book has all the basic paranormal romance, a bad boy, an innocent girl, a mystery, everyone telling the girl to stay away from the boy and things that go bump in the night. You pretty much get what you expect. This is not necessarily bad since as you can tell from my blog I love reading this genre.

I recommend reading this book if you enjoy this type of books but in case you don't and just want to know what this one is about here goes my little summary.

Summary: *SPOILER ALERT*

We are first introduced to 16 year old Grace Divine, the daughter of a pastor and an aspiring artist. Her her 17 year old brother Jude. They are role-model teens. They volunteer at different charities and are always happy to help their community.

Grace then comes across Daniel, her childhood crush, (This is where we meet the guy that comes and changes her perfect world) in her art class as he takes her drawing and ask for a kiss in exchange for her drawing. She later goes home and mentions that she saw Daniel and her family gets upset and her brother makes her promise that she will not speak to Daniel again. We learn from Gracie that Daniel grew up with them and used to be Jude's best friend. Yet, something happened a few years ago that caused Jude to go home covered in his own blood and Daniel to disappear mysteriously. Her family won't speak about what happened between them.

Grace (like us) is interested in finding the reason for Daniel's disappearance.

She goes on a date with a nice guy from school but her date is cut short when her car malfunctions and leaves them stranded in a dangerous neighborhood. He leaves Gracie and goes and asks for help. She then is scared by loud noises and is rescued by Daniel who comes and fixes her car. Daniel tells Grace that he came back to town because he wants to go to art school and needs to take the A.P art class at Grace's school to get accepted but gets kicked out his first day because of his attitude. Grace's sharing his dream takes it upon herself to help him and gets him back into the class.

A family friend dies and her disfigured body is found by Jude. It appears that the old woman died of a cold but her body was found and mauled by some type of animal. Distraught by the occurrence and filled with questions Grace leaves on a motorcycle with Daniel. They end up in the Garden of Angels. Where he tells her some story about angel and a faithful person. At this point some may be thinking he is a fallen angel but then how would you explain the animal like attack on the corpse. Grace invites him to her families Thanksgiving festivities. At the Thanksgiving meal Grace's little brother disappears and Daniel and her go looking for him into the woods. This is where he shows his super strength and speed. Daniel runs holding the baby and Grace on his back. He tells her that he is a Hound of Heaven. These are creatures created by God that have animal like attributes to help them in they job of defending humans from demons. Yet, after a talk with her brother and a Google search she finds out that he is instead a Dogs of Death. In other-words, the hounds of heaven fell from grace and are now possessed by the spirit of a demon werewolf that controls them and makes them kill the person they love the most. There is some lack of trust and confusion between Grace and Daniel. Specially since she learns that the reason Daniel dissapeared was because he attacked Jude when they were younger by accident.

In between the love shared by Grace and Daniel, we also learn that the only way to save Daniel's soul is to be staved in the heart by the person he loves the most. After a few other lost people, Jude decides to hunt down Daniel and end their troubles. It turns out that Daniel contaminated Jude when they were younger and if Jude kills Daniel he will be turned into a monster.

tun, tun, tun, tun; TUN, TUN, TUN, TUN ... To end the story Grace stabs Daniel in his wolf form but not before she is bitten by her brother. She does an act of love because by killing Daniel she seals the deal and will be possessed by the werewolf. She is willing to lose her soul to save Daniel's. This means a lot to her who is very religious and righteous the whole book. Yet, it turns out that since it was an act of love Daniel is saved but becomes human and since she is a good person she might not become evil. Her brother is distraught by the news that he is a wolf and leaves his family. Daniel and Grace decide to stay together use her new powers for good.

So as we can see it is a normal paranormal romance novel. It wasn't my favorite due to its lack of twist and originality but I still can't wait to see what happens next.

View all my reviews >>