Review: Angel Burn

Title: Angel Burn

Author: L.A. Weatherly

Book Summary:

“They're out for your soul.

And they don't have heaven in mind...

Willow knows she's different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars.  Willow has a gift.  She can look into the future and know people's dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them.  She has no idea where this power comes from.  But the assassin, Alex, does.  Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself does.  He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces and that he's one of the few humans left who can fight them.  When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil.”

Willow is not thrilled to be uprooted from her home and family, stuck with a guy who hates her, and told she is “special” in a dark and sinister way… just what she planned for her senior year.  Not.  Despite the fact that she loves tinkering with cars and that her side business is doing private, psychic readings, Willow leads a pretty normal life.  Her mom sits around in a vegetative state, and at school Willow is the Odd-Girl-Out but, life is good.  In saunters Alex.  Alex is certainly tall, dark, and mysterious.  Despite his charm and good looks, he seems to despise Willow… and she’s stuck with him.

When I read this premise, I don’t bother to stop and think.  I act.  This is a book I know I HAVE to read.  Angels are big right now, and there are a lot of clichés that come with an angel story, so I’m hoping that this book can overcome them and be fresh and new.  I do like the idea that the female main character is a mechanic since I normally would think that is something the guy would be interested in instead.

Right from the start of Angel Burn, I connect with Willow’s voice.  She just clicks with me.  I can hear the snark in her voice as if it is being spoken aloud, and it really helps draw me into the story.  At the beginning, I really love how Willow seems completely unconcerned with her status of “Queen Weird” and seems to take it in stride.  Though it would have been easier to change how she acts to get rid of that label, Willow doesn’t -- instead she stays true to herself and what she likes.

I really like that Willow has such a diverse set of relationships at the beginning of the book.  With her Mom, Willow is the caring supporter who constantly shows love and kindness to a women with serious health problems.  With her Aunt, it’s clear that there is a tense acceptance but not really a strong familial connection.  With her best friend, Nina, there is a close bond but a huge lack of faith on Nina’s part which I find to be very annoying… Sadly, none of these three characters remain prevalent throughout the book, so I have no idea how the bond between them and Willow might have changed.

I really really REALLY love the idea of angels fleeing to earth to escape their dying world and, in the process, slowly driving us all insane… literally.  Now I know it sounds kind-of sick and twisted when it’s put that way, but really it’s an ingenious, new twist on angels.  It reminds me of an alien invasion crossed with an infestation of a new breed of parasites trying to take over the world… yeah, that’s right, no wonder it is so easy to support Willow and Alex on the quest to stop them!

Speaking of Willow and Alex can you say:

“GET OVER YOUR PROBLEMS AND GET TOGETHER ALREADY??”

Ahem.  Because if not, let me know, and I will gladly say it for you.  These two are seriously too cute.  With all their dramatic tension, bickering, and internal personal turmoil, they seem more alike than either of them wants to admit.  The other thing that really accentuates their similarities is the way that the book is told through both of their perspectives.  It’s really interesting to see just how similar two totally different people’s thoughts can be!  As for Alex, there really isn’t much I can say other than he is infuriating, wonderful, headstrong, caring, dense, considerate, confusing and completely SMOLDERING.  I mean, really, don’t expect me to be able to form anything else coherent about him.

The Cover:

Oh gosh!  Do NOT even get me started on how much I love this cover.  I am a HUGE fan of pretty books, but what I like even more than a gorgeous cover is an intriguing SPINE.  If the spine catches my attention and the book isn’t horror or erotica, chances are I’m going to read it… because it already GRABBED me.  The detail work around the title font is the same on the spine, and it makes the whole book look alluring… besides one really cannot go wrong with black on gold!

I give Angel Burn 5 out of 5 hearts: I LOVED IT!!

See more about L.A. Weatherly at her website here: http://leeweatherly.com/

Buy Angel Burn here:

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