Title: Angel Eyes
Author: Shannon Dittemore
Book Summary:
“Once you’ve seen, you can’t unsee. Everything changes when you’ve looked at the world through . . .
ANGEL EYES
Brielle’s a ballerina who went to the city to chase her dreams and found tragedy instead. She’s come home to shabby little Stratus, Oregon, to live with her grief and her guilt . . . and the incredible, numbing cold she can’t seem to shake.
Jake’s the new guy at school. The boy next door with burning hands and an unbelievable gift that targets him for corruption.
Something more than fate has brought them together. An evil bigger than both of them lurks in the shadows nearby, hiding in plain sight. Two angels stand guard, unsure what’s going to happen. And a beauty brighter than Jake or Brielle has ever seen is calling them to join the battle in a realm where all human choices start.
A realm that only angels and demons—and Brielle—can perceive.”
Losing my best friend would completely devastate me. Just thinking about such a tragedy makes me feel alone and depressed. Brielle is living that horror after losing her best friend and returning to her hometown in Oregon. When Brielle meets Jack, a boy who warms her at a touch, she knows something in different about him… and she will not stop until she learns what it is…
Really, what would make a better target for the forces of darkness than an emotionally depressed, self-loathing teenage girl who has just lost her best friend? Not much. That’s one of the things I understand and like right away, I understand why the “bad guys” are lurking around. They see easy prey and they go for it, makes sense. When the story first starts rolling it’s clear Brielle has some problems and that they revolve around her best friend’s death and guilt but the whole story is left unclear. As the plot line, progresses the events become clearer and are slowly revealed.
When I meet Brielle, the depth of her emotions astounds me. I really connect with her feelings and it even seems plausible that her depression could morph into the physical feeling of perpetual coldness. With all the details adding to the string of turbulent emotions it really gives them a 3D feel that grabs me and helps me connect.
Jake is a very interesting character, and at first I wasn’t sure I would like him. Don’t get me wrong, Jake is sweet and completely devoted to Brielle but having the MC always feel cold and the love interest just happens to be able to warm her up didn’t sound all that original to me. For this reason I didn’t have my hopes set too high for liking Jake. Then I am introduced to him and he completely melts away all my doubts and worries. If Brielle doesn’t claim him soon I sure will!
One thing that I noticed was that this book was very religiously centered, which is not normally a problem for me, but it went on to the point of TOO MUCH. I had multiple occasions when I was tempted to skip pages on my Kindle because all the background information was convoluted and cramped into an area where it didn’t need to be. Because of the heavy religious undertone this is a book I could see some people not enjoying.
The Cover:
The girl, the forest, the halo, the title font… where do I even start? This cover comes together beautifully and the more I read the more elements from the cover tie into the story. The halo is introduced and more fully explained and the forest continues to be a place of mystery. The other thing I really though was awesome is the font used for the title. It reminds me of Zorro, which is just fantastic.
I give angel eyes 4 out of 5 hearts: Great Read!
