Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone—especially herself—from the Dark Forces.

Is love a great enough power against evil?

When Beth arrives on Earth, she’s got just one thing on her mind – the mission. It’s her first time on Earth, and her first assignment as an angel. She wants to impress. As she gets used to her earthly body and the things that come along with being human, such as the need to eat, sleep, use the restroom etc… Beth realizes she actually quite enjoys human life. Apart from having to keep her wings folded up inside her clothing, being human has many perks.

Then she starts attending classes at the local high school and life takes an unexpected turn. She meets Xavier – the guy everyone wants, but no one can have. After Xavier’s girlfriend died in a house fire a couple of years ago, he’s pretty much kept to himself. He doesn’t date anymore, and although he still participates in school life, he’s pretty much detached himself from social circles.

Until now.

Something about Beth catches Xavier’s attention and he’s drawn to her immediately. Fortunately for him, Beth is also taken with the boy and finds herself experiencing all these weird emotions and attachments that Angels just don’t feel. Before she even understands what’s happening, Beth has completely fallen in love with Xavier and can’t stay away from him – a big no no as far as the Angels are concerned.

Will Beth’s new human feelings for Xavier stand in the way of her mission? Now that she has Xavier, does the mission even matter anymore? Does anything even matter anymore?

Alexandra Adornetto was only fourteen when she published her first noel in Australia, and now at eighteen, Halo is her American debut. Her writing style is phenomenal, especially for someone so young. Her knowledge of the world shines through her writing and her prose is an absolute pleasure to read.

Although it’s not completely riveting, Adornetto has worked out the intricacies of her plot well. Unfortunately, her characters fall a little short. Although I liked both Xavier and Beth, their connection and their romance seemed a little flat. I didn’t feel their passion or their desire like I’d hoped to and they didn’t step off of the page like strong characters should. Having said that, I’m supremely interested to see how her writing develops so I’ll definitely be reading the next book in the series. I suspect we will be seeing outstanding things from this author in the years to come.

Publication date: 2010

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (US)

Pages: 484

Challenge: n/a

Rating::

While developing a new system to maintain Morganville’s defenses, student Claire Danvers discovers a way to amplify vampire mental powers. Through this, she’s able to re-establish the field around this vampire-infested Texas college town that protects it from outsiders.

But the new upgrades have an unexpected consequence: people inside the town begin to slowly forget who they are-even the vampires. Soon, the town’s little memory problem has turned into a full-on epidemic. Now Claire needs to figure out a way to pull the plug on her experiment- before she forgets how to save Morganville…

As Ghost Town opens, life looks like its actually going well for the inhabitants of the Glass House for once. Michael and Eve are good, Claire is attending classes danger free these days, and things with Shane are … well, pretty darned great. But of course, this is Morganville, and the Glass House was kidding itself if they thought life would go along all peachy keen for long.

Enter dangerous situation number one. Eve attends a rave with a new friend of hers only to have it crashed by vampires on the hunt, and they want fresh blood. Claire and Shane rush to Eve’s rescue, of course, but Claire manages to land herself in a little hot water when she stakes a vampire. According to Amelie’s new rules, that’s strictly forbidden in Morganville these days, and Claire’s up for murder – of a vampire. She lands herself with an unusual sentence though, and finds herself hauled up in Myrnin’s lab slaving away at a project Amelie and Myrnin insist must be completed. Claire can’t leave, eat, sleep, or do anything until she gets it done. She does, of course, and life settles back down – for a few hours, at least.

Enter dangerous situation number two. Everyone starts forgetting things, and it’s like the last three years didn’t even happen. That means no one even knows who Claire is, because she hasn’t been in Morganville that long, and everything is crazy weird. Fortunately, no one in the Glass House seems to be affected, until of course they do become affected, and it’s up to Claire to fix this one all on her own. Without the help of her friends, Claire’s chances of fixing this seem bleak. That is, until she gets the help of a very unlikely person…

Ghost Town is rocking in every which way. Caine is totally on point with this one, giving readers the right amount of action, drama, romance and suspense to keep us turning the pages obsessively. In a true act of genius, we get to re-live the first moments of the Shane/Claire, Michael/Eve romance all over again, without losing the intensity and connection between the characters that the series has worked so hard on developing.

Caine’s prose is tight, witty, and absolutely perfect in every way. Her narrator is more lively and real than ever before. After reading Ghost Town I can see why the Morganville Vampires is now a major force to be reckoned with. Vampire enthusiasts, eat your heart out.

Pages: 335

Publication date: 2010 (available now)

Rating::

Teaser quote: “Go way, Lyss,” he moaned, and opened his eyes, and blinked, and finally focused on her. And then he completely and totally freaked out.

“Meghan Chase has a secret destiny – one she could never have imagined…

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth – that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.”

When I first began The Iron King, I was afraid I wouldn’t like it. I’m always wary of the Faery world. Some authors describe it well and some authors completely butcher it. But as soon as I realized Iron King offered a modern twist on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” I was hooked.

On her sixteenth birthday, Meghan Chase begins to see things that can’t be real. She chalks these odd visions up to her imagination, but when her sweet, four-year-old brother suddenly attacks their mother, she realizes she’s been fooling herself. Her best and only friend, Robbie Goodfell, reveals himself to be Robin Goodfellow, the age-old prankster known as “Puck” in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He explains that her real brother has been captured and replaced with a changeling. Puck agrees to take Meghan to the Unseelie Court in search of her real brother and a wild adventure begins.

This story is definitely action-packed. Every chapter provides a new twist and turn. I thought the constant plot twists would become exhausting at some point, but instead I just kept turning the pages, wondering what would happen next. Julie Kagawa does a phenomenal job when it comes to world building. Meghan and Puck journey through the Nevernever, the Seelie Court, and the Unseelie Court. Meghan meets all sorts of interesting creatures and beings, each of which are carefully described and easy to imagine. Reading The Iron King allows you to fully immerse yourself in a completely new world.

I loved the characters introduced in this first installment of The Iron Fey series. Meghan was realistic and relatable, though it was sometimes hard to understand if she was more of a damsel-in-distress type or the type of girl willing to fight for herself and her friends through whatever means possible. Puck is witty and protective, the kind of guy I wish could be my best friend. His relationship with Meghan isn’t forced or unbelievable. Eventually, Prince Ash is introduced, creating the stereotypical love triangle. But this love triangle works. Romance isn’t the central focus of this book, for once. Friendship and understanding grow between Meghan and Ash before any romantic feelings take over. Sure, there’s that initial attraction, but the two don’t instantly fall in love, as is the case with so many other novels. And Meghan’s confusion between her feelings for Puck and her feelings for Ash is palpable, which lets the reader sympathize with her.

I can only think of two downsides to this book. The first is Puck’s near-constant use of the title “Princess” in reference to Meghan. By the first chapter, we get it. Puck knows something we don’t know. By the second chapter, it’s obvious that there’s something different about Meghan…she’s a princess. The amount of times Puck calls Meghan “Princess” in every conversation is unnatural and forced. But because he’s Puck, I’ll let it slide. The second downside was the use of the word “writhing.” Not a big deal, by any means, but still distracting. Everything was constantly writhing, especially toward the end of the book. Any other verb would have sufficed.

But those are just minor details. The Iron King is a gripping lead with a surprising ending that leaves reader’s dying to get their hands on the second book in the series. Kagawa has created a world that is difficult to stop thinking about for too long.

Pages: 363
Publication Date: February 2010
Rating :

Teaser Quote: I licked my lips and whispered, “Is this where you say you’ll kill me?” One corner of his lip curled. “If you like,” he murmured, a flicker of amusement finally crossing his face. “Though it’s gotten far too interesting for that.”