TITLE Angel Eyes (Angel Eyes Trilogy #1)AUTHOR Shannon Dittemore
PUBLICATION May 29, 2012 by Thomas Nelson Fiction
READ May 27, 2012
BUY IT Amazon / The Book Depository
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.
A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I have had some great luck with angel books. I know a lot of people tend to shy away from them because they haven't been so lucky, but when I was asked to join the Angel Eyes blog tour, I didn't even hesitate. Now, I'm not religious, I won't go into my whole belief system but just know that I am not big on Godly talk and all that jazz. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! I ate it up in one day and have very few complaints. The love story was sweet, the MC had her head firmly planted on her shoulders and it made me laugh. I was captivated and drawn in with the fresh take on angel lore, though the last 50 pages did feel very dragged out to me.
As I was reading I came to all these conclusions in my head about who Jake was and what purpose he was going to serve in Brielle's life and every one of them was wrong. This story put a new spin on the typical angel story which I really appreciated. The characters were relateable and I felt so sad for Brielle. What she went through when she lived in the city was terrible and the fact that she blamed herself was heart wrenching. Watching her come back from that dark place made for an enthralling read that I was totally invested in.
When Brielle meets Jake her life starts to look up, she goes from a cold, dark place to feeling warmth and getting back to who she was. At first Jake totally creeped me out, I thought for sure he was going to be another typical stalker boy, you know, the creepy ones that are way too popular in YA these days. But he was a pleasant surprise and in the end I really liked him. The story of his life was interesting to say the least, and as it unfolded it added a profound amount of depth to his character.
Angel Eyes, in case you couldn't tell from the cover, is pretty heavy on the religion. There is no undertone here, it is the central part of the story and all actions and reactions revolve around it. This may not be the book for everyone because of that, but I was surprised to find myself really enjoying it. My one complaint is that the final battle felt completely dragged out, every time I thought it was over, someone else popped up and I would find myself groaning and wishing it would wrap up.
Overall I thought this was a great read with some fantastic characters. It is the beginning of a trilogy, so there is a lot more to come. I'll definitely be looking out for the other books in this series as I am excited to see more of Jake & Brielle and find out more about where all the characters come from.
Thomas Nelson Fiction & Shannon Dittemore have offered up an eBook copy of Angel Eyes for giveaway as part of the blog tour. Use the Rafflecopter below to enter. Giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.
This has been part of the Angel Eyes blog tour, brought to you by YA Bound. To see all the other great stops on this tour click here.
Great review! I'm not really a very religious person so I might now be too interested but the romance sounds really sweet. :) I don't know if I'll pick it up though because of that ending and I always hate bad endings and recently, I've been having bad luck with them :/
ReplyDeleteTold you you were wrong! :P It was fun to hear your theories though haha. And I really liked that he wasn't a creeper for once. Great review chicky!!
ReplyDeleteAnd dude you reached 300 followers! :D
ReplyDeleteI did! I threw a bunch of confetti on Twitter and did some epic happy dancing and squeeing but I think you were in bed, it was like 11 PM my time and I'm pretty sure your 3 hours ahead. Thanks for your help!
DeleteThank you so very much Jenni for your review. That you took time out of your schedule to read Angel Eyes means more than I can convey. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
ReplyDeleteBahahaha, I agree about the final scene. Now that you mention it, it is kind of like sitting through The Return of the King for the first time, where different reinforcements keep arriving. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI also really would have liked for Jake and Brielle to do more.
Also, I do think the religious parts were undertones for the first half, but then they took over.
I completely agree with your review. I'm not religous either, but I still didn't mind the Godly talk. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a pretty good book. I am one of those people who doesn't care too much for angel books, so I tend to wait to see what people think of them before I will read them. I'm glad that you liked this book.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say I'm religious, but I am a Christian and we'll leave it at that. I love your review. It was enticing and left me wanting to devour this book whenever I can get my hands on it.
ReplyDeleteJenni, I want to thank you so much for taking time to read and review Angel Eyes. I've been trying to pop by the blogs on the tour to say 'hello' and I'm just so grateful for all of you and for the energy and passion you put into your reviews. Glad you enjoyed the read.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading this one! I'm glad you liked it -- I'm really on the fence about it. The writing was great and the story okay, but it just wasn't for me. I've read a lot of religion-based books, so I'm used to reading about it, but I thought it was pretty heavy-handed. Still glad I read it, though!
ReplyDeleteGreat review!