On the End of Days: A Review of Angelfall by Susan Ee

I wish I could remember which reviewer first recommended this book to me, because I owe her a big thank you. Despite some minor flaws, which I'll address later, this was a pretty fantastic novel.

Angelfall takes place in a version of our world after it has undergone an apocalypse at the hands of the angels. That's right, the angels in this one are the bad guys. Penryn is a teenage girl struggling to survive in the now broken world, while taking care of her disabled sister, Paige, and their schizophrenic mother. When Paige is kidnapped by a group of angels, Penryn considers it her responsibility to rescue her at all costs. Even if it means forming an alliance with Raffe, a wingless angel of unknown loyalties.

Positive Comments

I loved the plot. It reminded me, a bit, of seasons four and five of Supernatural. You've got angels, demons, an arguably non-exist or uncaring God, and the humans caught in the crossfire. You can feel Penryn's motivation as she storms headlong into danger to rescue Paige. It's an excellent story of survival and heart.

I loved the characters and their relationships with one another. Penryn is supposed to be 16 or 17, but her maturity level makes her seem older, so she's a character that I could connect with. Penryn's mother has no grip on reality, and is arguably quite abusive. You can feel the pain that this causes Penryn, but at the same time you can understand her loyalty and the love she has for her mother. Of course, there's also Raffe, the ostensible love interest. Is his relationship with Penryn glowingly romantic? No, not at all. In fact, he keeps her at arms length for most of the book. But, they save each others lives, take care of one another, and begin to form an emotional connection despite themselves. I prefer reluctant love over insta-love any day.

Critical Comments

Just one, really. I hate cliffhangers. Oh God, do I hate cliffhangers. I could see this one coming, too. A lot of crap was not resolved, and my Kindle was telling me I was at the 98% mark, and I was ready to throw the damn thing because I knew I was getting cliffhanged (cliffhung?). So I'm sorry, Susan Ee, I love your book, but this cliffhanger cost it half a star.

Needless to say, I do recommend this book. It has a lot of action, a lot of horror and gore, all of the things that you expect in a post-apocalyptic novel. 4.5 stars.

On Fallen Angels: A Review of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

I've read quite a few reviews of Hush, Hush, and the one thing I've noticed is how polarized the opinions are. People either love or loath this book--very few people are on the fence about it. Now, having read it, I completely understand why.

At sixteen, Nora Grey has no time for boys. She's busy trying to keep up her perfect GPA in hopes of someday landing a full scholarship to a top school. When she and Patch are paired as biology partners, she's certain it will spell disaster. Patch couldn't care less about school. Worse, he radiates a bad-boy charm that has Nora hopelessly attracted to him, and he's obviously attracted to her in turn. Then, Nora and her friend Vee are repeatedly harassed by a masked attacker, Nora begins to suspect that Patch is following her--and is more than what he seems.

Positive Comments


I hate to admit it, but I like Patch. In real life, guys like Patch--guys with bad boy attitudes, who come on very strong, but seem to care about nothing--turn out to be pure scum, every time. The fact that Patch does not turn out to be scum provides an odd kind of wish fulfillment. Because, let's be honest, who doesn't like bad boys?

I like the core conflict that Patch has to deal with. I can't get too specific without spoiling. He basically has to choose between a lifetime goal and Nora's life. Throughout the book, he bounces back and forth between these two choices. Not giving in to the darker side is a big sacrifice for him, and  I really enjoyed that aspect of the story.

I like the relationship between Patch and Nora--they have excellent chemistry. The book is at it's best when these two are alone together. Patch challenges Nora, putting her in touch with some darker sides of her personality. Nora brings out Patch's softer side. They're honestly good together, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more relationship development in future books.

Critical Comments

I hated Vee. She's dim-witted, she's flighty, she's useless; overall, I would have liked to see a lot less of her. It seems like she's there as a plot device, and her role in moving the plot forward is far more important than her character development. She runs headlong into trouble, her life is threatened, she has to be saved--all of the classic traits of a damsel in distress. In the end, she learns nothing. Did this book really need a damsel type character? No. Granted, she makes Nora look smarter by comparison, but I still would have been happier without her.

The masked stalker plot was only just passably entertaining. It was predictable. It served the purpose of forcing Patch to make his choices. But other than Patch, no one changes or learns anything from the entire experience. Furthermore, this plot had me questioning the intelligence of both Vee and Nora. During the entire climax, I kept wondering why no one was calling the cops. Lives are at stake, after all. But they're afraid that calling the cops would get Vee in trouble, so they handle in themselves. Seriously? Get your priorities straight!

As I said earlier, I understand why this book inspires such love and such hatred. The characters make bad decisions, the relationships aren't what I would call healthy, and the writing is only alright. On the other hand, the characters are all the more interesting for their imperfections (except Vee: I hope she dies in a fire), the relationships are complex and deliciously dangerous, and I was completely invested in the story the entire time. For me, this book was a guilty pleasure. There are a lot of problems with it, no question. Yes, some readers will hate this book. But if you're like me, and you enjoy YA fantasy with bad boy heroes, this is a good book for you. 4 stars.

The Trouble With Labels: A Fallen Angels Double Review

Classifying books can be difficult. Some books fit really neatly into one section, one genre, one sub-genre. Others could easily be labeled under multiple genres depending on the point of view of the person doing the labeling. The most common example that I encounter is the paranormal romance vs. urban fantasy debate.

To me "paranormal romance" implies a book that contains fantasy elements, in which the central plot involves the relationship between the two protagonists. "Urban fantasy" is a book that contains fantasy elements in a contemporary setting, and may or may not have some kind of romantic undertones. To me it's all about the main plot, and whether or not "romance" is the main point. Sure, I've encountered one or two books that fit both classifications equally, but more often than not I can place them in one or the other. The problem is, my classification often doesn't line up with the publishers and bookstores. Rachel Vincent's Shifter books are always put in the romance section, although to my mind they aren't that romantic. Same goes with Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. The last time I was in Barnes and Noble I saw Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress book in both the romance and the fantasy section (couldn't they just flip a coin?).

You would think that since I read both romance and fantasy with equal pleasure, the classification issues wouldn't bother me.The problem is the labels create expectations. If I buy something labeled as romance from the romance section, it's because I'm in the mood for a love story. If I buy an urban fantasy, it's because I'm in the mood for action. Having my expectations fall apart midway through a book damages my opinion of that story. That's not fair to me as a reader, and it isn't really fair to the book itself.

In my opinion J.R. Ward's books, particularly the Fallen Angels series, are victims of mislabeling. I'm not really sure who's responsible for the problem--author, publisher, marketing team, all of the above--but they are marketed as romance, and I just don't find them particularly romantic. It isn't that there's anything wrong with them (although they have their issues). It's that I keep waiting for the big, heart warming romance and I'm left cold. So, with all of that said, here are my reviews of the first two Fallen Angels books.

Book One: As is typical of Ward, the point of view jump around a lot. We meet Jim, a 40-year-old ex-assassin construction worker who, following a near death experience, is charged with saving seven souls from sin and damnation. The first of these souls is the leading man of the book, Vin. Vin is a very wealthy man who is basically always unsatisfied with what he has and greedily seeking more. Vin's world is turned upside down when he meets Marie-Terese, a prostitute who is desperate for a normal life. They pretty much immediately and inexplicably fall in love (another typical theme for Ward). However, they are both in danger as Vin's greedy past and Marie-Terese's less than pleasant current circumstances catch up to them. Jim must help them find there way out of danger and to each other.

The romantic moments in this book are surprisingly touching. If you can suspend disbelief and assume love at first sight, that is. There's no build-up, just instant knock out attraction followed quickly by "the L word". I actually enjoyed this aspect of the book, because it made their love seem urgent and fated. I had some trouble liking both characters at first, because they just aren't that easy to relate to. But Ward quickly explains why they are what and who they are, so I was able to start to sympathize with them. Similarly Jim takes some time to warm up to, but you like him by the end. Most importantly, I can't say I was ever bored by this book.

Having said that, there were a few not so good things about this book. I felt like it changed points of view a little too often, even cutting into romantic moments to tell us what Jim is up to. While he's vital to the plot, he's not the romantic lead and in my opinion he got just a little more air time than was necessary. Also, there is a stalker subplot that made almost no sense and could probably have been left out entirely. Meanwhile, we are given a lot of background on how Marie-Terese ended up where she was, and in the end those background circumstances pretty much remain the same--i.e. the abusive scary ex-husband is still out there to pose the same threat as before. Loose threads like that, as well as Vin's special ability, are left to hang so the reader must guess and assume (or perhaps they will be tied up in future books). Overall there was a little to much "Buy The Next Book To Find Out" going on at the end of the story--it doesn't function as a stand alone at all. 3 stars.

Book 2:(Contains Spoilers From Book One) The war for human souls rages on. Jim is in charge of guiding each soul (with the help of some angel warriors). He's never certain which soul might be next. He's working against a very powerful and terrifying demon, named Devina, who makes it a hobby to collect and torture human souls. Jim believes that his old military buddy, Isaac, is going to be Devina's next target. Isaac, meanwhile, is trying to hide from his old life as an assassin when he's busted for illegal cage fighting. Grier, his attorney, is desperate to help him whether he wants her assistance or not. The plot had its interesting points and its drawn out points, but overall it was passable. The themes and settings are definitely getting darker as the series progresses, which I enjoy. This book is definitely an improvement on Covet, which was full of plot holes and loose ends.

Jim Heron is a very cool character, and I found myself relating to him and cheering him on. He seems like an average guy, but he has a shady past and a lot of personal demons in addition to the flesh and blood ones being thrown his way. If I continue reading the series it will probably be to see how Jim fairs over anything else. Grier was a moderately likeable character. Supposedly she's very intelligent but her actions don't demonstrate much logic. She has a lot of heart and she's very willful. She's literally haunted by a tragic past. I found Isaac extremely intriguing but he was underutilized. He's sexy and dangerous, but still oddly gentlemanly and honorable. I feel like he could of and should of gotten an entire book from his point of view alone, but of course that would have been useless to the demon/angel plot of this series. As for their relationship, there is definitely chemistry but as stated above its underdeveloped. It needed a few more scenes with just Isaac and Grier to really be touching or believable.

Stylistically, this book is much like Wards others--the conversational tone, the frequent changes in point of view, scenes that don't really seem relevant to the plot, and the odd slang that doesn't quite fit. If these sort of things bothers you, be prepared to be bothered some more. For myself, I just power through it and try to ignore it. It does always knock her books down half a star in my mind though, so I have to make note of it.

Overall, rating this as a dark urban fantasy I give it 3.5 stars, but 2.5 if I'm forced to call it paranormal romance.


Such is my opinion of this series so far. I intend to read Envy when it comes out, but I'm not sure what to expect from it. I'm left wishing that The Powers That Be who are responsible for these books would get their ducks in a row and figure out what the series is actually about.