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Sunday 18 July 2010

Review: ANGEL


I would like to thank Usborne Publishing Ltd. for the review copy of Angel by L.A. Weatherly received.
Angel by L.A. Weatherly
Book 1 of the Angel Fever

Genre: urban fantasy, YA

Publication Date: October 2010

About Angel:
Willow knows she’s different from other girls. And not just because she loves tinkering around with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into people’s futures, know their dreams, their hopes and their regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where she gets this power from…

But Alex does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows Willow’s secret and is on a mission to stop her. The dark forces within Willow make her dangerous – and irresistible. In spite of himself, Alex finds he is falling in love with his sworn enemy.
Source: Synopsis in the About Angel was taken from the book's website at http://www.angelfever.com/ on 03/07/2010.

Review:
The story is not very original. I've recently read something very similar by Danielle Trussoni, titled Angelology. This book won't get high marks for originality. But despite being in a congested genre, L.A. Weatherly puts a nice spin on a tired tale and gave us a beautiful story which would make a reader come back looking for more! For the same reason I buy Jim Butcher, Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs even if their books are in a congested genre too... the reason these authors stand out in a competitive field? Masterpiece story telling quality! And judging by this book, L. A. Weatherly could very well have that too. But we will see with the subsequent books if this will hold true or if this is a one-off thing with this book.

The story is narrated in the first person by the protagonists. Halfway into the first chapter, the narration swapped from the female protagonist to the male protagonist narrating the story. About a couple of pages after the male protagonist started telling the story, the author seemed to slightly loose perspective and the narration went from the first person to third person. This is confusing to read. I had to go back and re-read a few pages a couple of times to make sure that I am still reading about the same characters. I thought that a new set of characters were being introduced which wouldn't exactly surprise me since the book seems to be in a "introducing characters" mode at this point... only to realise that, no, these are the same characters mentioned a few pages back... And this change in narration perspective without warning is repeated a few times through out the book which is a little disorienting... a slight annoyance but forgivable.

My copy is an ARC so the cover is plain. But I had a little look at amazon for the final cover art and it is disappointing. If I was browsing the shelves of a bookstore, this cover art wouldn't register in my "buying radar" at all. Although it did depict the story nicely, it could also seriously use a bit of an artistic input from the likes of Tony Mauro and Gene Mollica. By the way Willow is blonde, not brunette, as might otherwise be suggested by the cover art.

I enjoyed this book and am eagerly waiting for the next two books, Angel Heat to come out in May 2010 and Angel Burn to come out in October 2011.

Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Ending = 4
World building = 3.5
Story itself = 3
Cover art = 2

Cherry's Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

4 comments:

Vicki said...

I'm glad to see you enjoyed this, I'm looking forward to it. I actually like the cover though!

Cherry said...

The cover is not too bad, but Willow is blonde... and this book would not get my attention if I was browsing and buying at a bookstore... which would be a pity because I would loose the chance of enjoying it!

Ladytink_534 said...

It definitely doesn't sound original. Even leaving out the angel part of it I've seen similar books lately but I'm glad it's good enough to stand out in the growing genre!

Tales of Whimsy said...

Thanks for the honest review. I haven't heard too much about this one. The cover reminds me of some 80s actress I can't pinpoint.

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