Angel Fever (Angel #3) by L.A. Weatherly

* * * * 1/2

As half-angel Willow strives to save the world from her parasitic otherworldly kin, romance and tension heat up to a climactic finale.

In the devastated remains of the world, millions of people live in "refugee" camps provided by the angels who have all but enslaved humanity. As this angelic stranglehold tightens, Willow and Alex are recruiting and training new Angel Killers while struggling to hold ground on the celestial battlefield. But Willow continues to have feelings for Seb, and her love and resolve are tested as a shattering revelation sends Alex on a separate journey. Now that the final battle versus the angels is about to begin-and the fate of the world hangs in the balance-each of them must face the consequences of their own choices. Will love endure? Will the human race survive?

I hardly ever use the word “epic” to describe anything partly because I never think to use and it’s so overused.  But as I read this last installment in the Angel series which has been a thrill ride from start to finish and then some, all I could think was “THIS-IS-EPIC”. Thanks to some craftiness on Weatherly’s part, the buildup to the final showdown lives up to all expectations!

Our heroes, Willow, Alex, Seb and the rest of the Angel Killers return from Mexico City to find that the entire world is indeed in shambles.  Having felt some measure of success despite some losses, they get back to the business of around-the-clock training and hunting down the angels.  But the relentlessly devious Raziel shifts events once again with a complete game changer that shakes the confidence of the AK’s. It also results in a life-altering decision by Alex that jeopardizes his relationship with Willow.

I’m choosing to be as vague as possible because as with the previous two books, the emotional ride is really what lifts this book into the stratosphere.  You really get the sense of how intensely these people train and how seriously they take their mission. They eat, breathe, sleep and live this life. There's always an awareness of how much time has gone by and the condition they live in. In Angel Fever, we get to see how resilient and defiant Willow can be. I mean this is a girl with serious daddy-issues saddled with the burden of rescuing humanity. And she's also a kid who is exciting and exasperating sometimes. I was annoyed by some of her reactions to things pertaining to Seb and then later to Alex. But I think what it really was is that Weatherly so accurately described jealousy and insecurity. In doing so, she made Willow’s very human side become more relatable. So I cut her a break.

The burning love triangle aside, there’s once again a copious amount of kick-ass action and fury to keep the momentum in Angel Fever on overdrive. The quiet moments are special and offer some brief respite.  The misdirections are creative.  I’m sad that the series is over because I just love them so much (especially Alex, surprise, surprise!) but I’m also breathing a sigh of relief because damn it, these kids deserve a break!

~ Bel 

Angel Fire by L.A. Weatherly

* * * *

The angel menace has exploded, and Alex and Willow are on the lam. Willow’s prophetic dreams point them to Mexico City, where they connect with a group of angel killers led by Kara, an AK from Alex’s past. But the team is suspicious of Willow, even after Alex takes over the training them for an attack on THE TWELVE, a council of all-powerful angels.

Let me put it this way, by the time I was done reading Angel Fire, I felt like I’d been spun about, twisted about and kicked in the gut for good measure. My emotional ride through Angel Fire successfully put an end to the reading bender I’d been on for 3 straight weeks. I’m not complaining though – I’d gladly do it again!

Picking up where Angel Burn left off, Alex and Willow are on the run and in hiding from the chaos they left behind in Colorado. Willow’s now completely cut off from her previous life and is adjusting to the truth that she’s a half angel. Alex continues to be her champion and decides on a course for Mexico to contact and recruit new Angel Killers. When they finally reach their destination and reunite with Kara, Alex’s friend and fellow AK, things aren’t necessarily easy. Kara and her team don't exactly trust Willow’s half angel nature and so there’s plenty of tension and passive-aggressive display happening. Alex also has his hands full. On top of mediating between Willow and the rest of the AKs, he has also taken over the leadership of the group – and they're in dire need of it too since they’re severely lacking in training.

Angel Fire welcomes several new characters to the series, one of the most important being Seb, who has a unique connection to Willow and is determined to find her. When they do finally come into contact, it’s both a relief to Willow and a big source of contention between her and Alex. It’s clear from the get go that Seb has designs on Willow and doesn’t hide it. Much to Alex’s chagrin he must keep himself in check realizing that though Seb’s presence irritates him, he is a great source of comfort to Willow and could help her understand her half angel side. I have no doubt that are Team Alex and Team Seb camps about.

While that soap opera unfolds, the Council of Twelve descends upon earth to reign the other angels in and bring about changes. Naturally, Raziel, who wears his "d-bag dad of the year" badge with pride, isn’t too thrilled so he schemes and manipulates to secure his position. This also raises the stakes for the AKs who are acutely aware of the severe consequences for humans no matter which of the angels seizes control. Tension levels get higher and several things come to a head as D-Day draws closer.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed Angel Fire. Set against the backdrop of a very lively and colorful Mexico City, it has everything – the love triangle, the uneasy alliances, leadership struggles, fights, tears, and loads and loads of action, twists and turns. I was seriously spent afterward. It’s well worth the read and with the way Weatherly left things at the end, I am incredibly curious to know what she has planned for the next installment.

~ Bel

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

* * * *

From Candlewick Press:

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars.  Willow has a gift.  She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them.  But the assassin, Alex, does.  Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself.  He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them.  When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil.  In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L.A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip – and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

They’re out for your soul… and they don’t have heaven in mind.

My librarian (my co-worker’s 15 year old daughter) has supplied me with many books in the past year.  Whenever my library (the one my tax dollars go to) doesn’t have my book, I ask The Librarian and she always comes through.  So it’s because of her that I came to know Angel Burn.

I have to say it started off really well.  Meeting Alex the assassin first, who is surprise, gorgeous, was fun.  Weatherly set it up with just the right amount of mystery that got me hooked.  Who is this guy riding around in a sleek Porsche?  How does he have the energy to go work out for hours at a 24-hour gym after a kill?  And which gym is it because I want to go?

Alex receives his next assignment – to eliminate Willow Fields.  Willow is your typical high school girl with her own quirks.  I like her.  She’s self-assured about who she is and what she does.  Having had to grow up fast does that to you.  She and her mom who’s mentally not all there live with her aunt who isn’t all that pleased to be sharing her house with them.  

Willow’s special gift is that she’s psychic.  She doesn’t tell the person exactly what will happen but tells them the options that lay in front of them and the potential outcome of each option.  When she agrees to do a reading for a schoolmate, she uncovers a deadly truth and inadvertently ends up smack in the middle of a war between humans and angels. 

Weatherly presents a revamped version of angels that are not God’s divine creatures.  They’re hideous and feed on a human’s life force to sustain their own.  Their world is slowly being destroyed due to some “Crisis” that no one really knows how it began.  They've been coming to earth to feed off of unsuspecting humans for a while.  The human that has been fed upon believes that they’ve received a special gift from the angel. The truth is that their encounter results in "angel burn".  On the outside they appear to be in a blissful state.  Angel burn leaves them fatigued, the body starts to deteriorate leading to various physical and mental diseases.  No one suspects a thing because the humans are so enraptured by this that they do anything to protect the angels and serve them.  Massive churches are dedicated to angels whose followers become their meals.  One of the largest churches is in Colorado headed by Raziel, who has plans for an angel invasion, The Second Wave, by which more of them will come to earth via a gate that will be opened soon.

A small group of people known as AK, Angel Killers know the truth and are fighting for human kind.  Alex is one of them.  He comes to understand what Willow is and that her special gift can help defeat the angels.  Their initial encounter ends up with them being on the run together.

It’s while they’re on the run that the book is really interesting.  The initial awkwardness and fear of two strangers being thrown together give way to an uneasy camaraderie where they slowly learn to trust each other.  Soon sexual tensions arise.  It’s a given that they’d fall for each other.  I liked how Weatherly divided the chapters so that we could see each one’s perspective.  The scene when they finally admit their feelings for each other is sweet, though I felt the subsequent chapters after that kind of lost their oomph. 

It did pick back up with Willow attempting to destroy the “gate” to prevent the impending Second Wave. Alex and Willow learn that they’re not alone as they had thought.  There are still some good guys out there, including other angels who feel that what the rogue angels are doing is wrong. 

Available December 2011

The climax set up the next installment very well.  With so much at stake, it’ll be interesting to see how Willow will reconcile her feelings for Alex, the truth of who she is, from whom she comes from along with the cause that she is determined to fight with Alex at her side.  There’s a lot of story left to tell and I’m looking forward to it.  Angel Fire comes out in December.

- Bel