Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

****1/2

Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined.

Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven's warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell's strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night.
She's been warned.


Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian's new plan to destroy Ellie's soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian's schemes, the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything—including herself.
 She'll be betrayed.

Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be Hell to pay.

You know how when you love the first book in a series, you are apprehensive about the rest?  Don't worry about that with Wings.  Wings continues the struggles of Ellie and her friends.  Ellie is trying desperately to balance her duties as the Preliator and her life as a high school senior, while trying to figure out where she stands with Will and how she feels about Cadan.  But of course, the battle between good and evil doesn't wait for prom...



The Bad:

Wings is long, which is not really a bad thing, because it is also excellent, but be prepared to set aside some time to read it.  I stayed up most the night on a Saturday and woke up early on Sunday to finish.  You are also introduced to many more characters and types of Reapers, but if you read Angelfire, you should have little trouble getting them straight. 

The Good:
The characters.  The story.  The phenomenal writing.  Take your pick.  Wings is a truly fascinating story.  The characters draw you in and won't let go with their snark and fun. 

To call Wings action-packed is an understatement, but to say it is also overflowing with emotion is not.  I finished Wings feeling (well beyond feeling that I wanted to read Book 3 immediately) completely drained and exhausted from the emotional toll the story took on me.  Neither Bel nor I could pick up another book for days it had that much of an impact.  And my literary crush Will is so sweet and really needs a lot of love in this book people! 

If you liked Angelfire, you will love Wings.  If you haven't gotten tired enough of me talking up Angelfire to read it yet - I say what are you waiting for?!  Read it now so you can get to Wings! 

I say again, you should all go check out Courtney's website for her graphic art of the characters and to stay tuned for updated on the third and final book in the series.  Also, Courtney is hosting a giveaway of some fine Angelfire Swag (which looks completely awesome!)  http://courtney-allison.blogspot.com/2012/02/fear-reaper-countdown-to-wings-of_13.html

~Shel




We were lucky enough to participate in the Wings of the Wicked ARC for the ARC Tour hosted by The PageTurners Blog and we thank them for the opportunity.

A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies

* * * 

On the night of Skye’s seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers.  Complete opposites – like fire and ice – Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof.  Their sudden appearance sends Skye’s life into a tailspin.  She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move – only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events.  Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.

In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world.  Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

                       

I liked Skye.  She’s athletic, confident, gets straight A’s at school and she’s the champion skier on her school ski team.  Her only insecurity is that her parents died when she was very young leaving her with a hollow feeling all her life.  She is very fortunate in that she was adopted by her mother’s best friend whom she lovingly calls, Aunt Jo.  Yep, Skye is a pretty normal teen with some pretty normal friends living in a normal town.  So "overwhelming" would be the understatement of the year when Asher and Devin show up and all these crazy, mysterious things start manifesting.  And they always seem to appear wherever she's at.  Under normal circumstances, any time there’s a “creeper” no matter how hot following you around everywhere, you’d be likely to be a bit jumpy.  But this is YA world.  Why call the police?  Why file a report?  Why talk to an adult? Why hike up an isolated trail on a mountain in a group when you can encounter said stalker on your own and just continue to be creeped out?  Oh the amount of suspension of disbelief it requires to not throttle a character for stupid moves.  (Yes, I know I said I liked Skye but it doesn’t mean she’s infallible.)

When Asher and Devin finally reveal themselves and their purpose, Skye is well, shattered.  While she needs time to digest the information that has ripped apart whatever she has known about her family, they're quite adamant that she pick up the pace and learn about her true nature and how to harness her powers.  She is essentially at the crux of a battle that has been slowly simmering for ages.  She's the "wild card" so to speak and the decision she makes about which direction to go in i.e.  with Asher or with Devin, decides the fate of the whole world.  She has no idea what to believe and who to trust. Time’s a tickin’ and things are happening that she cannot even begin to comprehend.  And you thought acing that chemistry test was the worst thing on your plate! 

There are so many things I enjoyed about A Beautiful Dark.  I loved the slow reveal.  While certain events happen fast I had fun trying to guess who was good or evil and watch how they'd try to outmaneuver each other at every turn.  Then there’s also the mystery surrounding Skye.  Once she finds out who she is, she still has to learn to fit into those big, big shoes and it doesn’t come easily.  That I found to be very believable.  And finally, the beautiful descriptions of River Springs, Colorado where this story is set were just breathtaking.  Believe me, it was beautiful enough to make this BiblioJunkie who is averse to all things cold-weather related, want to visit.  Don’t get me wrong.  No skiing down the slopes for me.  I’ll just happily sit in the foyer of the resort next to a warm fireplace with my hot chocolate in hand staring out at the gorgeous snow while contemplating if I'm Team Asher or Team Devin.

Jocelyn Davies delivers a different take on the currently popular angel theme in this lovely debut.  She has created a slightly different mythology that I'm very keen on reading more about.  Go silver!

- Bel