"The Twins on Thursday" is reserved for the Twins' joint reviews. It is a special feature of our blog that discusses books that we either both like, dislike, or have mixed feelings about. This is also the day where we post reviews for books (and ARCs/Galleys) that have been sent to us by authors/galley sites/publishing houses. And because we don't believe much in uniformity, we'll be trying to mix things up a bit by adding random stuff in relation to our review (well, mostly for books we purchased anyway).
Title: A Shimmer of Angels
Author: Lisa M. Basso
Format Acquired: eGalley
Author: Lisa M. Basso
Format Acquired: eGalley
Publication Date: January 29, 2013
Publishing House: Month9Books
ISBN: 9780985029425
Source of Copy: Requested from publisher via NetGalley
Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Rayna sees angels, and has the medication and weekly therapy sessions to prove it. Now, in remission, Rayna starts fresh at a new school, lands a new job, and desperately tries for normalcy. She ignores signs that she may be slipping into the world she has tried so hard to climb out of. But these days, it's more than just hallucinations that keep Rayna up at night. Students are dying, and she may be the only one who can stop it. Can she keep her job, her sanity, and her friends from dying at the hands of angels she can't admit to seeing?
Review:
If we had to compare A Shimmer of Angels to another series, we think it would have to be Michelle Rowen's Dark Kiss/Wicked Kiss, only better. Now books featuring angels and demons are a dime a dozen and it's not exactly easy to come across angel books that are a cut above the rest. A Shimmer of Angels is not exactly that but at least it didn't have your ever-present whiny girl and love at first sight.
Ever since her mother died, Rayna started seeing people with wings. Her family thought that it was her way of coping, but soon enough it got too much for them to handle and they sent her to the loony bin. Now in remission, Ray is determined to get things back to normal - meaning she has to fight to ignore the boy with wings who's oh-so-conveniently one of her classmates and generally not act all crazy. It's not exactly easy when your classmates are suddenly committing suicide the same same day you meet angel boy. Then Rayna finds out that maybe thanks to her strange angel sight she can help stop the deaths, well you can bet that everything's gonna change, and definitely not for the good.
A Shimmer of Angels had decent characters and we're grateful that there was no insta-love whatsoever. Ray is lost, she's always thought that she was hallucinating, seeing people with wings and then she finds out one day that she's not at all crazy and all the years spent in the mental hospital were all for naught? Yeah, we think we'd be a little lost too. She's a lot confused and who can blame her. She's got trust issues and OCD and she may be a little weird, just so you guys know. Admittedly, there were some parts where her dialogue and the narration just got confusing and it was either reread the part or skip it. We had to admit that her frequent freakouts with seeing the wings were a bit too dramatic.
There are two boys, two angel boys. Kade and Camael. We are obviously Team Kade all the way because he is undoubtedly the more interesting one. He's more forthright and straightforward with Ray and was definitely a lot more fun to to read compared to stiff and all-too-serious Cam. When Ray needed help, Kade was always the one who went out on a limb for her. We can't fault Cam for focusing on his mission, but come on, dude! How can you ignore a person who obviously needs help?! Kade is obviously the better guy, and we can't help but groan over the fact that Ray is drooling over the wrong boy.
To be frank, the first half wasn't entirely convincing. It felt like the sequence was stuck on a loop what with all her talking about seeing angel wings everywhere. Ray's dad and sister also made us raise eyebrows. For people who claimed that they were concerned about her - and overly so, at that - they were always talking about sending Ray away or telling her to talk to her psychiatrist. We can't help but want to shake them both because Ray is a part of their family, and given her record, should be dealt with patiently and kindly. What kind of family treats one of their own as if they wished hard enough, all their problems - which was Ray - would disappear. Ray is better off without them and their definition of "help". The scenes with the bad guys were also dealt with properly, and definitely didn't feel forced or awkward. What we didn't get was why she could see angel wings in the first place, and hopefully, that would be resolved in the next book.
With us rooting for Kade and Ray and curious as to what the cast of characters will be up to soon, you can definitely say that we enjoyed A Shimmer of Angels. There's a decent heroine who didn't swoon at the sight of yummy guys, a hot bad boy who did more good than bad, and a plotline that, despite being a bit overused in the genre, definitely worked for Basso.
Source of Copy: Requested from publisher via NetGalley
Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Rayna sees angels, and has the medication and weekly therapy sessions to prove it. Now, in remission, Rayna starts fresh at a new school, lands a new job, and desperately tries for normalcy. She ignores signs that she may be slipping into the world she has tried so hard to climb out of. But these days, it's more than just hallucinations that keep Rayna up at night. Students are dying, and she may be the only one who can stop it. Can she keep her job, her sanity, and her friends from dying at the hands of angels she can't admit to seeing?
Review:
If we had to compare A Shimmer of Angels to another series, we think it would have to be Michelle Rowen's Dark Kiss/Wicked Kiss, only better. Now books featuring angels and demons are a dime a dozen and it's not exactly easy to come across angel books that are a cut above the rest. A Shimmer of Angels is not exactly that but at least it didn't have your ever-present whiny girl and love at first sight.
Ever since her mother died, Rayna started seeing people with wings. Her family thought that it was her way of coping, but soon enough it got too much for them to handle and they sent her to the loony bin. Now in remission, Ray is determined to get things back to normal - meaning she has to fight to ignore the boy with wings who's oh-so-conveniently one of her classmates and generally not act all crazy. It's not exactly easy when your classmates are suddenly committing suicide the same same day you meet angel boy. Then Rayna finds out that maybe thanks to her strange angel sight she can help stop the deaths, well you can bet that everything's gonna change, and definitely not for the good.
A Shimmer of Angels had decent characters and we're grateful that there was no insta-love whatsoever. Ray is lost, she's always thought that she was hallucinating, seeing people with wings and then she finds out one day that she's not at all crazy and all the years spent in the mental hospital were all for naught? Yeah, we think we'd be a little lost too. She's a lot confused and who can blame her. She's got trust issues and OCD and she may be a little weird, just so you guys know. Admittedly, there were some parts where her dialogue and the narration just got confusing and it was either reread the part or skip it. We had to admit that her frequent freakouts with seeing the wings were a bit too dramatic.
There are two boys, two angel boys. Kade and Camael. We are obviously Team Kade all the way because he is undoubtedly the more interesting one. He's more forthright and straightforward with Ray and was definitely a lot more fun to to read compared to stiff and all-too-serious Cam. When Ray needed help, Kade was always the one who went out on a limb for her. We can't fault Cam for focusing on his mission, but come on, dude! How can you ignore a person who obviously needs help?! Kade is obviously the better guy, and we can't help but groan over the fact that Ray is drooling over the wrong boy.
To be frank, the first half wasn't entirely convincing. It felt like the sequence was stuck on a loop what with all her talking about seeing angel wings everywhere. Ray's dad and sister also made us raise eyebrows. For people who claimed that they were concerned about her - and overly so, at that - they were always talking about sending Ray away or telling her to talk to her psychiatrist. We can't help but want to shake them both because Ray is a part of their family, and given her record, should be dealt with patiently and kindly. What kind of family treats one of their own as if they wished hard enough, all their problems - which was Ray - would disappear. Ray is better off without them and their definition of "help". The scenes with the bad guys were also dealt with properly, and definitely didn't feel forced or awkward. What we didn't get was why she could see angel wings in the first place, and hopefully, that would be resolved in the next book.
With us rooting for Kade and Ray and curious as to what the cast of characters will be up to soon, you can definitely say that we enjoyed A Shimmer of Angels. There's a decent heroine who didn't swoon at the sight of yummy guys, a hot bad boy who did more good than bad, and a plotline that, despite being a bit overused in the genre, definitely worked for Basso.
Rating:
Surprisingly, I don't think I've read a YA novel about angels yet. "A Shimmer of Angels" sounds great so why not.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth a try. :)Thanks for stopping by.
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