Blue Moon Mystery Saloon

Immortal City

An Immortal City Novel (Book One), by Scott Speer, Penguin Group, April 2012.

Angels not only live among us, but they are treated like rock stars. They marry other angels, have children born immortal, and the most talented among them become guardian angels. You can have their protection whenever you need it. Just pay a hefty monthly fee, plus a $100,000 bonus when you're saved, and you can escape from certain death. If you're extremely wealthy or win a protection lottery, you're golden. If you're poor and can't pay for protection, you die.

Welcome to Los Angeles, the City of Angels, where glamorous angels live in luxurious hilltop villas and are treated like royalty. It's commissioning week for a new round of guardian angels, and all TVs in the city are tuned to Angel News Network or the A! television channel for the most up-to-date info on our favorite angels. This year all eyes are on Jackson Godspeed, the youngest, brightest and hottest angel being feted. Mortal girls and women swoon at the sight of him, and even high school girls across town can't stop reading the latest gossip about Jacks.

Despite all the angel accolades and celebrity status, someone or something is killing guardian angels and hacking off their wings. Only angels can kill other angels, but the dead angels are first made mortal and killed after their wings are removed. Jacks leaves a commissioning party early on the night the first bloody wings are discovered and becomes a person of interest. His stepfather, Archangel Mark Godspeed, orders him off the street until he can come to pick Jacks up. So Jacks pulls into a small diner across town, walks into the place to hide awhile, and meets Maddy Montgomery. It's her Uncle Nick's diner and she's the only waitress on duty. Jacks tries to be incognito, but ironically, Maddy may be the only girl in the whole LA area who doesn't know who he is anyway.

Maddy works hard, keeps to herself and helps her uncle when she's not in school. Her parents died when she was a baby, and she's lived with her uncle ever since. Her best and only friend is Gwen, a fellow senior at Angel City High, who tries to get Maddy out of her shell and boring day-to-day existence. In fact Maddy's whole life has been unspectacular, that is, until the night she meets Jackson Godspeed.

Jacks has gotten anything he's wanted his whole life, except for Maddy. She doesn't stroke his ego or fall at his feet like other women. She's unlike anyone else he knows, which intriques him. He has always been pursued, but to win over Maddy, he has to become the pursuer.

I love this book, and here's why. With it's unique plot and far from stereotypical characters, Immortal City offers a fresh take on what has become a stale angel-focused sub-genre. Jacks and Maddy grow up in significantly different social and economic classes, yet they each struggle with their own family issues and personal expectations. Both of them have family secrets that, once discovered, connects Jacks and Maddy and significantly affects their future. And Speer does a great job hiding the identity of the murderer. I had no idea who was killing the guardian angels until the final reveal.

If you're looking for a cool mystery with interesting characters, a unique paranormal plot, and a story you can't put down, then I highly recommend you buy and read Immortal City. (Although it's a series, this book doesn't end on a cliffhanger!)   

** The next book in the series, Natural Born Angel, was released in April 2013.

 

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU MAY LIKE: Gilded Wings Novels by Aimee Agresti, The Sweet Trilogy by Wendy Higgins, The Beautiful Dark Trilogy by Jocelyn Davies, Premonition Series by Amy A Bartol, Hush Hush Saga by Becca Fitzpatrick, The Fallen Series by Lauren Kate

Infatuate

A Gilded Wings Novel (Book 2), by Aimee Agresti, Houghton Mufflin Harcourt, March 2013.   

Fall semester of their senior year is over, and Haven Terra, her boyfriend Lance, and her best friend Dante are now early high school graduates. The prior spring, the angels-in-training successfully passed their first of three angel tests by battling evil at the Lexington Hotel. This spring promises to be a little different. The three friends have been recruited to participate in a volunteer assistance program in New Orleans, a community still struggling to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

They live in a group house in the French Quarter with other teenagers recruited from throughout the country. The volunteers are given projects all over New Orleans, including the haunted house next door and a spooky cemetery needing upkeep (both of which are important to the story), and the three friends continue to be on the lookout for any evil in the area. As a soul illuminator, Haven makes sure to take pictures of all the people in her house and anyone else deemed suspicious, so she, Dante and Lance can identify any evil characters around them. The strong ties of the three friends are strained as Lance is pursued by Haven's roommate and Dante spends his time in alchemy training with a voodoo practitioner or with his new friend Max. Even Haven has a separate love interest.

New Orleans turns out to have a powerful group of Satan's helpers waiting to tag the angels-in-training and bring them into the underworld. Another battle between good and evil looms, but the stakes are much, much higher. The physical training is more strenuous and pretty unusual, and this time, all three friends receive messages from the unknown entity who they have to trust to survive.

I really enjoyed the New Orleans setting for Infatuate. Agresti does a great job of invoking the character and feel of the city and its culture and weaving it throughout the story. She uses local legends and beliefs to heighten suspense and even uses a Mardi Gras parade for a pivotal scene in the story.

And boy is there conflict! It's raising it's ugly head between Haven and Lance, Haven and her roommate Sabine, Haven and Satan, and more. The volunteers who share the same house don't always get along among themselves or with their leader. Haven and her friends have strange and worrying interactions with the local evil group known as the Krewe. And through all that, Haven is struggling with lots of internal conflict.

Agresti described the scenic landscape and historic details necessary to imagine yourself in New Orleans so well, that I felt I was part of the story.  I think she's a wiz at writing emotions too. I felt Haven's happy confusion during the tagging side effects, her resulting fear and sickness when it was over, and her feelings of loneliness and worry over her relationship with Lance. 

Infatuate does end on a cliffhanger, but it isn't the Oh-My-God-What-Happened type of ending. I have an inkling of where the story's heading in Book 3, and I can't wait for the final book in the trilogy to come out so I can learn what happened. As I finished this book in one day, I know I'll have to block out the date of the third book's release so I can devour and savor it without stopping.

Once again, Agresti has written an enjoyable, engrossing fantasy story full of multidimensional characters, amazing imagery, and lessons of inner strength and the importance of friendship. Infatuate is a perfect book for a long Summer's day or a relaxing weekend whatever season of the year.  

PROTAGONIST/HEROINE: A good, high-achieving, 17-year-old high school grad

ACTION: Battle for good and evil

LOVE INTERESTS: Clark Kentish, fellow high school grad - and - an underworld resident

ROMANCE: Yummy heavy snogs

QUIRKINESS: Dante's character

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU MAY LIKE: Immortal City Series by Scott Speer, The Sweet Trilogy by Wendy Higgins, The Beautiful Dark Trilogy by Jocelyn Davies, Premonition Series by Amy A Bartol, Hush Hush Saga by Becca Fitzpatrick, The Fallen Series by Lauren Kate

 

Illuminate

A Gilded Wings Novel by Aimee Agresti, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, March 2012. 

Haven Terra, a 16-year-old high school student, is awarded a prestigious, well-paying, semester-long internship at the newest, coolest hotel in Chicago, the Lexington Hotel. Along with the two other interns from her school (Dante, her long-time best friend, and Lance, a fellow 11th grader), Haven discovers that something is off about the owner and staff of the hotel. From the beginning of her stay, Haven is guided to prepare for an upcoming battle with evil, to become mentally and physically fit, and to be on her guard at all times.

Never having had a boyfriend, Haven is surprised when the very handsome Lucian shows a definite interest in her. He charms her with his obvious sophistication, intelligence and confidence, and she falls for him fairly quickly. But Haven discovers all isn't as it seems and that Lucian is not pursuing her with romance in mind. The real reason for his interest is much darker.

Haven's mentor is the very young and beautiful owner of the hotel, Aurelia Brown. She assigns Haven the job of photographing all of the staff and interns so that their pictures can be placed in the hotel's Gallery. On the Lexington's opening day,  Haven notices something wrong with the portraits. The scars she's tried to hide on Lance's and her pictures show up again, and she sees something off with Aurelia's photo. This sparks Haven's wariness of what's happening to her and her friends. Eventually, Aurelia assigns Haven and Lance the responsibility of overseeing their own high school's prom dance at the hotel. The three interns prepare for the event, knowing it will be a significant turning point for themselves and for the "it" people staffing the hotel.

The heroine grows from a timid and always-wanting-to-please teenager into a strong female who works to overcome and face her fears. Haven starts trusting her instincts, begins to trust in her friends, and prepares her body and mind for the upcoming battle between good and evil.

I really enjoy Young Adult paranormal stories and this novel doesn't disappoint. The book is long but never boring, and the glimpse of Haven's life before her internship provides a great contrast to her time spent at the Lexington Hotel. The author excels at descriptions and makes it feel as if you're a part of the story. Though the book isn't constantly gory like many horror movies, there are several incidents of bodily harm and descriptive gross endings to disreputable characters.

Illuminate has a strong heroine, a good message and a little romance thrown in, all of which I consider a perfect trifecta for a Young Adult novel. So don't let the over 500 pages put you off reading this entertaining story. Just take a good chunk of time and savor the book like I did. You'll be glad you did. 

** The second book in the series, Infatuate, was released in March 2013.  

PROTAGONIST/HEROINE: A good, high-achieving, 16-year-old student

ACTION: Battle for good and evil

LOVE INTERESTS: Clark Kentish, fellow 11th grader - and - suave manager of a hotel

ROMANCE: Pecks on cheeks, light lip kisses and yummy heavy snogs

QUIRKINESS: Dante's character

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU MAY LIKE: Immortal City Series by Scott Speer, The Sweet Trilogy by Wendy Higgins, The Beautiful Dark Trilogy by Jocelyn Davies, Premonition Series by Amy A Bartol, Hush Hush Saga by Becca Fitzpatrick