Unforgiven by Lauren Kate

Series: Fallen (bk. 5)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: supernatural, angels, paranormal, romance, love, demons, high school, musicians

Setting: A town and a high school in Hell, and Lilith doesn’t know it’s Hell

POV/Tense: 3^rd person POV, past tense: Cam and Lilith

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 357 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Hachette: Delacorte Press

Summary/ product description: “It’s the book FALLEN fans have been waiting for: Cam’s story, the brooding, bad-boy dark angel readers love.

High school can be hell.

Cam knows what it’s like to be haunted. He’s spent more time in Hell than any angel ever should. And his freshest Hell is high school, where Lilith, the girl he can’t stop loving, is serving out a punishment for his crimes.

Cam made a bet with Lucifer: he has fifteen days to convince the only girl who really matters to him to love him again. If he succeeds, Lilith will be allowed back into the world, and they can live their lives together. But if he fails…there’s a special place in Hell just for him.

Tick-tock.

Spread your wings and cry as bad boy dark angel Cam finally reveals his anguished heart in the epic new FALLEN novel, UNFORGIVEN.”

My Review:  After finally finishing the Fallen series after years of waiting, I decided to read the brand new companion to the series that’s centered around Cam. Cam is a great character and now I’ve convinced I like him better than Daniel (but not better than Patch from Hush, Hush). He may have status as a demon, but he’s definitely a good guy. He’s got a great sense of humor, and he’s not pushy when it comes to romance. He’s got bad boy look, but he’s pretty sweet when it comes to love.

This book take place in a fake town within Hell. Lucifer creates personal hells just for Lilith. Lilith’s heart was broken by Cam 3000 years ago, near the Jordon River when Cam wanted to marry her. Cam’s not able to enter places of worship, and Lilith was mad that he would not marry in a temple. Cam wouldn’t tell her that he’s a fallen angel and that setting foot in a temple would cause it to burn down. Lilith’s hatred is so deep and now Lucifer is putting her through constant punishment, making her live life after life, death after death, in different hells he creates.

Lilith is a high school student this time. He life sucks and the other bright spots are her guitar playing and her younger brother (who’s got breathing problems). Music is her escape. Cam meets her by a creek, strumming her guitar. She doesn’t remember him, but has a general dislike for him. He enrolls in her school, posing as a student. His goal is to win her love back, or Lucifer will force him to be his employee. Prom in coming up and it’s featuring a battle of the bands.

Lilith is terrified of performing and Cam tries to encourage her to showcase her talent and create a band. When she does make a band, she doesn’t want Cam in it, but eventually lets him join. Lucifer makes it difficult for Cam when he shows up pretending to be an intern for King Media, the queen bee Chloe King’s father’s record company. He even messes with Cam’s appearance. He’s giving Cam Hell, but Cam’s doing his best to fight for Lilith’s love. The book does have a lot of annoying high school rivalry and bullying. Chloe King’s meaner to Lilith than any mean girl would be in real life. It makes sense, though, since she is in Hell.

This was a fun, entreating read. It’s very refreshing, different from the original Fallen books. The dialogue it funny and the characters are great. I love the music stuff. This reminds be of Sinner by Maggie Steifvater, another companion/stand-alone spin-off to a series (the Shiver series). Music, magic, mayhem. Demons and fallen angels. It’s a fun supernatural read and I’d definitely recommend it.

Cover Art Review: Not sure I like the model in the photo, but I like the background and title text. I love the color and the velvet texture of the paper of the jacket.

Shade Me by Jennifer Brown

Publication Date: January 19^th, 2016

Series: Nikki Kill (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Contemporary Thriller

Subjects: mystery, crime, mental disorders, abilities, synesthesia, musicians

Setting: Brentwood, California

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Nikki Kill

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 441 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegen

Summary/ product description: “Nikki Kill does not see the world like everyone else. In her eyes, happiness is pink, sadness is a mixture of brown and green, and lies are gray. Thanks to a rare phenomenon called synesthesia, Nikki’s senses overlap, in a way that both comforts and overwhelms her.

Always an outsider, just one ‘D’ shy of flunking out, Nikki’s life is on the fast track to nowhere until the night a mysterious call lights her phone up bright orange—the color of emergencies. It’s the local hospital. They need Nikki to identify a Jane Doe who is barely hanging on to life after a horrible attack.

The victim is Peyton Hollis, a popular girl from Nikki’s school who Nikki hardly knows. One thing is clear: Someone wants Peyton dead. But why? And why was Nikki’s cell the only number in Peyton’s phone?

As she tries to decipher the strange kaleidoscope of clues, Nikki finds herself thrust into the dark, glittering world of the ultra-rich Hollis family, and drawn towards Peyton’s handsome, never-do-well older brother Dru. While Nikki’s colors seem to help her unravel the puzzle, what she can’t see is that she may be falling into a trap. The only truth she can be sure of is that death is a deep, pulsing crimson.

Shade Me is award-winning author Jennifer Brown’s first book in a thrilling suspense series about Nikki Kill.”

My Review:  Shade Me is a unique crime mystery. The main character has synesthesia. Every number, letter and emotion has a unique color to her. When Nikki gets a call from a classmate in trouble, and then a call from the hospital, she wonders why was she the one called? What does the famous Payton Hollis have to do with her? Payton was beaten to the edge of death and is in a coma. Nikki starts to dig into the mystery of who attacked Payton and why would she have a phone with only her number on it.

Nikki is a really awesome main character. The way she describes her synesthesia is really cool. Her synesthesia has been a problem most of her life, though. In school is distracted her. Math and English class especially. In high school it’s affecting her Chemistry grade the worst. To Nikki, 3’s and E’s are purple and she gets them confused. 0 is black, 1 is brown, 2 is pink, 3 is purple, 4 is silver…ect. Words have unique colors from the separate letters. Fear is bumpy gray and brown, danger is sparkly white. It’s really amazing how the author came up with all of this. She must have made a color list to keep track of everything so Nikki’s synesthesia is consistent.

Her synesthesia makes her unique, but she’s also a black belt in tae-kwon-do. She’s really kick-ass at it. I was in tang-soo-do for a few years and only made it to high blue belt (next would be brown, high brown and then black). I love how dedicated she is to her martial art classes. It’s such a cooler sport than cheerleading or soccer. Self-defense is important, but Nikki is sometime on offense in this book. My sensei would have never approved of her risky behavior.

The other characters in the book are pretty well thought out. Nikki’s dad is a photographer, and very lenient. He doesn’t punish her or ground her for getting bad grades or skipping school. The Hollis family is messy. Dru is Peyton’s brother and bit of a player. He and Nikki get romantically involved, but he’s also a suspect in the attack. Luna, their half-sister, is a total bi-otch, Peyton-wannabe. Their father is a movie director and a jerk. His wife isn’t that great either. There’s also Detective Martinez, who’s investigating the attack. He’s kind of young and helps Nikki. Nikki keeps her own investigation a secret mostly. No one but her dad and a counselor know about her synesthesia.

Shade me is a thrilling mystery and I recommend it to fans of YA mysteries about crime, such as Dangerous Lies and Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick. The Masked Truth by Kelly Armstrong, No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale, Clarity by Kim Harris.

Cover Art Review: Simple and cool. Love the colorful type treatment. Kind of don’t like the girl’s face though.

Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick

Series: Hush, Hush (bk. 4)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: supernatural, angels, mystery, love

Setting: Cold Water, Maine

POV/Tense: 1^st person, past tense: Nora Grey

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 454 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover originally, now Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary/ product description:

“Will love conquer all?

Nora and Patch thought their troubles were behind them. Hank is gone and they should be able to put his ugly vendetta to rest. But in Hank's absence, Nora has become the unwitting head of the Nephilim and must finish what Hank began. Which ultimately means destroying the fallen angels - destroying Patch.

Nora will never let that happen, so she and Patch make a plan: lead everyone to believe they have broken up, and work the system from the inside. Nora will convince the Nephilim that they are making a mistake in fighting the fallen angels, and Patch will find out everything he can from the opposing side. They will end this war before it can even begin.

But the best-laid plans often go awry. Nora is put through the paces in her new role and finds herself drawn to an addictive power she never anticipated.

As the battle lines are drawn, Nora and Patch must confront the differences that have always been between them and either choose to ignore them or let them destroy the love they have always fought for.”

My Review:  Still feeling horrible for waiting so long to complete this series. What an awesome final book Finale was. It was definitely a grand Finale to remember. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE WHOLE SERIES, DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW!!!!!!

Nora became a Nephilim at the end of Silence, and took an oath to lead Hank’s Nephilim army. Nora as a Nephilim is so awesome! I did not really think she would become one. I was hoping that she’d get some abilities, but I just never thought the author would make it happen. It made me think of Bella from Twilight becoming a vampire, or Kate in the last book of Amy Plum’s Revenant series. It’s not like her appearance changed. She’s got enhanced strength and speed as well as mind-speak and mind-tricking. Her physical attributes are much weaker than natural born Nephilim, but her mind-tricking is actually much stronger.

I can’t get enough of Patch. I’m going to miss him. I want Becca to continue to write awesome male love interests like him. I read Black Ice and Dangerous Lies, both with awesome romances. Patch has truly influenced Becca’s other male leads. Nora’s definitely one of the best YA paranormal protagonist I’ve read too.

The chemistry of the romance in this book is the kind that causes people to blush while reading it. It’s like Juliet and Warner in Shatter Me (Tahereh Mafi), or Layla and Roth in White Hot Kiss (Jennifer Armentrout). There’s a bad-boy love interest that does some questionable thing, but wants to do the right thing and protect and encourage the female lead, which ends up saving him in the end.

If you loved this series like I did, then I definitely recommend series like Fallen (Lauren Kate) and Unearthly (Cynthia Hand). I still need to finish the Fallen series. I love angel books. Before they got popular, I loved them I bought a lot of them and then ended up putting them off. I’m just glad I finally completed this amazing series.

Cover Art Review: I’ve always loved the covers in this series. I love the model who’s supposed to be Patch. I love the contrast and the rocky shore.