Heaven by Alexandra Adornetto

Series: Halo (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: angels, demons, supernatural, magic, love, college

Setting: Venus Cove, Georgia and Oxford, Mississippi and Heaven

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Bethany

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 417 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover originally, now in Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: Macmillian: Feiwel & Friends

Summary/ product description: “Heaven must be missing an angel....

The angel Bethany and her mortal love, Xavier, have already pushed the boundaries of Heaven with their relationship. In this conclusion to the Halo trilogy, the two take their love to the next, forbidden, step: They marry.

At a time when they believe nothing will come between them again, they are faced with their most daunting challenge yet: the Sevens, a military order of angels designed to maintain balance in the universe. These soldiers won't stop until their job is done - capture the wayward angel and send her home.

Secrets, exile, and unexpected allies flavor the rest of this intense love story and adventure.

Beth discovers there is only one way back to earth, but the cost is higher than she - and readers - ever imagined. If she can survive, she can prove to Heaven and Earth that there is nothing stronger than the power of love.”

My Review:  I loved this series and now I finally completed it. I feel kind of sad. I’ve been trying to complete all these angel series I’ve loved. Bethany has come a long way. She and Xavier get married and some terrible things start happening. Heaven apparently doesn’t approve of their relationship and there are these warriors that Beth knows as the Sevens a.k.a. the Principalities, who are after them.

Ivy and Gabriel try to hide Beth and Xav, but decide maybe hiding in a crowd is the best option. So, they send Bethany and Xavier to Ole Miss, a university in Mississippi under the guise of brother instead of husband and wife. Things get completed and Beth and Xav try hard to keep their relationship private. Girls are fawning over Xav, including Beth’s roommate, and Beth’s feeling a bit jealous. Beth’s friend Molly appear and she may be in an unhealthy relationship with a super religious guy.

I really enjoyed this book because Bethany stopped feeling like a mary-sue character. In Hades she starts to show some fire, and in Heaven she really seems like more of a fighter. She seemed like a dreamy, love-everyone and be nice kind of girl before. She is guardian angel, after all. Bethany feels more human than ever now.

I love Xavier of course. He’s sweet and has a good sense of humor. He may now be a cowboy, but he is a southern gentle man. He reminds me of Ethan Wate from Beautiful Creatures. If only we got to read from his point-of-view. He found out some things in this book. He had his own self-discovery moments, just like Bethany did.

The Halo series will forever be one of my favorite angel/paranormal series. I still like Unearthly and Hush, Hush more, but I think I liked this better than Fallen. It felt very religious toned or preachy at times, but the story itself is about love. It’s a romance, possibly a Romeo-Juliet kind of romance. If you are a strong Christian though, this book series isn’t offensive in anyway. If you haven’t read the Halo series, you should give it a shot.

Cover Art Review: Beautiful. I love the heart their arms make around the sunlight. It has an uncanny resemblance to Australia, if flipped upside-down and horizontally mirrored. The author in from Australia originally, so maybe this isn’t an accident.

Parallel by Lauren Miller

Series: Standalone

Genera: Romance/Sci-fi

Subjects: parallel universes, college, actor, love, fate

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 419 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.
With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.
As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.”

My Review: This book is complex and intricately woven. There are things about it I enjoyed and things I didn’t. I mostly wish there was more sci-fi stuff in it. It’s very different from Elizabeth Norris’s Unraveling, but both have parallel universes. It’s very different from Fringe. I kind of wanted to picture Dr. Mann as Walter with a German accent, still.

This book had a lot of drama and crazy situations based on the choices the main character made. It felt contemporary and had some romance. I can totally tell that the author was a TV writer because Parallel would be awesome on the CW or ABC Family. Abby is funny and her friend Caitlin is awesome for helping her with the parallel situation.

I like that there was a college setting in this book. I wasn’t too crazy about the high school drama because I’m kind of sick of high school book clichés. Yale seems like a cool place. I wouldn’t go there, but it’s fun to read about it.

Fun is probably the best word for this book, but the story has deeper meaning. This book made me think about what I would do in this situation. How thing would go differently if I choose a different major or if something happened that caused me to pick something. It made me think about parallel selves.

The parallel world was a year and a day behind Abby’s, which mean that when Abby woke up in a different reality, she has a year gap in her parallel selves reality. She could remember only up to what happen a year ago (and what happened after her birthday). Her parallel joins the crew/rowing team after an injury, and become the coxswain. I had no clue what crew was even till I read this book. Our school never had such a sport. I’m sure crew is part of the summer Olympic or something.

This book gets points for creativity, complexity and fun-ness. I didn’t give it an awesome rating because some part lost my interest. I like sci-fi, and I want my sci-fi with more science and solutions. Caitlin loved science and Dr. Mann was pretty cool. Astronomy is awesome. But it was lacking.

There was romance but it wasn’t really compelling. Josh seemed like a cool guy. There wasn’t insta-love but the love didn’t feel very deep. I feel like the story didn’t get to the really romantic stuff. And Michael (the guy at Yale) sounded like a player. He reminded me of Damon from the Vampire Diaries (minus the killing and bad attitude, and in college). I completely saw it coming, Josh and Michael. The author dropped hint. I am happy to say that I WAS RIGHT.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy contemporary and like their sci-fi lite. Or like lite-paranormal romance. Fans of Cat Patrick and Lauren Oliver will enjoy this. Especially if you loved Before I Fall. I haven’t read it, but I heard go thing about it.

Cover Art Review: I love the pearly stock paper used on this cover, but the design itself is boring and not creative. It fits the book, but it’s the kind of cover that would intrigue me. It’s not sci-fi looking.

Boundless by Cynthia Hand

Series: Unearthly (bk. 3)

Genera: Paranormal Romance

Subjects: Angels, nephilim, love, destiny, visions, Wyoming, California, college

Age/Grade Level: Teen/Upper Teen/New Adult

Length: 436 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “The past few years held more surprises than part-angel Clara Gardner ever could have anticipated. Yet through the dizzying high of first love to the agonizing low of losing someone close to her, the one thing she could no longer deny was that she was never meant to have a normal life.
Since discovering the special role she plays among the other angel-bloods, Clara has been determined to protect Tucker Avery from the evil that follows her . . . even if it means breaking both their hearts. Leaving town seemed like the best option, so she's headed back to California—and so is Christian Prescott, the irresistible boy from the vision that started her on this journey in the first place.
As Clara makes her way in a world that is frighteningly new, she discovers that the fallen angel who attacked her is watching her every move. And he's not the only one. . . . With the battle against the Black Wings looming, Clara knows she must finally fulfill her destiny. But it won't come without sacrifices and betrayal.
In the riveting finale of the Unearthly series, Clara must choose her fate once and for all.”

My Rating: êêêêê+

My Review: I hate conclusions, especially to my favorite series. Unearthly is pretty much my favorite, favorite series (besides Maximum Ride). I knew that if I didn’t read it right away, I’d never get to it anytime soon. So I started reading it as soon as I had it. Now that I’m done with it, how do I review the final book to my favorite series? (Towards the end, this may contain SPOILERS) It’s really hard not to spoil stuff. If I knew where to get GIFs, I’d probably review this book using those. Here’s a very unconventional review from mean. Read as far as you dare if you haven’t read Boundless yet.

The Beginning

My feels: excitement, happiness, with a little bit of worry.

I didn’t know what to expect. Didn’t know how it would all end. Clara, Christian and Angela are going to Stanford. I’m missing Jackson Hole and Tucker. I still enjoy the change of scenery. The characters are still themselves. Everything is going pretty well. I’m underlining pretty much any funny or beautifully written quote I can find in metallic pink gel pen. There’s a few new characters and some crazy moment. I like Christian, even though I’m still Team Tucker (cuz he’s a cowboy and sexy). Clara’s taking a class on Happiness.

The Middle

My feels: Thrilled, Surprised. In awe. Not wanting to put the book down even for school work. (procrastination). Angry at my noisy brother because he’s distracting me from getting into it. I want to be really into it. (I even dream that I’m reading the book, strangely enough) In love with Tucker still even if he’s fictional. (I wish I was Clara)

I love the parts where Clara accidently teleports to Tucker’s barn. Yay!!! Tucker is not forgotten and there are some parts in Jackson Hole! Awesome!

OH NO!! REALLY!!!?? ANGELA!!! Why didn’t you tell us? (Seriously, did not expect what happens to Angela). Clara’s dad starts training her and Christian for whatever reason. There’s a creepy crow who turns out to not be a real crow. Also there’s the visions, and Clara and Christian try to figure it out. There’s a really interesting twist. Angela purpose has a very crazy twist.

Towards The End (Last150 pages or so)

My feels:  Extreme surprise. Happiness for being right about stuff. Wariness for how it’s all going to end. OH NO OH NO OH NO!!!!

Did not expect Clara and Christian to be on the run with Angela’s baby Webster. Kind of figured out what Lucy was right away, so no surprise there. Clara sees her mother again, somehow. Hell reminds me of the Netherworld in the Soul Screamers series, but also makes me think of Everneath or even the Wicked Lovely series. There’s a big Christian-related surprise. LOTS OF FREAKIN’ SURPRISES!

The Very End (Last 40 pages)

My Feels: Crying my eyes out, and then eventually relief. (For a while I felt like I was the empathy feeling sorrow. Had to remind myself it’s just a book)

TUCKER NO!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! (I A VERY MUCH TEAM TUCKER!)

And let’s just say is all works out in the end. The ending is PERFECT!! *grabs tissue box*

 The Epilogue: Yay they take Web to Chicago! But wouldn’t Tuck’s family notice that Clara and Angela haven’t really aged after 9 years? And how old is Midas?

Other Stuff

Some awesome things mentioned in this book: Vampire Academy (Clara has a copy), Dystopian Books (Clara was reading one), Lincoln, Nebraska (I’ve been there, and Clara and Christian are there for a few weeks), Chicago (Christian thinks they should go there next), Zombieland (Christian’s favorite movie and mine too). Lots of awesome.

Read the acknowledgements! Courtney Allison Moulton feeds her horse Pia jelly beans!  That’s why Midas eats jelly beans!

I love this series. I feel like crying my eyes out because with Unearthly and Maximum Ride and almost all my favorite angel books over, I don’t know what to love next. (I’ll probably have to finish the last books in the Hush, Hush, Fallen, Halo, and other series too). I really want another novella from Jeffery’s perspective! And somebody please make Unearthly into a movie!

Cover Art Review: Beautiful as always. I love the metallic pink. I knew it would be pink. I love the title typography. The girl in the dress is nice. I love the dress.

 

~Haley G