Category: Young Adult

Review: Soulmates

1 Comment

The final story in the original trilogy of the Kissed by an Angel series was good, although I have qualms. I’ll get to those.

First, the actual story was still good, in my opinion. The action ramps up very well, and it definitely gets to that white knuckled suspenseful climax. I felt like the motivation for Gregory was believable. Ivy reacts to the threats around her in very believable ways. For instance, near the end she finds some evidence that is very damning. She immediately brings it to the police station instead of hiding it somewhere in the house or in her pocket, where it could be snatched away at the last minute, putting her in even more peril. The threats were scary and well conceived. 

I do have a few nitpicks. I thought the love story between Ivy and Will was contrived. They start hinting at it very early on, possibly in the first book, but it feels so rushed. The 3rd book takes place somewhere in the vicinity of October, just a few months after the accident which killed Tristan. Ivy and Tristan were only dating a few months but were in L-O-V-E, and then before he’s even been gone 6 months she is already in love with someone else, all the while Tristan as an angel is still around? Much too fast, even for flaky teenagers.

I also didn’t like how insane Gregory became in the big scene on the railroad tracks at the climax. A couple lines about possible drug use could have explained it away, but he seemed really unhinged despite being a calm sociopath before that. I could also have done without the screaming demons in the background. It was a little over the top, even for a supernatural romance.

Otherwise, this was a great story, and I’m really excited about reading the next three books. I think it held up pretty well over the last 20 years. The second set of three were written in 2011 so it might have an entirely different feel to it, considering how technology has changed so much.

4 stars.

This book completes the mystery/thriller requirement for the challenge.

Review: The Power of Love

1 Comment

The second installment of the Kissed By An Angel trilogy was another quick read. The suspense begins to accelerate during this book as more of the pieces begin to come together.

The first book leaves off with Tristan remembering something weird about the brakes in his car, and how he wasn’t able to stop the car accident from happening. So this whole book deals with him learning how to utilize his angel powers in order to make contact with Ivy in order to warn her that her life may be in danger. The paranormal aspects were okay, nothing too bizarre. I was able to suspend my belief enough to accept them in the story, although there were things that I wondered about. For example, Tristan learns to harness his energy enough to materialize fingertips. But he doesn’t lock the door when Ivy forgets to, or go and read the police report he sees on Andrew’s (Ivy’s stepfather) desk. Minor complaints.

We begin to see a connection between the suicide of Gregory’s mother (Andrew’s first wife) and the car accident. Gregory’s friend Eric had some sort of drug addiction (although no specific drugs or types of drugs are ever named – just “pills”. Maybe pharmaceuticals?) and this is causing an issue between Eric, Gregory, Andrew, and Gregory’s late mother. 

Tristan attempts all kinds of ways to reach Ivy which mostly succeed only in freaking her out, as he speaks through her brother, her friend Beth, and new guy Will. He is able to push Will towards Ivy’s house when he suspects that she is in danger, and some unknown assailant has broken into the house and apparently cocked a gun to her head, and stop the attack.

Ivy still has no idea what is going on or that there is some sort of conspiracy, when, after a recurring nightmare, Gregory dopes her up with spiked tea and drags her off to train tracks, just in time to get bulldozed by the 2am train. Tristan is able to propel Phillip, Ivy’s 9 year old brother, out of bed and towards the train tracks to stop he tragedy from occurring. 

And then it ends. Stay tuned for the last book, suckers! 

It seems like the middle book in a trilogy always ends at a key point in the action, probably to get you hooked so you read the last book. I feel like these books are all so short, it really should be all in one. I wonder if there was some sort of page limit on young adult books in the mid-nineties. It doesn’t really work as a trilogy. 

I am both anticipating and dreading the final book because I know what happens to the cat (sad face), and I honestly can’t remember the motivations for the murders. I imagine I will complete it in a day or two.

I also discovered that the author has written THREE MORE INSTALLMENTS of this series and I’m kind of excited.

This book fulfills no requirements for the book challenge.