Guardians: The Fallout by Lola St. Vil

Summary

Just because she has wings,

doesn’t mean she’s an Angel…

It's front page news on every Angel gossip rag:

“Marcus & Ameana: Gone The Way Of “Brad & Jennifer.”

So, Who Is The “Angelina?” Emmy Baxter—a mere mortal!”

Ameana tries to avoid her ex and his new love by focusing

on the other evil out to destroy the team. But soon her pain

turns to fury.

And before the end…a girl plots revenge, a leader is on the edge

and an Angel falls.

• Number of pages: 350

Review

Oh my god. I was just stopped cold. Like dead cold. The book ended, and I was left  . . . waiting. I honestly don’t know what to do now. The book is over and it’s going to be quite some time before book THREE comes out considering this just came out today and I was fortunate to coerce (*cough* begged) the author into giving me an ARC.

When we last saw our doomed characters, a big revelation about one of the Guardian’s actions was reveled leaving you with a feeling of unease. This book starts off in the point of view of Ameana, Marcus’ ex-girlfriend. Boy does this girl have some serious issues. At times I couldn’t blame her, and at others I just wanted to kick her. You do get to witness a more vulnerable side to the girl, which is nice to see and to know that she isn’t a complete robot. I’d have to say that two thirds of the book was in her point of view where as one third is done in the point of view of our spunky and stubborn human, Emmy. Most of the time Ameana tries to make Emmy seem like a real loser and a complete waste of space. At times I had to agree with her because of some pettiness I spotted, but when you took the time to look into the way Emmy reacts and composes herself under pressure, you can’t help but feel admiration for her. Honestly, after looking at both girls I felt admiration for both. And not only did I see a lot of different aspects of them, but also from the other characters. Anger from those I didn’t think were that capable, selflessness when I thought they were all hard, even love in one case where there was no WAY there was before. Each book seems to open up a different layer of everyone.

The plot line was interesting in this one as well. The same goals to save the earth still apply, but there were very different obstacles that I thought were great and nerve wracking at the same time. I don’t want to give out too much information on book two so I will just say that this continuation of The Guardians is not something that will disappoint. I read one chapter for every math problem I completed (I like to think of it as a reward), and when it ended I was left not only speechless, but also feeling slightly fainted. All I kept thinking was that it COULDN’T end that way. I COULDN’T be left hanging that bad. But I was, and not only does it frustrate me, but I am also dying to get my hand on the 3^rd book A.S.A.P. That isn’t likely to happen soon so until then I will just have to be satisfied with rating it from 1-10? An 8.5

Side note: I understand that the given summary doesn’t really tell you what this book is about, but I’ll post something different up if I find it a little more specific or helpful. Either way read the first and then this one! Trust. 

Guardians: The Girl by Lola St. Vil

Summary 

Emmy Baxter, a fifteen-year-old, is attacked by demons who threaten to kill she her if she doesn't reveal her dark secret; a secret buried so deeply, Emmy doesn't realize she knows it. Emmy - a bookish, witty student - is rescued by six teenaged angels with powers, called Guardians. They've been sent to elicit the secret from her before the demons can. Emmy later learns that her name is the only clue to locating a sought-after bridge that for centuries, Evil has plotted to destroy; this would in turn bring about the end of humanity.

Things get worse when Emmy falls madly in love with Marcus, the well-intentioned but obstinate leader of the Guardians. He eventually confesses that he is in love with her as well. Unfortunately, Marcus has been warned by his clairvoyant and omniscient guide that should he and Emmy get together, the mission will fail and humanity will perish.    

• Number of pages: 342

REVIEW

Amazing. I have chills. These chills can only come about by one thing: a really good book.

And that is exactly what it was. I was asked about a month back to read a book by an author. The book seemed interesting enough from the summary, but lately I’ve been drowning in a sea of previous school obligations. It’s safe to say that I have not picked up a book in a long, long time. And I am sorry that it took so long because this book was simply amazing. I loved it from start to finish. Not a single moment happened when I wasn’t thoroughly entertained. It was a very good book. I thought that the beginning was flawless. There was complete control as to how much thrilling suspense, sarcastic humor, and heroic action were put into it all. This is a book series for one thing, so the ending was like “ . . . are you kidding me? WHAT HAPPENS?!!?” I was left screaming into my pillow at 2:30 in the morning.

To start off I just want to say that what really struck me about this book was mostly the originality. Something about this story seems to strike unique from the beginning. You can’t really say that about YA books lately. We can all say that we like those books well enough, but when a book comes out that defies the usual you can’t help but thoroughly enjoy it and crave more of it. This is an angel story. Seems played out, but not really, not the way Lola wrote it. Let’s start off with the heroin. Emmy is a nerdy teenager who happens to be the key to saving the entire world. Seems logical enough, right? Well it’s not, nor is the fact that the head angel leader is the perfect definition of a story’s heroic male lead character. A cool thing about the way this book was written was how the first couple of chapters is is all in the point of view of Emmy, then the next few chapters start all over again from the beginning of the book with the exception that it is all through the eyes of Marcus (the really amazing angel guy that is perfect), and then once both parts catch up to each other it goes back to Emmy. That isn’t something you see that often in books. Admittedly there were some parts in Marcus’ section that really bugged me, and I felt really slowed down the story. That was a big part of just explaining everything about the world of the angels and the demons, and there was a lot to explain.

And it had some very cool fighting scenes. When the story decided to get scary, it got scary. When it decided to get sad, it got really sad. And when it decided to get funny, I laughed out loud. There are six angels in total and I loved each and every single one of them.  All their personalities were great, some were funny, some were thoughtful and considerate, some were sweet, it was a great combo all together.   Well, maybe except one, but you’ll see once you read this book. And you will. Read this book, I mean. Because if you don’t you will be missing out. From 1-10? I give Guardians book confident 9

Adventures in Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris

Summary

Sixteen year old Kait Lenox has a reputation as the weird girl in her high school, mostly because of her ex-best friend turned mean popular girl, Ariel, but maybe it has a little to do with the fact that Kait has a hobby crashing funerals. At one of these, Kait is outted by the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley. Yet, instead of humiliating her for all the world to see, he asks for her help, and Kait finds herself entangled in a murder mystery. Not only is the thrill of the mystery exciting, but more importantly Ethan knows her name! A little sleuthing is well worth that!

Kindle Version

Review 

This is a story that was sent to me by the author herself, and I was very excited to read. Unfortunately, it has taken me about 10 times as long to finish than it would for me to read a regular book. Why is that? The plot was actually very interesting and unique. It’s about this girl who is looked at as a freak because of her weird hobby of crashing funerals. On one of her little trips to a funeral she runs into the hottest guy at her school, and her lifetime crush. It turns out that his sister died of heroin and the brother thinks there was some fowl play. He, with the help of the girl, Kait, start to investigate the mystery of the sister and 3 other girls' deaths.

Seems interesting, right? I thought it would be too. Just not the way it was written. I mean that in a way that the writing style of the author was not something I personally enjoyed. I couldn’t keep up. The only way I can explain it is like this: it was like reading the thoughts of someone else, unfiltered and with no direction. Any little thing would distract Kait. It was actually dizzying to keep up. She would be talking about the murder and then the guy and somehow it would go to her ex-best friend and end with a peanut butter and banana milkshake. It was exhausting, that’s why it took so long for me to finish it. It was like looking through the mind of a little girl that would get distracted by anything and everything. I really wasn’t eager to finish it. I hate to say it, but I believe this was why I am so behind in my reading. The last 6 chapters or so were the most interesting because the mystery was wrapping up. I am only being honest that from 1-10? I give this story a 3.5