Above the Flames

Jasmine’s sixteenth birthday was the worst ever…

All in one day, her dad died, she met a demon, and her mother rejected her existence forever. After all, the demon who killed her dad was there to take her, and all because of her stupid powers—the ability to conjure blue flames.

Two years later, she’s happy. But happy never lasts…

After moving to Idaho to live with her grandparents, Jasmine has a new life. Almost nobody knows about her powers, and she’s just a normal teenager with normal problems. Then comes her eighteenth birthday—and the earthquake that changes her world forever.

An army of demons rise from Hell. And Jasmine is right in the middle of the battle…

When demons claw their way to Earth, Jasmine is surrounded by hundreds of fire-eyed beasts. Worse, she is captured by a big-shot demon named Bael. He’s a tricky foe with a chip on his shoulder—and the desire to make Jasmine use her powers for evil.

Amon is a fallen angel with an attitude—and everything to lose.

Successfully escaping the underworld undetected, Amon is on a quest to regain God’s grace when he rescues Jasmine from the clutches of a particularly nasty demon he knows all too well. The attraction between him and the not-entirely-human captive is instantaneous. Heavenly sparks fly, but ideas of romance will have to wait. First they have to stop the demon race from wiping out the mortal realm. Humanity’s fate rests in their hands.

Can two troubled angels rise above the flames to ensure a future for mankind? Or will Jasmine and Amon’s souls be bound together—in hell?

*May Contain Spoilers*

Many years ago, Heaven and Hell made a deal. If Hell could take down Heaven, then the demons of Hell would be free to try to take over the Earth in 100 days or less. To ensure a second option, five children were chosen to carry Angelic powers in hopes that one day they'd be ready to fight for Earth after Heaven was defeated. That time is now in Cassandra Fear's novel Above the Flames. 

The main characters include Jasmine, Amon, and Bael. All with incredibly different personalities, goals, and histories. Jasmine is a teenage girl who doesn't understand her powers or herself. She's a bit lost while feelings of unfairness and uncertainty swirl within her. She's also a cranky angsty teenager who loves to say 'fan-fricking-tastic,' which is an infixing I could do without. But she is brave, courageous, and loyal when she isn't being snappy and sarcastic. Readers will understand her reluctance at being a hero to the world. Fighting demons is scary business and Fear doesn't shy away from gruesome details. Readers will also connect with Jasmine emotionally after she loses her father, her mother, and both of her grandparents. Though there's more to lose in the 100 days of bloodshed. 

Amon is a fallen angel who spent quite a long time in Hell. Now that he's escaped with the rest of the demons, he's ready to make them pay with help from his friends. Amon is a little behind the times and that adds a side of humor to the book. It also garners the vote of confidence from readers. His admiration for Jasmine is genuine and I think readers will root for their relationship, if she can ever realize that he's truly helpful, strong, and caring. 

Bael is the bad guy, second in charge of Hell, kneeling only to Lucifer. Readers will hate him with a passion. He's horrid and fighting on the wrong side of readers. Bael is sort of intelligent yet malicious, jealous, and emotionless. Fear writes him as the perfect villain, but we haven't gotten to see what Lucifer has planned, so maybe he'll come in second on that list as well. 

The plot beings with Jasmine's father dying during a demon encounter then flashes forward two years. Hell has beaten Heaven and it's time to scorch the Earth. Amon and his fallen angels make contact with Jasmine and two other Angel Blessed (humans blessed with Angelic powers). They decide to join together to defeat the demons. Meanwhile, Bael tries to kidnap all of the Angel Blessed in order to convert them to his side. Bloodshed is bountiful as angel faces demon in this supernatural showdown. And it's only the beginning as this is the first in a trilogy. The storyline keeps the interest of readers while Fear sets up the war, but I hope in the future books Jasmine grows into a more level-headed character who isn't so quick to anger. I fear it may be her Achilles' heel. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Days of Blood & Starlight

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

*May Contain Spoilers*

Laini Taylor sweeps readers right back into the fantastical world of Angels and Chimera in Days of Blood & Starlight, the sequel to Daughter of Smoke & Bone. After leaving Akiva behind, Karou uses Razgut to take her into Eretz but what she finds is destruction and chaos. Akiva enters his homeland unsure of what to expect: did his brother and sister keep his secret or will he be killed on sight upon passing through the portal. Both characters struggle to find a starting point while the world is being slaughtered around them. 

Karou is found roaming the burned city of Loramendi by Thiago, the last Chimera she would have wished survival upon. And now she's stealing teeth from museums around the world. Because Brimstone only taught resurrection to one other person and that was Karou. So no matter how much the Chimera may hate her based on deeds of a past life, she is a necessity. She can bring back the ones that were killed from the souls that were saved, building them a new body. 

In this novel, readers get a few glimpses of what Karou was like when she was Madrigal. The strength, the confidence. Though overall, readers experience the pain and uncertainty that Karou's life becomes. The girl who was so adamant about reuniting with her Chimera family has returned to nothing but disappointment and resurrection based servitude. The connection she already has with readers will grow as they witness the hardened war-stricken world that Karou must face. 

Akiva, the angel with a broken heart, knows that Karou couldn't possibly forgive him after the role he played in Brimstone's death and the war against her people. No matter if it was out of vengeance, hurt, or heart-brokenness. But that doesn't mean his hope for the world can't continue. Readers, after briefly loving him in Daughter of Smoke & Bone and then subsequently hating him after his actions were revealed, get to know Akiva much better in this book. And the love for him returns. Though perhaps not as strong as it was before. 

Readers learn more about Akiva's past, his relationship with his brother and sister, and, most importantly, about the kind of man Akiva is. Unsurprisingly, he's a really good one. He's brave, intelligent, creative, forgiving, loyal, and has a fresh outlook on the what the world could become. Sharing the novel's point of view with Akiva binds readers to him as he fights for the forgiveness he may never earn. 

The plot of this series installment follows Karou and Akiva as they struggle with their hope to change the world. Karou works as a Resurrectionist for the despicable Thiago, creating new Chimera bodies complete with wings. Akiva works within his battalion to warn the few Chimera groups that remain in Eretz of the angels so that they have a chance to survive. 

But bigger things are boiling just below the surface. Why does Thiago need more and more new soldiers? Is revenge or rescue his top objective for this after-war? And now the Seraphim emperor plans on creating a new war with a rebel group of Angels. Will he ever stop shedding blood? Or will someone have to spill his in order to save the innocents? Days of Blood & Starlight is a nonstop surprising sequel with more of the poetic prose that Taylor revels in. The characters are wonderfully relatable, with scars and bruises, flaws and virtues, even though they're from a different world. Breathtaking, beautiful continuation that will make readers wish to get lost in the words. 

Rating: 4.5/5 Cups

The Bone Treaty

A power as old as King Solomon awakens when a seventeen-year-old girl marks the brooding hot abductor ordered to seize her.

Addie Heaton’s not your average high school student. Orphaned at two, she’s spent most of her life reading the emotions of others. It’s a little trick she likes to call color-vision. But lately, a stranger has been trailing her, putting off shades of black and red—colors Addie hasn’t seen since the night her parents were killed—colors Addie never wanted to see again.

But when Addie comes face to face with Conal Reed, owner of the terrifying shades, she learns her stranger’s a little different too. He’s brooding hot, mysterious, and all too elusive. Conal loves to materialize, and then vanish at all the wrong times. Nice.

Not.

After years of keeping her ability a secret, Addie’s found another person with gifts, someone who may know what she really is. But Conal’s not talking. He’s having more fun showing up uninvited, teasing her senses, and disappearing at all the wrong times. Instead of finding answers, Addie finds herself reconsidering ever being alone and naked again.

*May Contain Spoilers*

T.C. McKee brings the ancestors of angels and demons to earth in her novel, The Bone Treaty. When the world goes off the (all things electronic) grid because of a terrorizing group of halflings, Addie freaks out. Add in an attempted abduction by a hot and cold cutie that Katy Perry would be proud of, and I'd be getting out of town. But not with a strange army trained Griffin, a guy claiming to be a dead relative, and a best friend who is more beanpole than buff as protection. Though no one really asks Addie her opinion. 

Addison, aka Addie, is the main character. She's intelligent, sarcastic, indecisive, loyal, and doesn't ask as many questions as she should. Or maybe, she just never gets the answers. Either way, Addie is a very special Elemental, which means she's a descendant from angels and demons. She can see emotional auras that allow her to know what others are feeling and if they're good or evil. Addison also discovers that she has the ability to shape shift, but is too scared to share any of her talents. As one of only two female Elementals, she is incredibly important and must be kept safe. Readers will enjoy her angsty teenager attitude and the love triangle that appears between the disappearing baddie and the loyal Griffin. Though it may be difficult to connect with readers through situational events, her personality and humor will create the bond. 

The novel begins with Addison being attacked by Conal. His job was to abduct her for an evil Elemental who wants Addie for a secret mission. After the attack, the people in place to protect Addie know that her cover has been blown and they whisk her away to the desert. She accepts all of this information rather well. She puts up a little resistance, but not as much as I would think considering she's basically being kidnapped by crazy spouting lunatics who beat around the bush when it comes to real answers. Since the desert hides a training facility, it's believed that Addie will be safe there. They don't know that she Marked Conal in order to save her own life and now he's bound to her, unable to stay away. Will Addison fall for Conal's charm and disappear into danger or will she find something worth fighting for on the side of good? 

Rating: 3/5 Cups