Friday, June 19, 2009

Day 195 - Strange Angels [ARC Review]

Strange Angels
Lili St. Crow


Series or Stand Alone: Strange Angels Series, book one

Release Date: May 14, 2009

Synopsis [from penguin.com]:

Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.)

Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?

Review:

I haven't read any of Lili St. Crow's other novels yet but they are on my list and I'll get to them eventually. So I'm not familiar with her writing but I felt Strange Angels was a pretty good start to this YA series.

I found myself a little hesitant about Dru in the beginning. Her and her father have been jumping around from place to place ever since her Gran died. He's a hunter of all paranormal entities that go bump in the night and has been doing so every since Dru's mother died years ago. Dru is slowly learning what she can about hunting since her father only allows her to tag along sometimes as back up. She's got a gift, kinda like a sixth sense, or the "touch" as her Gran likes to call it. She does have skills in fighting and knows how to use a gun. But at sixteen, she's pretty much mad at the world when she's introduced. Having to jump from school to school so many times she longs to be normal.

At school Dru tries to remain as aloof as possible. It doesn't help much when she meets Graves, a half-Asian goth kid who wants to befriend her despite her reluctance. She tries to push him away but he's one persistent boy. Kinda like a stray puppy that keeps begging, Graves just doesn't refuses to take "No" for an answer. Despite all that there's just something about him that calls to Dru. It may be the fact that she just longs for a friend to confide in, but how can she possible tell Graves anything about her life?

Tragedy strikes after Dru's dad doesn't come home after one of his solo missions. Dru is left on her own and quickly becomes a target for all the paranormal boogiemen. She ends up relying on Graves whether she wants to or not. And Graves becomes deeply involved after he gets bit by a werewulf. So they are pretty much stuck together and Dru continuously blames herself for Graves' predicament.

Later on they are helped by Christophe, a half-breed vampire called a djamhir, who knows more about Dru than she could ever imagine. She doesn't want to trust him but he seems determined to look out for her... And it is here where I will stop with the summary and leave the rest for you to find out =) Evil I know lol

I do want to say that the beginning really didn't do a lot for me. While I liked the story, I didn't really get into it until the last third of the book when Christophe was introduced. Not that he was my favorite character - I just felt the story really came alive in the last part. While I didn't love the novel I'm probably going to be picking up Betrayals which comes out in November.




12 comments:

Melissa O. said...

Nice review. I've got this one on my wish list, and when I finally get around to reading it I'll be sure to keep your comments in mind.

Cheryl said...

I agree. Nice review. I have this book on my list to check out soon

Anonymous said...

This one is so on my wish list too! So many books! UGH!!

~ames~ said...

I've been curious about this one. And I haven't read her other books either. Maybe I'll get it from the library. :P

Mishel (P.S. I Love Books) said...

Can't wait to see what you guys think of the book =)

Donna said...

I have this book and I plan on reading it here shortly. This will also be my first book to read by Lili St. Crow. Thanks for your review!

Kristen said...

Fantastic review! I'll definitely be grabbing a copy of this soon. Nice to know I should hang in there if the first part of the book doesn't catch me right away.

Faye( Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm) said...

i've been seeing mixed reviews on this. It made me kind of hesitant to read it. So just checked it out @ the library.

Wendy said...

I really enjoyed this story, it's something different and I'm looking forward to the next book.

Becca said...

Djamhirs, wolfen, and zombies, oh my. Sounds great. Looks like it has a dark edge to it that would make it even more interesting.

Megan said...

Nice interview. This book looks interesting. I will have to check it out!

Shawna L. said...

Shawna
weloveourdogs@juno.com

This cover just shines & the UK one is real pretty too!!
I have heard good things so I do really need to read this one soon!!!

Oh my Gosh I want to read this so bad your review/interview was just want I needed to know it's for me!!
thanks for this review. I sure hope luck is on my side in the giveaway!!!

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