The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong - 4/5 stars

Strange things are happening in Maya's tiny Vancouver Island town. First, her friend Serena, the captain of the swim team, drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Then, one year later, cougars are spotted rather frequently around Maya's home—and her reactions to them are somewhat . . . unexpected. Her best friend, Daniel, has also been experiencing unexplainable premonitions about certain people and situations.


It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret, and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy—her paw-print birthmark.

-Goodreads

So I was very pleasantly surprised by this one! The teens at my library love Kelley Armstrong which is awesome because not only is she Canadian, she's from my province. Let me tell you some of the things I loved about The Gathering:

• unapologetically Canadian! Uses terms like 'cougar' instead of 'mountain lion', for instance, and takes place on Vancouver Island. That being said, I still think it will appeal to American readers (the same way American books still appeal to my teens). It was just nice reading a Canadian book that didn't try to be American.
• Really great main female character! Maya felt three-dimensional because she had interests like taking care of animals and was interested in her native heritage. She's smart but not annoyingly so. She's strong but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel things or have a vulnerable side.
• Native heritage! It was cool reading about the various native myths and learning more about Maya's heritage. Hopefully this will be further explored in future books.
• No love triangle! Maya's friend Daniel is just that - a friend. I hope that doesn't change in later books.
• Not the same ol' paranormal -  I won't spoil you with what the paranormal twist is in this book, but suffice to say we haven't really seen it before and I think it's fairly well done.
• Doesn't end on a cliff-hanger! There are definitely loose ends and things to figure out but the first book wraps up nicely and didn't leave me wanting to throw it across the room. 

Overall, loved it! Recommending to paranormal fans and fans of Canadian YA.

(reviewed from an ARC provided by the publisher)

Review: Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton 3/5 (liked)

I have to say that in general I'm not a big fan of the paranormal genre and because of this, paranormal books generally have to work a little bit harder to get me to like them. With Darkness Becomes Her, I started out only lukewarm but by the end I was really into it.

Here's what Goodreads says it's about:

Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.
Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.


She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.


Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

-Goodreads

I think what really made me like Darkness Becomes Her is the setting. I've loved New Orleans since reading Anne Rice's vampire books. Kelly Keaton made me fall in love with it all over again. I love the idea of New 2 being a hub for outsiders and so naturally that's where Ari feels at home.

Ari herself is both a strong character, but has moments of vulnerability which make her more believable as a character. Sure she's been trained as a bail bondsman so can take care of herself but when she gets locked up in a prison cell, she breaks down and cries like anyone would.

Supporting characters are fairly well done, though her love interest Sebastian starts out all broody and stand-offish and then seemingly does a 180 and is suddenly friendly and helpful. I would have liked that to have been more of a gradual process. I like both Sebastians, I just felt like they were two different characters.

The mythology aspect of it was cool. I hope we see more mythological monsters in future books since I love that kind of stuff (see my love for Percy Jackson). Overall Darkness Becomes Her felt a bit like Percy Jackson for 16 year old girls. (And I should mention that while the f-word sprinkled throughout felt in character, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one to the same Percy Jackson audience).

This is just the beginning of a trilogy and I'm looking forward to more.

(reviewed from an e-galley - thanks S&S!)

Review: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul. 

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once. 

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.


-Goodreads


Angelfire is a bit of a tricky book to write a review for because there were things that I liked a lot and then there were things that I wish had been edited out.

For instance: empowered female who can literally kick ass but then dresses up as a 'sexy' nurse for Hallowe'en.
For instance: cool fight sequences but with villains who monologue cheesily through them.
For instance: cool, funny, smart BFF who all but disappears by the end of the book.
For instance: hunky Guardian (think Watcher a la Giles, only younger & hotter) but... no wait, there is no bad there. Will was all good. *grin*

Overall it was a bit hit and miss with me. I do think it will have enormous teen appeal and I almost wish it didn't have so much underage drinking/swearing so I could recommend it to younger kids but as it is, it's true to the highschool experience (well, as true as Ellie's experience can be).

With all the fight scenes and that, it would make a good videogame or film, I thought. With the way Hollywood is picking up rights to YA books lately, that may be a reality soon.

Angelfire is the first book in a trilogy.

(reviewed from ARC provided by publisher - Thanks, HarperTeen!)