TLR Fan Feature (1): Angelfire and Wings of the Wicked Reviews

Welcome to the first day of the launch event for TLR! Each week, starting this week, I'll be featuring many fans of the Angelfire series with lots of awesome posts that will reflect how big of a fan all of them are. There will be a couple of giveaways throughout this launch as well, so keep an eye out for them so you don't miss 'em!

For this first week, I'll be featuring Teresa Mary Rose from Readers Live A Thousand Lives.

About Teresa:

Teresa is a 22-year-old who just finished up her Master’s in accounting. One of her main joys in life is devouring a book in one sitting. She is of the belief that reading a good book is 10 times better than watching anything on TV, with perhaps the exception of True Blood. Her favorite book is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. When she isn’t reading or studying for the CPA Exam, she is most likely playing golf. She enjoys listening to music, particularly bands like Marianas Trench and All Time Low. She has a crazy love of dogs and cannot remember a time in her life without one. Tootsie rolls are her obsession and her favorite color is green.

Find Teresa Online: Twitter | Goodreads | Blog

Teresa's Angelfire Review:

First there are nightmares.
Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

Then come the memories.
When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Now she must hunt.
Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

My Thoughts:

I initially picked up Angelfire and expected it to be like most other para-romance young adult novels (which I absolutely love); I was not however expecting it to blow me away. Angelfire was a pleasant surprise, one that I have enjoyed over and over again. Courtney Allison Moulton grabs the reader’s attention on the very first page and does not let it go until you complete the book. Moulton will have you reading at every chance you get. I practically stayed up all night in my all consuming need and desire to finish Angelfire.

Not only does Moulton create an incredible story, but she also creates characters that are easy to fall in love with. Ellie and Will are truly wonderful characters that break the mold for normal YA characters. To put it simply, Ellie is badass. She has no problem taking care of herself, but at the same time she is not too stubborn to ask for help when it is necessary. It was refreshing to see a female lead that was not hiding behind her immortal counterpart the entire novel. I firmly believe that Ellie is one of the strongest female leads. At the same time, Will is also not the normal love interest. While most male leads are overprotective, and try to keep the girl from getting involved, Will practically forced Ellie to get involved. He is the one to wake Ellie up and show Ellie her true potential. He states this best when he says “I am your soldier, but I am not your crutch”. He shows Ellie that he is there if he needs her, but that she has to fight too. Obviously he is protective of her, he is her Guardian, but not to the point where he is smothering. Also, let's face it, Ellie needs someone to help watch her back, and Will is perfect for this job.

Angelfire perfectly combines two very distinct worlds; high school and the paranormal. Ellie manages to straddle the line between normal and her Preliator duties. She still attends school and has her movie nights, but after that she goes out and kicks some reaper ass. Ellie strives to hold on to her humanity, and by doing so makes her relatable. The reader can easily see the struggles and sacrifices Ellie is making, and it makes you wonder what you would do in her place. I couldn’t help thinking: Would I stay in school? Would I be able to hold on to my humanity? Would I be strong enough for this? When a book makes you question yourself and your morals, you know you have found something special.

Angelfire is the perfect book for para-romance fans that are looking for something a bit different. It delivers action, drama, romance, heartbreak, and all the things that make these types of novels great. If you have not read this book yet, what are you waiting for?

Teresa's Wings of the Wicked Review:

Life as the Preliator is harder than Ellie ever imagined.
Balancing real life with the responsibility of being Heaven’s warrior is a challenge for Ellie. Her relationship with Will has become all business, though they both long for each other. And now that the secret of who she really is has come out, so have Hell’s strongest reapers. Grown bold and more vicious, the demonic threaten her in the light of day and stalk her in the night.

She’s been warned.
Cadan, a demonic reaper, comes to her with information about Bastian’s new plan to destroy Ellie’s soul and use an ancient relic to wake all the souls of the damned and unleash them upon humanity. As she fights to stay ahead of Bastian’s schemes , the revelations about those closest to her awaken a dark power within Ellie that threatens to destroy everything—including herself.

She’ll be betrayed.
Treachery comes even from those whom she loves, and Ellie is broken by the deaths of those who stood beside her in this Heavenly war. Still, she must find a way to save the world, herself, and her love for Will. If she fails, there will be hell to pay.

My Thoughts:

The minute you finish reading Angelfire, you will immediately want to read Wings of the Wicked. I personally finished Angelfire, downloaded Wings of the Wicked to my nook and the proceeded to devour this book spending yet another sleepless night. The ending to the book will leave you speechless and dying for more. Moulton engages the reader from the very beginning. The characters she has created are fantastic and you cannot help but love them.

The character growth in this novel is evident. Both Ellie and Will show a tremendous amount of growth. Ellie has to fight through devastating events, but only comes out stronger because of it. Ellie continues to be one of the strongest female protagonists in YA literature. She is capable of taking care of herself and there is a reason others fear her. Throughout the novel, Will comes to realize his weakness and finally makes a choice to make himself happy. He lightens up a bit, and the reader is able to see a different side of Will, one that is more carefree and relaxed.

Will and Ellie are not the normal couple, simply because they work together. It was refreshing to read a book where the couple fights together and knows how much they really need each other, even when tough choices have to be made. It always bothers me when I read a novel where the couple refuses to trust each other and tries to do things alone just for spite. Will and Ellie know they are stronger together, even when they are not on the best of terms.

The thing I absolutely LOVED about this book is that there wasn't a forced love triangle. Usually the second novel of a series introduces a second love interest that the heroine is inexplicably drawn to for no real apparent reason. While this novel does introduce another interested guy, the reader never gets a feeling that a true love triangle exists. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good love triangle, what I don't like is when the author has included it solely because it is expected. I truly admire Moulton for not following the guidelines for a typical para-romance YA novel. Reading her novels is like a breath of fresh air and I am eagerly awaiting the final installment in this series and anything else Moulton chooses to write in the future.