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ttaa's review
4.0
Wow this was a great read and I loved how the book dealt with tough issues, especially about why God allows bad things to happen to those who are good people. Inspiring, and poignant, I can't wait for the next book!
schaarzy's review
4.0
Disclaimer: Review is written a few months after reading
Rating: 3.5 Stars
I've been a follower of Shannon's writing for quite some time now. She's been a huge inspiration for me and I love her enthusiasm for helping young authors. I found this book at the back of my faced books on my shelf and realized I never actually read her Angel Eyes series....which is odd since I owned a signed copy of the third book and have her publishing story of this book engrained in my memory.
I adored the world-building and the development of the spiritual abilities—and that final battle scene is what I remember most of the book so far from my initial read! The book definitely isn't what I'd call your typical angel/demon novel and that's what I liked about it. It played with fear in a way I've never seen written. Even though the book is written for teens, I felt I learned something from that portion of it. It was fast paced and didn't take me long to finish it at all. I'll definitely be reading the next one soon because I get a sense that the main charries have a larger role in the overall plot than they did here. That's the one thing that pulled my rating down. I personally just felt that the main characters weren't the heroes. In retrospect, I think that's the point, but I'm looking forward to seeming them grow as the trilogy progresses.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
I've been a follower of Shannon's writing for quite some time now. She's been a huge inspiration for me and I love her enthusiasm for helping young authors. I found this book at the back of my faced books on my shelf and realized I never actually read her Angel Eyes series....which is odd since I owned a signed copy of the third book and have her publishing story of this book engrained in my memory.
I adored the world-building and the development of the spiritual abilities—and that final battle scene is what I remember most of the book so far from my initial read! The book definitely isn't what I'd call your typical angel/demon novel and that's what I liked about it. It played with fear in a way I've never seen written. Even though the book is written for teens, I felt I learned something from that portion of it. It was fast paced and didn't take me long to finish it at all. I'll definitely be reading the next one soon because I get a sense that the main charries have a larger role in the overall plot than they did here. That's the one thing that pulled my rating down. I personally just felt that the main characters weren't the heroes. In retrospect, I think that's the point, but I'm looking forward to seeming them grow as the trilogy progresses.
lfthoman's review
4.0
I have to admit, I get a little dubious when I pick up something labeled “Christian Fiction.” It’s not that I don’t admire what the authors are trying to do; I do. And I’m firmly planted in their target audience — I’m a Christian, I read a lot, and I like stories where fantastical events take place. But so often, these books come across as cheesy and kind of lame. The writing is sub-par. The dialogue is hokey. The characters are unrealistic. The plots are forced. The reader feels completely steamrolled by the “moral of the story.” And I wind up disappointed.
However, I was pleasantly surprised with Angel Eyes. I liked Brielle and Jake. Brielle asked some hard questions. Jake didn’t always have all the answers. There was a wee bit of insta-love lurking around their relationship, but it’s mostly understandable considering the scenario they are in. I liked that Brielle wasn’t able to just bounce back from her friend’s murder, and that she didn’t just blindly accept everything that Jake told her. She struggled throughout the book, and I appreciated that.
The way Ms. Dittemore writes about her angels and demons, you can tell she put a lot of thought into their realm and how it functions. It was interesting and exciting and mysterious. I definitely kept in mind that this is a work of fiction, so I didn’t really mind if not everything matched up perfectly with what I believe to be true. She’s allowed some artistic license in how she chooses to portray her world, and the spiritual warfare portrayed in Angel Eyes was very compelling.
I did have a few minor complaints with the book. I wasn’t a fan of the perspective changes between Brielle, Canaan, and Damien (one of the demons). Brielle’s perspective was easy to read, natural, and engaging. The other two felt a little forced. I understand that it would have been impossible to completely portray everything that was going on in the Celestial realm without switching from Brielle’s POV, but it just didn’t feel right to me. I’m not sure how it could have been done better; I just know I wasn’t totally satisfied with the way it was. Probably part of the problem was that I just didn’t really connect with any of the Celestial characters. I loved all the human characters, but the supernatural ones fell a little flat to me.
There was a tiny bit of cheese. Just a bit, and not enough to overwhelm the book or take me out of the story. But occasionally, cheese reared its ugly head.
And there was a bit of a Touched By an Angel steamroller moment. If you already believe in God, it probably wouldn’t bother you. It didn’t bother me. But if you don’t, you may find it a bit much. But then again, if you don’t believe in God, you’re already taking a bit of a gamble in reading Christian Fiction. Only you can know your own tolerance level for that sort of thing.
I’d categorize Angel Eyes as kind of a cross between the books of Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker, but for the YA audience. It has likable characters, an intriguing story, beautiful descriptions, and a powerful spiritual message. Ms. Dittemore sets up the ending for a sequel, although the story from this book is wrapped up nicely, and I’ll be very interested to see what happens to Brielle and Jake.
However, I was pleasantly surprised with Angel Eyes. I liked Brielle and Jake. Brielle asked some hard questions. Jake didn’t always have all the answers. There was a wee bit of insta-love lurking around their relationship, but it’s mostly understandable considering the scenario they are in. I liked that Brielle wasn’t able to just bounce back from her friend’s murder, and that she didn’t just blindly accept everything that Jake told her. She struggled throughout the book, and I appreciated that.
The way Ms. Dittemore writes about her angels and demons, you can tell she put a lot of thought into their realm and how it functions. It was interesting and exciting and mysterious. I definitely kept in mind that this is a work of fiction, so I didn’t really mind if not everything matched up perfectly with what I believe to be true. She’s allowed some artistic license in how she chooses to portray her world, and the spiritual warfare portrayed in Angel Eyes was very compelling.
I did have a few minor complaints with the book. I wasn’t a fan of the perspective changes between Brielle, Canaan, and Damien (one of the demons). Brielle’s perspective was easy to read, natural, and engaging. The other two felt a little forced. I understand that it would have been impossible to completely portray everything that was going on in the Celestial realm without switching from Brielle’s POV, but it just didn’t feel right to me. I’m not sure how it could have been done better; I just know I wasn’t totally satisfied with the way it was. Probably part of the problem was that I just didn’t really connect with any of the Celestial characters. I loved all the human characters, but the supernatural ones fell a little flat to me.
There was a tiny bit of cheese. Just a bit, and not enough to overwhelm the book or take me out of the story. But occasionally, cheese reared its ugly head.
And there was a bit of a Touched By an Angel steamroller moment. If you already believe in God, it probably wouldn’t bother you. It didn’t bother me. But if you don’t, you may find it a bit much. But then again, if you don’t believe in God, you’re already taking a bit of a gamble in reading Christian Fiction. Only you can know your own tolerance level for that sort of thing.
I’d categorize Angel Eyes as kind of a cross between the books of Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker, but for the YA audience. It has likable characters, an intriguing story, beautiful descriptions, and a powerful spiritual message. Ms. Dittemore sets up the ending for a sequel, although the story from this book is wrapped up nicely, and I’ll be very interested to see what happens to Brielle and Jake.
cjmichel's review against another edition
4.0
After some tragic events in her life, Brielle is broken, struggling to carry on. She retreats to her childhood home only to be cast into events that will not allow her the time to lick her wounds as her troubles follow her. However all is not cast in darkness as some new friends help her cope and step back into the light of the living.
I found this very enjoyable right up to the last disappointing detail in the end, but of course, that only made me move on to the next book in the series to see what happens. My hope and belief is that all good things must come to those who wait, so I am ready!
I found this very enjoyable right up to the last disappointing detail in the end, but of course, that only made me move on to the next book in the series to see what happens. My hope and belief is that all good things must come to those who wait, so I am ready!
folklaureate's review
3.0
More reviews at Rondo of a Possible World: YA Book Reviews
Angel books happen to be hit or miss with me since most revolve around the same pretext. Weary about reading Angel Eyes, but completely captivated by the cover, my senses took over and brought me to reading the book. Ultimately, I was not disappointed with the novel.
When you first start into the book, you noticed scenes that are commonplace in YA genre no matter it be contemporary, paranormal, urban fantsy--it's present in the many books published out there. The "new girl" effect. Though Brielle was from the town, she moved away and came back. Still covered in that "new girl" persona. Not to mention there's a new guy and the connection between the two instanly commence. It's the unlimate young adult cliche. Though it's not a beginning that wowed me or a unique one at that, the plot does expand upon that notion and gets much more intersting. Alternation POVs serves its purpose to expand upon the novel and speed up the flow, though some parts tended to drag for me, and you get a a first person v. thrid person with the alterations. Even though I felt it would have been better if all the POVs were arranged as first, the third person does a nice job with description and the villain being subjected to a POV, it's interesting to watch the plans and idea unravell while your reading in.
As you can expect from an angel book, there is biblical refrence and scripture refrence and it tends to get pretty heavy during the later part of the novel. I do go to church (sometimes) though I don't find myself very religios, I do enjoy the religious portions in this novel though some parts did seem too heavy for me to enjoy. It's not a bad thing at all though, it's purpose does since Brielle is suffering from the death of her best friend, another common that popps up in YA, and starts to question her faith and whether God exists. Even so, the novel does not sway an opinion of belief onto you, which is a wonderful thing, it does not force any belief system down onto you, it is merely purposeful to the plot and I liked that a lot.
When diving into an angel themes novel you tend to estimate what lore is going to be expanded upon. The use and explaniation of the spiritual realms, the angelic warfare, the gift the is casted down upon one sole character that sets her/him apart from the rest. It's all there but the underlying twist and immiganation that sets Angel Eyes apart happened to excite me and kept me facinated. It's hard to shake up common lore, espeically about angels, beings that have been talked about and read though so much history. Even so, Dittamore does a wonderful job with the description of the beliefs and does have you excited whith descritptions and explaniation.
Definitely one to give the benefit of the doubt to, Angel eyes deserves a nice placement in the genre. The divine angelic lore and characters that don't fall flat, defintiely a novel to check out.
Angel books happen to be hit or miss with me since most revolve around the same pretext. Weary about reading Angel Eyes, but completely captivated by the cover, my senses took over and brought me to reading the book. Ultimately, I was not disappointed with the novel.
When you first start into the book, you noticed scenes that are commonplace in YA genre no matter it be contemporary, paranormal, urban fantsy--it's present in the many books published out there. The "new girl" effect. Though Brielle was from the town, she moved away and came back. Still covered in that "new girl" persona. Not to mention there's a new guy and the connection between the two instanly commence. It's the unlimate young adult cliche. Though it's not a beginning that wowed me or a unique one at that, the plot does expand upon that notion and gets much more intersting. Alternation POVs serves its purpose to expand upon the novel and speed up the flow, though some parts tended to drag for me, and you get a a first person v. thrid person with the alterations. Even though I felt it would have been better if all the POVs were arranged as first, the third person does a nice job with description and the villain being subjected to a POV, it's interesting to watch the plans and idea unravell while your reading in.
As you can expect from an angel book, there is biblical refrence and scripture refrence and it tends to get pretty heavy during the later part of the novel. I do go to church (sometimes) though I don't find myself very religios, I do enjoy the religious portions in this novel though some parts did seem too heavy for me to enjoy. It's not a bad thing at all though, it's purpose does since Brielle is suffering from the death of her best friend, another common that popps up in YA, and starts to question her faith and whether God exists. Even so, the novel does not sway an opinion of belief onto you, which is a wonderful thing, it does not force any belief system down onto you, it is merely purposeful to the plot and I liked that a lot.
When diving into an angel themes novel you tend to estimate what lore is going to be expanded upon. The use and explaniation of the spiritual realms, the angelic warfare, the gift the is casted down upon one sole character that sets her/him apart from the rest. It's all there but the underlying twist and immiganation that sets Angel Eyes apart happened to excite me and kept me facinated. It's hard to shake up common lore, espeically about angels, beings that have been talked about and read though so much history. Even so, Dittamore does a wonderful job with the description of the beliefs and does have you excited whith descritptions and explaniation.
Definitely one to give the benefit of the doubt to, Angel eyes deserves a nice placement in the genre. The divine angelic lore and characters that don't fall flat, defintiely a novel to check out.
queenkamayamaya's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. I had been looking at if for a while contemplating whether I wanted to buy it or not. I had previously read the Halflings series and thought that it was going to the exact same. But, it turned out that they were different and I don't regret buying this series.
realpageturner's review
4.0
Summary (from Amazon) Brielle's a ballerina who went to the city to chase her dreams and found tragedy instead. She's come home to shabby little Stratus, Oregon, to live with her grief and her guilt . . . and the incredible, numbing cold she can't seem to shake.
Jake's the new guy at school. The boy next door with burning hands and an unbelievable gift that targets him for corruption.
Something more than fate has brought them together. An evil bigger than both of them lurks in the shadows nearby, hiding in plain sight. Two angels stand guard, unsure what's going to happen. And a beauty brighter than either Brielle or Jake has ever seen is calling them to join the battle in a realm where all human choices start.
A realm that only angels and demons-and Brielle-can perceive.
My Thoughts:
The thing about Christian Fiction is that I read it to be inspired and to read about a character I can see myself in. I want to be able to relate to the story, the struggles with faith etc. That being said I do enjoy Spiritual Warfare novels that usually involve quite a bit of adventure/action I have never nor ever will experience. So when I opened this book and found that Elle was relate-able and it was spiritual warfare I was intrigued. I also really LOVED that this wasn't an angel story which involved a human being romantic involved with a angel (fallen or other wise (I really don't like those).
ANYWAY all that to say Angel Eyes is a good romance, imaginative, intriguing spiritual warfare story that I did enjoy reading in a few short hours. The trilogy as a whole, however, lost something on the way. The second and third novels try to up the first and more drama and more suspense and more fantastical battles between the angels and demons. It reached such a point that I felt like I was reading a fantasy and not Christian Fiction.
In Short I did enjoy this novel, but not the series.
Jake's the new guy at school. The boy next door with burning hands and an unbelievable gift that targets him for corruption.
Something more than fate has brought them together. An evil bigger than both of them lurks in the shadows nearby, hiding in plain sight. Two angels stand guard, unsure what's going to happen. And a beauty brighter than either Brielle or Jake has ever seen is calling them to join the battle in a realm where all human choices start.
A realm that only angels and demons-and Brielle-can perceive.
My Thoughts:
The thing about Christian Fiction is that I read it to be inspired and to read about a character I can see myself in. I want to be able to relate to the story, the struggles with faith etc. That being said I do enjoy Spiritual Warfare novels that usually involve quite a bit of adventure/action I have never nor ever will experience. So when I opened this book and found that Elle was relate-able and it was spiritual warfare I was intrigued. I also really LOVED that this wasn't an angel story which involved a human being romantic involved with a angel (fallen or other wise (I really don't like those).
ANYWAY all that to say Angel Eyes is a good romance, imaginative, intriguing spiritual warfare story that I did enjoy reading in a few short hours. The trilogy as a whole, however, lost something on the way. The second and third novels try to up the first and more drama and more suspense and more fantastical battles between the angels and demons. It reached such a point that I felt like I was reading a fantasy and not Christian Fiction.
In Short I did enjoy this novel, but not the series.
lostinagoodread's review
3.0
This review and others can be found on Cozy Up With A Good Read
Angel books seem to be what everyone is writing about lately (a nice change from all the vampire books). But I am just starting to get into them, I haven't read many (I don't really want to get into the habit of getting bored with the new books coming out). This book definitely caught my attention though, and I'm glad I picked it up. I did find when reading this book that there was a strong religious tone to it, but I easily got past that and into the story of what was happening.
I did find that the beginning of the book was a little slow, and it took a bit of time to get into the story of the angels and how everything fit into the story. But stick with the story and it is quite interesting. With all the angel books out there I feel that Dittemore took a different turn with her story and with the angels. What really got me was how she incorporated fallen angels into her story.
I really found the characters in this book captivating, they are really the reason that I kept on with this book despite the religious tone. Brielle was a character who is easy to connect with and sympathize with what she has to go through. Brielle really struggles with the grief of her best friend's death which takes a toll on her life. The gift that Jake has was not what I was expecting at all, I found I was surprised with a lot that happened in the book in the fact that I was expecting one thing and it would come out to be something different.
There were a lot of different POV's throughout the book, which took away from the story a bit because I felt I was moving around so much, but a few of the POV's were few and far between and only came at what I see as important parts. It was nice to see a POV from the evil side as well as the protectors side and then from the normal characters (who take up most of the story).
The ending of ANGEL EYES gives a nice resolution to readers. There is a part to the ending that makes you want to come back to see more, but it's nice to see that the new book in the series will be a continuation of their journey together. Check this one out, if you're interested in the angel books.
Angel books seem to be what everyone is writing about lately (a nice change from all the vampire books). But I am just starting to get into them, I haven't read many (I don't really want to get into the habit of getting bored with the new books coming out). This book definitely caught my attention though, and I'm glad I picked it up. I did find when reading this book that there was a strong religious tone to it, but I easily got past that and into the story of what was happening.
I did find that the beginning of the book was a little slow, and it took a bit of time to get into the story of the angels and how everything fit into the story. But stick with the story and it is quite interesting. With all the angel books out there I feel that Dittemore took a different turn with her story and with the angels. What really got me was how she incorporated fallen angels into her story.
I really found the characters in this book captivating, they are really the reason that I kept on with this book despite the religious tone. Brielle was a character who is easy to connect with and sympathize with what she has to go through. Brielle really struggles with the grief of her best friend's death which takes a toll on her life. The gift that Jake has was not what I was expecting at all, I found I was surprised with a lot that happened in the book in the fact that I was expecting one thing and it would come out to be something different.
There were a lot of different POV's throughout the book, which took away from the story a bit because I felt I was moving around so much, but a few of the POV's were few and far between and only came at what I see as important parts. It was nice to see a POV from the evil side as well as the protectors side and then from the normal characters (who take up most of the story).
The ending of ANGEL EYES gives a nice resolution to readers. There is a part to the ending that makes you want to come back to see more, but it's nice to see that the new book in the series will be a continuation of their journey together. Check this one out, if you're interested in the angel books.
lpcoolgirl's review
5.0
Oh, great book! Enjoyed the mythology of the story, and the characters were really great, but some things were a bit silly, and the beginning was a bit stiff, and a bit hard to read, but that was because Brielle was going through a hard time. Yep.