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valafae's review
5.0
Thoroughly enjoyable
What a joyous and engrossing story. I want more! This is better than the first book and am looking forward to the third one.
What a joyous and engrossing story. I want more! This is better than the first book and am looking forward to the third one.
jasmyn9's review
4.0
Emma Jane's life is not going as she planned. As a half angel - half human warrior fighting against the Fallen Angels and their demons she's used to surprises and sudden excitement. But this time when her angel, Eli, pops in with a report, even she is blown away. Someone has killed and angel and saying heaven is pissed off would be the understatement of the year.
A lot happens in this book and sometimes it was a bit difficult to keep it all straight. I felt exhausted on Emma's behalf with all the running around and fighting. Of course she's not only fighting against the Fallen, but against her own forbidden urges to fall for her angel, Eli. Tons and tons of twists and turns throughout kept the book interesting and I was never sure what was going to happen next.
While it would have been nice to slow things down just a tiny bit, I still enjoyed the wild and crazy ride this book takes. Just be prepared to find a hard time finding a place to stop if you're reading past your bedtime.
- See more at: http://hotofftheshelves.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-heaven-and-hellsbane-by-paige.html#sthash.NhY4g7kZ.dpuf
A lot happens in this book and sometimes it was a bit difficult to keep it all straight. I felt exhausted on Emma's behalf with all the running around and fighting. Of course she's not only fighting against the Fallen, but against her own forbidden urges to fall for her angel, Eli. Tons and tons of twists and turns throughout kept the book interesting and I was never sure what was going to happen next.
While it would have been nice to slow things down just a tiny bit, I still enjoyed the wild and crazy ride this book takes. Just be prepared to find a hard time finding a place to stop if you're reading past your bedtime.
- See more at: http://hotofftheshelves.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-heaven-and-hellsbane-by-paige.html#sthash.NhY4g7kZ.dpuf
amym84's review
4.0
Originally posted at Vampire Book Club
Nephilim are the half-angel, half-human offspring born from Fallen Angels. Emma Jane Hellsbane is an illorium, a nephilim whose angelic powers have been awakened, and she’s charged with the task of fighting and killing Fallen Angels and demons in the stead of Seraphim in order to avoid starting another war between the angels.
Someone has starting attacking and killing magisters—angels who have chosen to train the illorium to fight—along with their respective illoriums. The act of killing an angel is nearly impossible, and Emma and her magister Eli have to find who or what is strong enough to kill angels, but with their feelings for each other so close to the surface will they be able to solve the mystery without both of them losing their souls?
Heaven and Hellsbane is the perfect example where everything is in shades of gray. The Seraphim, whom we are constantly reminded are the “good guys,” will not hesitate to use people for their own gain, and some won’t question sacrificing one for the good of many. We find that some of the Fallen Angels actually care about the humans they interact with and are not just slaves to their lustful emotions. It’s difficult to choose a right or wrong side. I found it a lot easier when I decided to be on the side of Emma.
As another strong, sword-wielding heroine in the paranormal genre, I really liked Emma’s character. She always tries to do what is right, sometimes that works out and other times not so much. She fully understands what her actions mean and she owns up to them regardless. When push comes to shove, she does what is needed of her. With all that comes to light in this book, you can see everything she’s been told in the past being questioned now
The relationship between Emma and Eli is such that there is no winner. No situation will make anyone happy, and it goes back to the whole shades of gray as mentioned above. They are finding it more and more difficult to keep the line drawn between angel/illorium and lovers. Because they that have “forbidden love” we want to see them together all the more, but that means that Eli becomes a Fallen, which will then make him an enemy to all illorium and Seraphim alike.
We’ve come to know Eli as a caring and good soul; it goes against what we already know of him to consider him on the side of evil. There are some things, of course, that are predictable and inevitable in regards to their relationship, but I wish after the fact that the book would have surprised us all and taken a completely different direction.
Something I liked, and wish we would have gotten more of, was Emma interacting with other Magisters and Seraphim. She is very personable, and many of the angels are repulsed by the illorium because of their mixed heritage. They remind them of their fallen brothers. So when Emma and these closed-off, no-nonsense angels get together it’s an interesting, and often humorous, mix.
A lot of issues are opened up with this book, which really makes it feel like a spring-board toward what is coming in the next book. I’m really interested to see what decisions our characters make.
Nephilim are the half-angel, half-human offspring born from Fallen Angels. Emma Jane Hellsbane is an illorium, a nephilim whose angelic powers have been awakened, and she’s charged with the task of fighting and killing Fallen Angels and demons in the stead of Seraphim in order to avoid starting another war between the angels.
Someone has starting attacking and killing magisters—angels who have chosen to train the illorium to fight—along with their respective illoriums. The act of killing an angel is nearly impossible, and Emma and her magister Eli have to find who or what is strong enough to kill angels, but with their feelings for each other so close to the surface will they be able to solve the mystery without both of them losing their souls?
Heaven and Hellsbane is the perfect example where everything is in shades of gray. The Seraphim, whom we are constantly reminded are the “good guys,” will not hesitate to use people for their own gain, and some won’t question sacrificing one for the good of many. We find that some of the Fallen Angels actually care about the humans they interact with and are not just slaves to their lustful emotions. It’s difficult to choose a right or wrong side. I found it a lot easier when I decided to be on the side of Emma.
As another strong, sword-wielding heroine in the paranormal genre, I really liked Emma’s character. She always tries to do what is right, sometimes that works out and other times not so much. She fully understands what her actions mean and she owns up to them regardless. When push comes to shove, she does what is needed of her. With all that comes to light in this book, you can see everything she’s been told in the past being questioned now
The relationship between Emma and Eli is such that there is no winner. No situation will make anyone happy, and it goes back to the whole shades of gray as mentioned above. They are finding it more and more difficult to keep the line drawn between angel/illorium and lovers. Because they that have “forbidden love” we want to see them together all the more, but that means that Eli becomes a Fallen, which will then make him an enemy to all illorium and Seraphim alike.
We’ve come to know Eli as a caring and good soul; it goes against what we already know of him to consider him on the side of evil. There are some things, of course, that are predictable and inevitable in regards to their relationship, but I wish after the fact that the book would have surprised us all and taken a completely different direction.
Something I liked, and wish we would have gotten more of, was Emma interacting with other Magisters and Seraphim. She is very personable, and many of the angels are repulsed by the illorium because of their mixed heritage. They remind them of their fallen brothers. So when Emma and these closed-off, no-nonsense angels get together it’s an interesting, and often humorous, mix.
A lot of issues are opened up with this book, which really makes it feel like a spring-board toward what is coming in the next book. I’m really interested to see what decisions our characters make.
avoraciousreader68's review
4.0
3.5
*Book source ~ Many thanks to Entangled Publishing for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Emma Jane Hellsbane is an illorum, a warrior for God and she fights demons and Fallen angels because her own father was a Fallen. If she can find him and send him to the abyss then she can get a normal life back. At first, that’s all she wanted, but after a year of fighting demons she’s beginning to wonder, even with Officer Dan as her boyfriend, if that’s what she really wants anymore. When magisters are being killed by demons and gibborim (nephilim who fight for Fallen instead of God) Emma has to decide between searching for her father with the only lead she has or fighting the ones who are killing magisters and taking their swords. If she can send her Fallen father to the abyss she would never have to fight again. She would be off the radar. However, Emma’s own magister is at risk and since she loves him she decides to fight the gibborim instead. But is forbidden love the right reason?
I had some problems with this book. First, there are two glaring mistakes. In Hellsbane, Officer Dan says he has five children, four boys and a girl, yet in this book he has only a boy and a girl. Second, the holy water necklace Emma wears is supposed to look like it did when Tommy wore it not like when Joan wore it. Emma told Eli in Hellsbane to make it look like how Tommy wore it, but in this book it looks like Joan’s necklace.
There’s also a lot going on and sometimes all the terms and explanations were confusing to me. In addition, Emma acts very foolishly quite a bit in this book, always insisting that ’she can handle it’ and I consider that pure arrogance considering how little training she has in fighting. On top of that, the love that Eli and Emma feel for each other just didn’t do anything for me. I didn’t believe in it and it ended up being an annoyance. And her thoughtless disregard for others when she traipsed off to Italy, well, she lost a lot of my respect there and even more when she said she’d handle it and be back in a few hours. Really? *shakes head* She acts too much like a bratty teenager and not a 23-year old. Yeah, I’m not liking Emma too much in this book. I certainly hope she grows up in the next one. It was very interesting to learn about her father though and I would love to know more about how much different Emma is from other nephilim. All-in-all if you can buy into the Eli/Emma romance then this is an excellent book, but since I couldn’t it’s only a good book for me.
*Book source ~ Many thanks to Entangled Publishing for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Emma Jane Hellsbane is an illorum, a warrior for God and she fights demons and Fallen angels because her own father was a Fallen. If she can find him and send him to the abyss then she can get a normal life back. At first, that’s all she wanted, but after a year of fighting demons she’s beginning to wonder, even with Officer Dan as her boyfriend, if that’s what she really wants anymore. When magisters are being killed by demons and gibborim (nephilim who fight for Fallen instead of God) Emma has to decide between searching for her father with the only lead she has or fighting the ones who are killing magisters and taking their swords. If she can send her Fallen father to the abyss she would never have to fight again. She would be off the radar. However, Emma’s own magister is at risk and since she loves him she decides to fight the gibborim instead. But is forbidden love the right reason?
I had some problems with this book. First, there are two glaring mistakes. In Hellsbane, Officer Dan says he has five children, four boys and a girl, yet in this book he has only a boy and a girl. Second, the holy water necklace Emma wears is supposed to look like it did when Tommy wore it not like when Joan wore it. Emma told Eli in Hellsbane to make it look like how Tommy wore it, but in this book it looks like Joan’s necklace.
There’s also a lot going on and sometimes all the terms and explanations were confusing to me. In addition, Emma acts very foolishly quite a bit in this book, always insisting that ’she can handle it’ and I consider that pure arrogance considering how little training she has in fighting. On top of that, the love that Eli and Emma feel for each other just didn’t do anything for me. I didn’t believe in it and it ended up being an annoyance. And her thoughtless disregard for others when she traipsed off to Italy, well, she lost a lot of my respect there and even more when she said she’d handle it and be back in a few hours. Really? *shakes head* She acts too much like a bratty teenager and not a 23-year old. Yeah, I’m not liking Emma too much in this book. I certainly hope she grows up in the next one. It was very interesting to learn about her father though and I would love to know more about how much different Emma is from other nephilim. All-in-all if you can buy into the Eli/Emma romance then this is an excellent book, but since I couldn’t it’s only a good book for me.
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