Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Book Looks/ Mini Review
The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker
&
Angel Fire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Book Looks are mini reviews of books I have read. Today, I will be using a format created by Staci at Life in a Thumb  where she reviews books using only six sentences for each review.



Kate Lowry didn't think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)

Kate,
I'm here…
sort of.
Find Cameron.
He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell.
They'll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder. (Publisher's summary from Goodreads)


When The Liar Society was released in February, it created quite the stir among book bloggers because Lisa and Laura Roecker are part of this amazing community. Even though I caught the fever then, it has taken me almost four month to finally read their book. I can without a doubt say that The Liar Society lives up to the hype it created. I was immediately drawn to the book because of it’s unusual premise (dead BFF emails), and found the writing to be snappy, witty, and perfectly paced.  I love a good mystery and The Liar Society more than satisfies with its boarding school setting and all its secrets; I adore being an active participant in a book, and the Roeckers had me working through all the twists and turns making predictions about how it would all end. Kate was a terrific character with a strong identifiable voice, and I related well to her feeling of loss and her strong desire to figure out exactly what happened to Grace. The Liar Society is a fantastic debut novel that will keep you on your toes searching for answers and leave you wanting more from sisters Laura and Lisa.


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. (Publisher's summary from Goodreads)

 Angelfire was another novel that I was excited about reading. Unfortunately, while I loved the concept of the book, it quite didn't live up to my anticipation. What I did like was all the action and Moulton's vivid descriptions of all the battles, which made the pacing of the book heart pounding. I also appreciated the originality of Moulton's angel mythology and how meticulously she revealed information about Ellie through Will. But I somehow just couldn't see Ellie as anything more than a character in a book and felt that she lacked depth. Despite the characterization,  I did enjoy Angelfire and found it to be an impressive debut novel, I also have high hopes that Moulton's next book will solidify Ellie's character and am looking forward to finding out more about Ellie and Will's relationship, and their epic struggle to overcome the Grim Reaper's plans to destroy the human race.

 
 
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