Angelfire

First I didn't want to read Angelfire, because I read the summary and somehow confused the word "reaper" with "rapist". I was shocked and wondered how such a character background could be appropriate for a YA novel. Big announcement: Angelfire is NOT about a rapist, but a special type of ancient warrior called reaper, ha and I know I must be the only one to confuse this. Beside numerous positive critiques on blogs, a small teaser scene on Moulton's blog totally drew my attention on Angelfire. It was a fast fighting scene between both protagonists, Will and Ellie, that promised action, but also a slight romance, sexy scenes and witty exchanges of words. Ellie is a reaper who has the power of reincarnation. Ellie's character has many potential left cause she has a past of more than thousand years that need to be or can be discovered. What is so refreshing about her is that her ancient reaper self, who likes to fight, needs to be reconciled with her human teenager self, who likes her friends, family, dancing, partying. Moulton also lays a certain accentuation on the relationships between Ellie and her parents. Angelfire does not only feature one grand conflict between heaven and hell, but also daily quarrels and conflicts every teenager can relate to, issues of drinking, partying and school problems are mentioned. Already having weird nightmares, Ellie's life turns upside down with Will entering her life. Only talking about him makes me wobbly. Will is my new superhero! He is a warrior, an immortal reaper and brooding, dark, sexy. He remains mysterious over a large sequence of Angelfire and just like Ellie I couldn't wait to discover and get to know him. In the end I felt like Ellie who has known him for centuries and just remembered piece by piece about him and their relationship. The charm of Angelfire lies not in an excessive and permanent demonstration of love. I love it for its rare signs of affection and because they are not very frequent, they are even more meaningful. I never waited with so much anticipation for a literary couple to kiss. Moulton tortured me all along with tender hugs or slight gestures of affection. The love story appears natural, not forced. Ellie and Will are teenagers at heart, war mates and lovers. The mistake? Their love is forbidden by the secrets which lie in their very existence. In the end Moulton made me almost cry, Ellie's and Will's love is a sweet and natural but very sad one. Funny and at the same time exciting is the age difference between Will and Ellie, in modern terms and considering all the past lives of our heroine. Another dominant aspect of Angelfire are fighting scenes. As in no other YA novel about battling evil creatures, Angelfire shows many scenes that contain violence. These fight scenes evoke action events and demonstrations of our heroes talents. For a romance fan like me some of the fighting scenes become too raw, but they still support the atmosphere of a strong story, heroine and novel very well. THE VERDICT Where have the 2011debut authors got their writing skills from? I really appreciate Moulton's extraordinary writing style. The story has very few slow paced moments, characters are well developed with potential for more, dialogues are comprehensible and entertaining. Angelfire does not really end with a cliffhanger, still I urgently need to know how Ellie's and Will's relationship and the war against reapers continues.show more

Also reviewed on my blog: www.acoverlover.com Angelfire was a really good, fun read for me. It was very well-rounded in the fact that it included a well written romance, beautiful character development, and some pretty kick ass action! At first, I wasn't sure if I was really going to love this book. However, the introduction of Will's character along with Ellie's first dream 'scene', had me hooked from that point forward. Moulton's debut was a stellar one, that's for sure. This book had me on the edge of my seat, wincing with the blood-filled action and wanting to yell 'Just kiss her ALREADY'! I absolutely love the author's writing style. She made it easy for me to connect with the characters and the emotions she was going through. The transitions from action scenes back to Ellie's everyday life where as smooth as a baby's bottom. If you are looking for a read that will have you holding your breath and staying up all night just to finish, this 2011 YA debut is for you! I definitely recommend it!show more

Also reviewed on my blog, the Vintage Bookworm. (www.vintagebookworm.blogspot.com) Angelfire was just wow. It was very unique and completely different from most young adult books. I mean, Angels have been making it's way to the top lately in the young adult publishing industry, but this is more than just angels! There are grim reapers! And not your typical creepy guy in a black hooded cloak with a scythe. Moulton completely created her own version of the grim reapers, making them all types of creepy creatures that go bump in the night. She kept Ellie's world much like our own, but added a world that co-existed with the world called the Grim. Humans (Unless they were special psychics, or Ellie.) couldn't see the Grim or any of Grim's creatures. And speaking of those Grim creatures, there are some awesome fight scenes in this book. Moulton really knows how to write a kick-ass fight scene! Plus, her description is just amazing anyway. I had a few issues reading this book, but it isn't Moulton's fault. It's just because I read this on Netgalley and I'm still not entirely use to reading books on the computer. I like having an actual copy in my hands. I can enjoy them a lot more and I know I would have been in love with this book more than I already am if I had read it through a physical copy. This is my second-ever book that I've read on the computer. I have a love/hate relationship with Ellie's character. She's awesome and kick-ass, but at the same time she's annoying. The bad thing is, I can't really explain the full reason of why she's annoying. I guess you'd have to read it for yourself and see if you find her annoying as well. It didn't take away from the fact, though, that she's a pretty strong character and seemed real to me. I really felt bad for her about her bad luck with her car and then her dad issues. He was a real ****! I also really, really, really loved Will! (How can you not? Seriously?) The only thing that bugged me was that he'd do completely ANYTHING for Ellie. I mean, yeah, I like guys who car enough about the girl they love that they'd do anything for them. But there is a line you have to draw somewhere. When he said some of the things he did, he just sounded downright pitiful and unbelievable. But other than those little moments, I loved him. If there was a way to ever see him, I'd so run up to him and give him a hug. Then I'd go cuddle with my husband, ha ha. I also really liked what Moulton did with the romance in this book. :) You can see the attraction and love Ellie and Will have for each other, but they don't really do anything about it for a long, long time. :) Which really bugged me while reading it because I really wanted them to get together and the moments where it looked like they were, and didn't, it drove me NUTS! But it bugged me/drove me nuts in a good way. This kind of reminded me a little of the anime show Blood Plus. Don't ask me how, it just did. For some strange reason. It's nothing really alike. But I love Blood Plus, so it's cool. :) I guess you would just have to watch the show to maybe kind of understand. I don't know. But overall, this was a great debut book! Major brownie points for Moulton! This was a great start to a new series and I can't wait until the sequel comes out! I'll be eagerly counting down the days to the release date. Which at the moment all I know of the release date is that it will be published in 2012. Boo!show more

I've had this title sitting on my computer for awhile now, and it wasn't until I started following Courtney on Twitter and she started posting doodles from her book that I finally decided I needed to read this book (check out her Twitpic here to see said doodles). Some of the doodles were so funny and accompanied by quotes, and it just drew me in. Angelfire was moved up to the top of my TBR list. I'm so glad I did that. I thought this book was amazingly well written, with characters that were more than just a name on the page. They have depth and feelings and I fell in love with all of them. Ellie is a rich, spoiled girl with rich, spoiled friends. She lives in a big house in a rich neighbourhood, her friends get DJs for their parties, and she gets an Audi A4 for her birthday. However, this doesn't make Ellie a character that is stuck up or whiny, and she doesn't have the perfect white-picket-fence family. Courtney gives her characters depth, regardless of what the stereotype may be. Ellie really is a strong, female character and it's wonderful to see that in YA. Then there's Will, who is my new character crush. I just think he's so great. You have to read this book just so you can fall in love with Will and his bad-assness-that-really-is-only-a-cover-for-his-sweetness. Courtney really knows how to write some **** good fight scenes, too. They were so detailed and thought out that I could see them playing out in my mind easily. They really got my pulse going as I read and waited anxiously to see who would come out of the battle alive. Not only did she write good fight scenes, she wrote good one-liners, too! I loved some of the lines she gave to Ellie (see my Teaser Tuesday post). There was more than one occasion where I burst out laughing or snickered and got funny looks from around me (sometimes, I'd be on the bus and just start smiling like an idiot because I was trying to hold in the giggles). One other that thing I really liked was the detail that Courtney included when explaining all the inner workings of the world that Ellie had become a part of. To someone like me, who really isn't religious in any way, shape, or form, it was really useful to get a good, detailed explanation of all the concepts Courtney included in her story. Her way of interpreting angels and demons is really different from the other angel stories I've read, and I really like that. It's an angel story that doesn't centre on the angel aspect, I guess. I think it's really important the way Ellie is trying to keep up her relationship with her mom and her friends. It sets a good example for girls who either get a new boyfriend, or start a new hobby, or whatever it is they do that may separate them from their friends. Even though Ellie is trying to save the world and her own life, she knows that her friends and family are important parts of her life and she doesn't want to give that up. Overall, this is one book I really enjoyed. It wrapped up nicely (the last line was perfect), but you can also tell that it's leading up to more. I'm really interested to see where Courtney takes Ellie and Will to next and how Ellie is going to manage her newfound life with her old one. I think it'll be pretty exciting. Book 2: Wings of the Wicked comes out in 2012! Thanks to NetGalley and HarperTeen for the eARC!show more

A new YA Author has coming! ?Angelfire? is one of my favorite books of 2010. The story, the history, the love, the commitment? I totally loved this book! Don?t you love a nicely, innocent boy, who will give his life just to save and protect you, do you? I had read Angel?s books lately; this one had a strong history, very developed, with the right and perfect love story behind it. Ellie was a character who I immediately liked; this is always the first step for me when I have to decide if the book is worth or not. On the other hand, I fell in love with Will. I yelled ?AAAAHHHH!!? when I found that he had ALWAYS be in her side, protecting her, loving her? His innocent character makes my heart melt for him instantly. I would definitely read the rest of the trilogy, hurra for Courtney Allison Moulton!show more

This book reminded me a lot of My Name is Memory by Ann Brasheres - although when I actually start to think about it, the only truly common theme they have is reincarnation. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Just a few reviews ago I had said I was giving up books dealing with Angels and I meant it - but I didn't expect this book to actually include angels in it (silly, huh? I mean, the name IS Angelfire). I think I was just being stupidly naive! However, that said, I didn't have as much of an issue with Moulton's angels as I did with some angels in other beautifully covered, sadly lacking in plot books out there. Ellie is a spitfire of a character. She's confused (She's 17, of course she is confused), she has a habit of having bad luck with her cars and she is someone that she never in a million years expected to be. There is lots and lots of action in this book - lots of flashbacks, lots of romance, lots of good, solid high school moments (I admit to rolling my eyes at the drama and thinking that Moulton has the high school girl psyche down to an artform). It made for interesting airplane reading, kept me distracted and entertained me - and that's what a book is supposed to do. However, there were some drawbacks. The flashbacks had pages of italicized story (which is admittedly a pet peeve of mine, does anyone else find it hard to read?) and really didn't contribute that much to the story for me. There was so much action in Ellie's actual life that the addition of even more in past lives seemed a bit.. overdone. Still, that was a minority of the book and I expect there will be lots and lots of squealing from high school girls over Will after Angelfire is released.show more