INESCAPABLE indeed

My name is Evie Claremont and this was to be the making of me–my freshman year of college. I’d been hoping that once I’d arrived on Crestwood’s campus, the nightmare that I’ve been having would go away. It hasn’t. 
I may be an inexperienced seventeen-year-old, but I’m grounded…sane. I look for rational explanations to even the strangest circumstances. Since meeting sophomore Reed Wellington, however, nothing makes any sense. Whenever he’s near, I feel an attraction to him–a magnetic kind of force pulling me towards him. I know what you’re thinking…that sounds fairly awesome. Yeah, it would be…if he liked me, but Reed acts as if I’m the worst thing that has ever happened to Crestwood…or him. But get this, for some reason every time I turn around he’s there, barging into my life. 
What is the secret that he’s keeping from me? I’m hoping that it’s anything but what I suspect: that he’s not exactly normal…and neither am I. So, maybe Crestwood won’t be the making of me, but it could be the breaking of me. I’ve been left to wonder if the dark future my dream is foretelling is…inescapable.

I love bookish get-togethers. Not only do you get to shmooze with like-minded folks (read: book obsessed kindred spirits), but you often discover new authors and new books. UtopYA Con was one of these sorts of get-togethers. Sure, it was uber educational and all around awesome, but I also discovered a few new reads. One such read is INESCAPABLE from Amy A. Bartol.

Miss Amy is a self pubber and INESCAPABLE is the first book of The Premonition Series. At UtopYA, I saw the books, the posters, the tank tops, the swag, and Miss Amy as well. First, let's talk cover love...

Just TELL me this doesn't grab ya! Simple. Darkly intriguing. Yum. And then the tank tops... Just imagine a pair of angel wings with 'Reed' in lovely script between them...

I had to buy it. I had to find out who this Reed was.

And I did.

Reed is yummy, let's just get that out of the way. He is your irresistible rough-around-the-edges-but-will-stop-at-nothing-to-keep-you-safe dream. A warrior. A soldier. And boy does he take his job serious.

INESCAPABLE was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed the story line. Sure, it's another angel book, but Miss Amy had enough bits to make it a unique story. This is certainly not your "oh angels are so pretty and lovely" sort of book. Uh..no. Them angels is bad, and tougher than 2-day old pizza!

Evie, short for Genevieve, is just beginning her freshman year at Crestwood College. It's the perfect beginning to a new life. *snort* Yeah, right. Then all hell breaks loose and the crazy happens. Evie is tossed into a strange world of heavenly warriors, or the Powers, the Fallen, Reapers, Seraphim, and all she wants is to pass her classes and keep her scholarship!

Nightmares have plagued her for months, a strangely familiar boy wears the very thing she dreams about, another boy produces monstrous butterflies in her gut whenever he's close, and then there's that sorority prank she's helping to plan... Evie is a busy girl.

The characters in INESCAPABLE were fun to read. Evie is just your 'average' girl, well, so we think. HA! But she has some serious guts! She may not think things through very well, just ask Reed, but she aims for the best. Or at the very least, the best fun. *wink* Evie is a likable sort and believable.

Russel is just awesome. He's my Carolina boy. LOL Miss Amy had the dialogue set up to take in his drawl and boy was that fun. I may not be a native Nashvillian, but I hear enough drawl to appreciate. Russell's cadence in speech was there in his words, and it fills you with warm humid nights and lightning bugs.

Reed. Oh Reed. This guy has some serious Patch potential. Those of you who know who Patch is can appreciate. Reed doesn't have Patch's snark or cockiness, but they both share that fierce protectiveness that is totally HAWT!! Grrr... And even though Reed is older than dirt, literally, he has this naivete that is completely endearing. I will never, ever look at Twinkies or mac-n-cheese the same way again.

The pace was great and INESCAPABLE left me certainly wanting more. As is common for self pubs, or some indies, there were some typos and areas that could have benefited from another beta read or CP, but overall it didn't pull me away from the story. As a newbie writer, I think I'm just overly sensitive to these areas. *sheepish grin* INESCAPABLE was thoroughly enjoying, and I look forward to picking up the next installment: INTUITION.

Before we go, I will leave you with two quotes from INESCAPABLE that left my mouth sort of dry...in a super yummy way. Enjoy!

"'I said that you are poised to be the most perfect creature I have ever encountered, under God, and the affection that I feel for you cannot be measured on Earth, or in Paradise.'" -- Reed

"It doesn't feel like a kiss goodbye; that it its masquerade. This kiss is more like having a gentle wind caress my lips in introduction, as if it exists just for me now." 

You're welcome. Now go get INESCAPABLE!

Halo was Heavenly

Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone—especially herself—from the Dark Forces.

Is love a great enough power against evil?

I have to say this was an incredibly sweet book. It is obvious that Miss Alexandra Adornetto is either close to her religion or has done loads of research. There is a Biblical undertone in Halo that is sort of lacking in other Angel novels. Now I am no avid church-goer, but I really enjoyed this book.

Bethany comes to Earth with her vastly older siblings, Gabriel and Ivy. Darkness has begun to consume and their mission is to stifle the hold of Darkness by getting the communities to bond together and their faiths.

While Ivy busies herself with community outreach projects Gabriel signs up at the local high schools new music teacher. Bethany, Beth, being only seventeen (even in angel years) enrolls as a student. Both of Beth’s siblings have power and wisdom; Gabriel the mighty angelic warrior and Ivy is a healer. Beth is still trying to find her way, but she has a tremendous amount of fascination with the human race that could possibly be her doom.

Beth falls head over wing for a human boy, Xavier. Their budding love is truly sweet and almost poetic. It is through Xavier’s faith in God and Beth that they bond. Of course once he finds the truth of Beth things get complicated. Gabriel thinks it’s reckless for the human to know too much, but Xavier soon shows his worth.

Darkness descends on the small beach community and its high school in the name of Jake Thorn.  He is hot and dangerous. Students begin to flock to this piper and bad things start to happen to the students. It is up to the resident angels to squash this foe before any further damage can be done and/or Beth loses her way.

The characters were nice and fairly well thought out. Gabriel is all angelic warrior, Ivy is the loving older sister, and Beth is not unlike any other seventeen year old, despite her celestial upbringing. As I said, Halo has a strong Biblical undertone, but I did not find it preachy in any sort of way. The love between Beth and Xavier was sweet and innocent.

Everything about Halo I found to be subtle in a nice way. There is action, drama, and love, but not done in an over-the-top way you see in other novels. The only thing that bothered me about Halo was the pacing. Being a larger novel it could have moved faster. I felt like there was so much tedious day-to-day info covered that really didn’t need to be there. It slowed the book down too much for me. Other than that, it was a really sweet read.

Did Halo rock my world? Maybe not rock, but certainly a good sway! 6.0 on the Richter scale.