Review & Giveaway!: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Title: Angelfire
Author: Courtney Allison Moulton
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publish Date: February 15, 2011
Genre: YA, paranormal
Pages: 291 (Kindle edition)
Series: Angelfire Trilogy
1. Angelfire
2. Wings of the Wicked (expected pub 2012)
3. Hymns to the Fallen (expected pub 2013)

Synopsis:
This debut, the first novel in a trilogy, is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.

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.

From Goodreads

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 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's Audi A4 (and my dream car!)

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 damn 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 so much to NetGalley and HarperTeen for the eARC!

GIVEAWAY!!

So I’m really excited to be hosting my first ever giveaway!! I loved Angelfire so much, that I want to share that love with someone else. Here’s the rules:

• One person will win one copy of Angelfire, shipped from The Book Depository.
• You don’t have to be a follower, but I’d appreciate it if you took a look around. You might find something you like.
• This is open INTERNATIONALLY to anywhere The Book Depository ships (Check here)
• Must be 13 years of age or older.
• If you spread the word, it will gain you one extra entry (Twitter, Facebook, sidebar, etc.)
• This giveaway runs until February 15 (release day!)

The winner will be chosen randomly by random.org. He/she will be contact on February 16 by email and will have 48 hours to respond. If they haven’t responded by this time, I will choose another winner.
GOOD LUCK!