Teen Reads Week: Angel Burn

by:  L.A. Weatherly

published by:   Candlewick Publishing

publish date:  May 24, 2011

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L..A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip - and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

They’re out for your soul . . . and they don’t have heaven in mind.

I've been reading a lot of mixed reviews of this book.  I happened to really like it.  I did listen to the audiobook and maybe that made a difference, I don't know.  The reader did a really good job on this one.  She had a really youthful voice which worked well for teenage characters.

As for the story, I thought it was a really unique story.  Angels come from an alternate world and it's a dying world.  They come to Earth to feed off of humans.  Alex is an Angel Killer and he's been charged with killing Willow, but he can't for a variety of reasons.  Of course, they fall in love.  This is where the fact that it was a YA book drove me a little crazy.  It was very PG.  Two teenagers alone in a cabin in the middle of the woods...I think that could have gotten a little R rated, but of course it didn't.  I was sitting there thinking that Alex must have been a saint to endure all their togetherness and not even get to second base.

On the other hand, this IS YA, so of course, it's the start of a Trilogy.  I'm sure there's more in store for Alex and Willow in the future and perhaps they'll have some time to engage in a more physical relationship.  I will say that the plus side to this series is that no Love Triangle has popped up. 

I will be on the look out for the next book in this series which is Angel Fire.  Expected publication is December 27th, 2011.