Book Reviews by Lynn

They've been coming here for thousands of years, using Earth as a sanctuary to escape threats from their own kind. Mankind knows them as angels, and one of them left a child upon her death to be raised as a human.

Raea is now a high school senior and her life as a human is about to end. The crystal shard she bears is not a pretty pendant; it's a collective of powerful entities who chose her as their Keeper, a protector of one of the four shards that power a machine capable of destroying whole worlds. Those who desire the Starfire's power have sent an agent to find her, but she's too busy evading a nosy reporter ready to exploit her secret and dating a hot new foreign student to notice. Nevermind learning what she really is.

Only one person on Earth can help her, the last person she ever expected. But he's not from Earth. Life as a human would be so much easier.

Review 4****

This is the first book in the Dark Angel Chronicles. I really enjoyed it.

Raea Dahlrich is a character I really liked. She is a seventeen year old with the usual angst issues. But, all is not what it seems and her life is about to change forever. I liked watching this character grow throughout the story. 

I downloaded this book a while ago, but never seemed to get time to read it. I found myself in between books and decided to give this story a try. I am glad I did, because it was a really fun story to read.

Raea is not the only great character in this story. I really liked Josh, Raea's best friend. He is a wonderful guy, if a bit obsessive about finding the "Dark Angel" who had been spotted helping people in the town. His enthusiasm made me smile. Then there is the mysterious Elis, who lives next door to Raea. He is full of secrets, but as the story progressed I found myself liking him a lot. I didn't really warm up to Pallin, the new student in Raea's class. And with good reason, as it turns out.

This story is very similar to some of the other YA romance books I have read over the years. However, this book has a unique twist. This twist gave the story a freshness that was surprising to say the least. The author has taken the concept of aliens, known as Inari (or Angels to us humans) using Earth as a sanctuary in a galactic war. This war has raged for millennia over the Starfire Crystal, a powerful collective of entities. Raea is thrown into this war and finds herself pitted against the Shirukan, who are after her piece of the crystal. There is plenty of danger and adventure in this tale, but not all of it from the Shirukan; there is also a nosy reporter digging around. The story is action packed and fast paced. I was sad to reach the end of the story, and I am now looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Melanie Nilles has written a wonderful young adult paranormal romance. I loved her fast paced writing style, but some of the scenes didn't seem to flow as smoothly as they could have. Nevertheless, her book was an enjoyable read.

I highly recommend this book to teens aged 15+ and to adults who love reading the YA Romance genre. - Lynn Worton